CLICKS & MISSES By By Robert McNatt  January 7, 2000

Net Radio: A Virtual Riot of Sites and Sounds
The Web lets you tune into music stations across the world, freeing you
from bland local on-air offerings

Chances are that whatever you're looking for, it will turn out to be hipper
and more cutting-edge in New York City than anywhere else. One big
exception, though, is New York's radio stations. I work in New York and
live nearby, and having traveled enough, I've realized that the Big Apple's
on-air musical offerings generally run from the merely insipid to the
aggressively mediocre. The high cost of buying a station here means that
programmers aim for the broadest possible audience -- so that, musically,
the bland lead the bland.

In the nation's classical music capital, only one station plays the
classics full-time: Better not hold your breath waiting for Schoenberg. And
station censors here can make you think hip-hop stars like Nas or Busta
Rhymes never sang anything you couldn't repeat in Sunday school. As for
rock, well, you might find something edgier than the Moody Blues on a
college station. But when you want to hear Rage Against the Machine, campus
airwaves might well be rocking with...Division II ice hockey.

None of this is limited to New York. But there is an answer -- no matter
where you live. I've a notion to get down on my nubby knees, grateful that
with the Internet, I can now transcend the geographic limits of radio. I
don't necessarily suggest praying to the Web. But there is a lot of good
music programming on it that you won't find on your local dial.




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
By far, the best sound quality among the Net-only broadcasters comes from
MTV Networks Online's SonicNet.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----



Radio over the Net comes in two broad categories: regular on-air stations
that have an Internet feed, and Internet-only broadcasters. With the first
group, you can skip across the country to find the most interesting on-air
stations. With the second, you find something even better: a wide variety
of good music with no commercials. At www.louisianaradio.com, for example,
you'll find an elegant mix of Zydeco, swamp pop, jazz, and New Orleans
rhythm and blues. Web-only broadcasters are usually commercial-free and
play dozens of different musical genres, often 24 hours daily, though
sometimes only during specific hours.

You don't have to do anything to enjoy this but bookmark some sites and
click. Which is why I prefer Net radio to download systems like MP3 and its
ilk. If I'm writing or otherwise working on my computer, I have neither the
time nor the inclination to keep downloading individual items and
organizing them somewhere. I just want to listen. Besides, many of the
Net-only radio sites hawk CDs of what they play, which I can buy if I
choose to.

So where do you look for the good stuff? Let's start with the Internet-only
broadcasters. There are already a good dozen major ones, many only about a
year old. So this is just a sampling. By far, the best sound quality I've
found comes from www.SonicNet.com, an MTV Networks Online company. Its site
lists 43 of its own stations, programmed by DJs, music producers, and other
experts. My faves: Smoke, one of their three jazz stations; URBalicious,
which despite its corny name plays a lovely contemporary blend ranging from
"London Soul" to neoclassic R&B; and N, a mix of salsa, Merengue, and other
Latin pop. Every channel always lists the artist and song playing, standard
operating procedure on Internet radio.

UNCENSORED STUFF. Three other neat features: You can mix and match
playlists from SonicNet's channels to create your own station. Programming
occasionally comes from celebrity guests. (Ever wonder what the rapper
Eminem likes to listen to?) And the SonicNet site contains links to 142
foreign on-air stations, from the BBC to outre choices like Radio Aura 98.9
FM. Don't be surprised to discover the coolest radio station in Bulgaria!
The problem is that a lot of the music is just what you'd find in the U.S.
-- which I discovered when, in a search for some serious Samba, I tuned
into Radio Cidade in Brazil and got The Police.

Bored rockaholics might try www.WWW.com, the self-proclaimed "category
killer" of Web music with over 200 proprietary channels. Rock choices alone
include stations for Gothic Rock, Gothic Death Metal, Experimental Rock,
Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal, Thrash Metal, Monster Metal, Post
Punk, Post Grunge, Pop Rock, and a channel for Trailer Trash Rock. (Don't
ask.) You can't find niches this narrow in commercial radio. Similarly, you
won't hear the same 10 hip-hop songs you hear repeated in heavy rotation at
big metro stations. Instead, you'll find uncensored stuff organized in
categories such as West Coast, Bay Area Rap, Alternative Hip Hop, and Dirty
South.

Another Internet rock outlet with a good alternative playlist is
www.3wk.com, which has all the Flaming Lips, Matthew Sweet, Stereo Lab, and
Primal Scream you can stand. And you can hit www.NetRadio.com, which claims
over 120 channels, for the truly alternative. In addition to the usual
genres, it has stations devoted exclusively to Native American music,
Chicago blues, Celtic songs, Zydeco, Hawaiian music, classical piano,
Gregorian chants, and Ska. Niche broadcasting like this is where Net radio
excels.




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Though America's rock stations are mostly in a sad state, the Web brings
the good ones to a much broader audience
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----



Still, don't write off on-air broadcasters that simulcast onto the Net. For
jazz, try KLON, (www.klon.org) a sophisticated noncommercial station in
Long Beach, Calif. KPLU (www.kplu.org) in Tacoma, Wash., and WBGO in
Newark, N.J., (www.wbgo.org) are also very good mainstream jazz stations.
The latter two are KLON's equal in programming, but KLON gets the nod
because its rivals don't Webcast in stereo. Classical listeners should
enjoy Chicago's WFMT, with live Chicago Symphony and other broadcasts and
music from local composers among its interesting programming. One caveat:
www.wfmt.org is one of dozens of stations that route you through a
Yahoo.com portal, meaning you'll get a brief commercial before the station
kicks in. Another strong classical contender is WKSU (www.ksu.org), Kent
State University's station. It has an added cool feature: Click onto its
site, and there is a full playlist. While this is commonplace for Net-only
stations like SonicNet, it's rare among on-air broadcasters. Is that
Schumann or Schubert you're listening to? Now you'll know.

I think, overall, that the nation's rock stations are in a sad state. But
there are still a few good ones, which make the Web's ability to bring the
good stuff to a broader audience valuable. Try San Francisco's KFOG
(www.kfog.com), a great mix of new stuff and classics, along with WZZO
(www.wzzo.com) in Allentown, Pa., with a similar melange.

And for eclectic tastes? Two that I like are www.kut.org and www.KPFA.org.
At the University of Texas-based KUT, I've heard Eastern European music
followed by rockabilly. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but then Texas is a
big state. And the original outlet of the iconoclastic Pacifica stations,
Berkeley-based KPFA, is a numbing mix of left-wing politics and cool music.
Very Sixties.

Keep looking. You'll find what you want. This, after all, is the year 2000.
And the Internet will bring it all to your desktop.




McNatt edits Business Week's Up Front section.


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html