About 100 new stations start broadcasting over the Internet every month. The technology levels the playing field, allowing a teenager with a microphone the same access as a commercial conglomerate. Location, bricks and mortar, and FCC licenses no longer matter when stations start-up. Niche programming is possible, even an advantage. Because a world listening community makes up the audience, shows that might only interest a few hundred people on the entire planet have a shot at survival.
New cults have lots of room to grow.
Computers are no longer needed to access Internet radio at home or at work. Most Americans listen to radio in their cars. Or maybe not. There' s excess, and you may not crave 300 more ways to access music by teenaged girls with bare-midriffs, or the novelty of hearing the same yummy tummy pop music introduced in Japanese, Italian, or other American accents. Joyce Brabner is a writer in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.