Intentional | Audio Identity Blog

Sunday sharing: last night I came across a very enjoyable piece by Bill Mckibben in the Atlantic on the joys of internet radio and the problems with satellite radio. Snip:

It’s so nice to be able to easily listen to what real American radio remains. My tabletop pulls in nearly every public-radio station in America, meaning that the great talk shows on dozens of stations…are always in range…

Satellite radio…is a glorified airline entertainment system—hundreds of channels signifying next to nothing. Signifying next to nothing because satellite comes from nowhere. Just like the Clear Channel stations, it surrenders the thing that makes radio so magical: connection to a community. As a rough rule of thumb, the smaller the community at which a signal is aimed, the more interesting the radio—it scales down better than it scales up.

Personally, I can’t help but think of satellite vs. internet as Taco Bell vs. San Francisco Mission burritos, or Budweiser vs. any local craft/micro brew. I’m glad Mckibben included a collection of his favorite radio links as I’m always looking for more.

I’m a slave to WWOZ New Orleans, KEXP Seattle and KCRW Santa Monica, among others. But I have to admit that managing my listening via iTunes or bookmarks isn’t as simple as I’d like, so I’m also grateful to Mckibben for mentioning his Acoustic Energy internet/wi-fi radio.

Wait, did someone say wi-fi radio? Christmas is right around the corner, right? This gives me an idea…