In addition to its own eclectic, largely rock programming, this community station in Cambridge, Mass., offers extensive links to Web radio stations around the world. Strictly speaking, Web radio is not really radio. Most of the audio comes from established outlets, stations like KCRW in Santa Monica, Calif., or organizations like National Public Radio. But radio, at 105 years of age our oldest electronic medium, is audio transmitted over airwaves. Radio, by its nature, has been limited by space, or distance from a tower or transmitter, and by time, since traditional stations present shows in sequence.
Web radio is limited by neither.
And because of the computer's virtually unlimited storage capacity, Web radio can archive nearly any number of programs indefinitely and offer them for access at any time. Moreover, because the world, not to mention our government, has been unable to agree on how to regulate the Internet, Web radio is exempt from F.C.C. licensing and restrictions. Any hacker is free to set up a guerrilla site, and listeners will be able to tune in from around the world. S TILL, most Web radio operates much like traditional radio. A broadcaster creates a show.