RADIO'S BRAVE NEW WORLD
Rolling Stone issue 810

WEBCASTING special: The best alternative radio
DIGITAL ETC.
RADIO'S BRAVE NEW WORLD
The coolest stations on the Web
by Jeff Salamon

Back in the 60's, Radio was a wide-open space where regional hits could
grow into national chart-busters and stoned FM DJs could play all of
Side One of the Grateful Dead's "Anthem of the Sun" without getting
fired. Nowadays with media consolidation rampant, the only place you'll
find that sort of freedom is on the left end of the dial, where low watt
college and community stations spin everything from Bulgarian folk music
to hardcore punk. But if you're out of their modest broadcast range,
you're out of luck - unless you're hooked up to the Internet, in which
case you have it better than the hippies ever did.
There's already some consolidation going on in Web radio -
Broadcast.com and ImagineRadio have grouped together large numbers of
stations on their Web sites - but the nature of the medium ensures that
alternatives will always be available. Here's a sampling of the best -
or at least the oddest:

Rapweek- www.rapweek.com (hosts Eddie lll and DL ) explore hip-hops
underground
Radio Free Kansas- www.tafcommedia.net (host Steve Taffe) "It's a
beautiful sunny day, a good day to play Italian progressive music, but
hey what day isn't," says Steve.
Underground Radio 3WK - www3wk.com ...24/7
Navrang Radio - www.navrangradio.com/..beat crazy bhangra, sacred
qawwali and kitschy Indi pop, North and South Indian classical music
and "Restrospective on Urdu Poetry"
interFACE -www.pirate-radio.co.uk/pirate.html...If the Brits didn't
invent pirate-radio culture, they all but perfected it. Since acid house
first rocked the Isles a decade ago, illegal radio stations have had a
central role in dance culture that's tough to imagine from these shores.
With the advent of the Net, the risks of broadcasting outside the law
have become less pronounced, though the allure of outlaw imagery hasn't
faded away. This perfectly legal Web site bills itself as a pirate
station, though the only thing piratical about it is it's motley crew of
big-name and little known Dj's whose specialties range from house to big
beat to jungle.
KNAC - www.knaclive.com..."Pure Rock on the Net"
WNUR - www.wnur.org...One place to satisfy that jazz jones, especially
on that avante-garde tip, is Northwestern University's WNUR.
DFM - www.desk.nl/-dfm..The Netherlands first independant Web radio
station, offers unique sound library and weekly programs like "Wreck
This Mess".