I Have an Internet Radio Station

My bride reminded me this weekend how much this annoys her, so I just had to share this with you. 
 
Several years ago a buddy of mine (Spanky) started an internet radio station through Live365.  I was very intrigued by it and regularly asked him for updates on his success, which was quite impressive.  His station featured 70’s pop/rock and most weeks it was #1, 2 or 3 in the adult contemporary genre.  After a few years Spanky began to lose interest and one day he emailed me to see if I wanted to take over his station.  I told him I wasn’t in the position to purchase it and he assured me that it wasn’t for sale, but he needed to pass it on to another “caregiver”.  After a short investigating into how it worked I said “Sure, why not?”  Allow me to explain how it works:

UPDATE: I no longer have an Internet radio station.

There are two “classes” of listeners: Those who listen for free in exchange for having to listen to up to two commercials per hour, and those who are paid “VIP” listeners.  VIP listeners don’t have to listen to commercials and they are never “bumped” from a broadcast.  Huh?  Every Live365 station operator must choose how many of each type of listeners will be able to tune in at any one time, and if the max number of free listeners are listening, only additional VIP listeners will be able to join-in and one free listener will be bumped off as each new VIP listener joins in.  

Another choice that the Live365 station operator has to make is the quality of the broadcast.  The higher the quality (CD quality, for example) the more the station costs the operator.  Costs the operator?  Yep.

The station operator makes a few cents of credit for the VIP listeners who tune in; and if a free listener converts to a VIP listener the station earns a credit.  To date my station has never fully paid the bill, so each month we pay a portion of the $30 monthly fee.  Just in case you are not good at reading between the lines, let me tell this to you straight:  My bride is not pleased that we are paying a monthly fee so that others can listen to my MP3s.

So, do me a favor and click on the link below and give it a listen.  Live365 has some excellent stations on it, and if you really like it consider a VIP membership.  It’s inexpensive and best of all you’ll never have to listen to a commercial and you’ll never get bumped off in the middle of your favorite station.   

UPDATE:  My station is off the air.  This is one idea that's time has passed.  With Grooveshark.com, Jango, Youtube, Slacker and on and on, there's really no need for me to keep this up.  So now that this phase is over, what's next?