Digitising the wireless: observations from an experiment in ‘internet radio’

Terms such as 'internet radio', 'internet Broadcasting' and 'Web Radio' or 'webcasting' crop up relatively frequently in media articles and academic analyses of the changing face of global media. Yet, while the terms are often used interchangeably and there does not seem to be a set of formal definitions which distinguish one from another, there are major differences between the sorts of services described by these labels. Furthermore the services, now often generically termed 'netcasting', offer significant challenges for traditional radio broadcasting principles and practices. This article discusses issues and concepts concerning net- or webcasting via a limited experiment in on-demand internet radio which was established as a postgraduate student production outcome. It explores internet radio as a particular media form used as the setting for this outcome.