Internet Radio: Concept and Consumption Habits

Internet Radio: Concept

Internet radio is not radio in the traditional sense; it is more than that. The sound image is contextualized with written information in addition to the strict emission of conventional programming offered by each of the radio stations on medium wave and FM. On the Internet, we discover two types of sonic performance:

• Radio in the strict sense, as we know it, with continuous broadcasts and structured programming subject to a temporary schedule.
• A series of written information on various content, supported by images and enriched sound material.

For all of us, talking about the newspaper, radio, or TV on the Internet is not only easier but more comfortable.

According to Cebrián Herreros, the preliminary step before embarking on the search for a suitable product for Internet radio is to abandon the traditional concept of radio and understand the sonic performance that enables the network from another point of view. As the author warns, we must design the sound product depending on the features and habits of Internet users and not on the peculiarities of the channel and radio listeners. This paper focuses on this point of view.

The radio signal is broadcast over the Internet through the World Wide Web. Thus, stations can be accessed from anywhere in the world, e.g., listening to a station in Australia from Europe or America. This makes it a popular service for emigrants abroad.

The first "radio station" on the Internet (online), Internet Talk Radio, was developed in 1993.

Consumption and Characteristics of Internet Radio

• The Internet imposes new consumption habits.

A proliferation of channels is involved in responding to the demand for a wider audience with varied interests. The Internet is capable of resolving personal concerns, thanks to its major benefits, particularly access to a wealth of information more diverse than that of radio. Some sections of the population, such as young people, alienated from traditional radio, are now incorporated into the supply network, which causes the proliferation of directions on thematic variety.

• The Internet user is different from the conventional radio network user, who uses it at specific moments in search of specific information gained through direct and quick access. Therefore, immediacy becomes one of the main attractions.

The appropriate format for those websites is content stored in both radio genres: interviews and reports.

• Computer technology itself fosters a degree of interactivity. The Internet becomes an ideal platform for offering personalized content or content on demand.

It thus imposes a renewal in the radio language to search for greater expressiveness and, above all, greater use of the radio sound possibilities of the Internet.

Cebrián: "Either the radio opts for information personalization, interactivity, and self-service, or it will lose the ability to penetrate the new society."

The development of Internet radio depends not so much on the technical teams but on the amateur and professional capacity to generate other sound communication modalities, especially those geared towards interactivity, the correlation of sounds, and the search for data and information linked or not so concurrent with the issuance of sound recordings.