August 07, 2007

HOTG Internet Radio - Streams Up

You read it right. We've got a big new webcast going on until further notice at our new HOTG station.

Some months back, a good friend of mine, who is a fan of the blog, of his own accord set up a streaming internet test site featuring the some of the songs that had appeared on HOTG in the past few years and displaying my associated posts from the archives. He performed this amazing (at least to me) feat to encourage me to make the songs I've covered here that are no longer accessible available for listening again, and to give the archived posts more exposure. And, I've got to admit, hearing the songs streamed really has much more resonance and impact than just accessing a few of them at a time and/or simply reading about them. So, I was impressed and intrigued by the idea; and we continued to work on it at time permitted - an often glacial pace for me these days. Then, the fate of the entire internet radio concept was
thrown into question due to the efforts of the powers that be in the Entertainment Industry to impose huge new royalty rates and rules for internet dissemination of music. Congress got involved, at least held hearings; and the deadline for the imposition of the changes has now been pushed back to September of this year for a "compromise" of some sort to be reached. For a good general explanation of how complicated webcasting has become, feel free to read this related link, and then wonder why the hell anybody would still want to do it!

Even though we have not totally gotten our site together in terms of some minor details, like how it looks, we do have a limited number of licensed working streams available for your listening pleasure with about 10 hours of New Orleans grooves currently in rotation, and more being added to the playlist as I get a chance. We thought we'd better get something up now, or maybe lose the chance forever. Most of the playlist content comes directly from HOTG posts from 2004 to the near-present. Music links on the blog should go into HOTG Radio rotation once the are deactivated here. Also, there is and will be more contemporary fare from the Crescent City available, too - that is, if webcasting is allowed to exist at an affordable level for small fry niche streamers like us. Write your Congress-persons, yell out of windows, whatever you feel is productive, if you want to help, protest, whatever.

Again, you can "tune in" at http://www.hotg.org - this experiment may only last a month, or maybe go on for years. Hard to say right now. If it goes beyond September, we'll have to find some more funding besides our own pockets; but that will be addressed later in online brainstorming meetings with plenty of beer on hand. If anyone out there has any ideas about that, your input is welcome.

Now that I have you full confidence and trust, how about some disclaimers, etc:

As I said, there are a limited number of streams. If you can't get one right away, please try back later. There are several choices for listening, based on what type of media player or operating system you use, so please try the other listening links, if the main one doesn't seem to do the trick. There are the usual Frequently Asked Questions (that we've frequently been asking ourselves these past few months) to read at the Help link, too. Also, just so's ya know, do not expect the highest audio quality to come surging down the pipe. The streams sound much better than I thought they would with the bandwidth we can afford, which is why we're doing this at all. Oh yeah, and if you don't see the post text change with each song, you can hit "Refresh" to move along the page to match the song, if you want to keep up with it (not required - no homework - no tests). Your understanding, patience and a tropical, Third World expectation of efficiency will be appreciated. Requested additions to the playlist will be considered within the bounds of what HOTG is all about.

Anyway, hope it works for you. Enjoy the radio round-up. To ask questions, make requests or comments, etc, send emails concerning the webcast to radio at hotg dot org, using, of course the 'at' symbol and an actual dot. I or my tech savvy compadre, Jockomo, will see what can be done.
Peace,
Dan

PS _ Thanks to Red, Jeanne, Alisa, Ed, Art and a few more folks I can't remember at the moment for helping with the initial testing phase.

11 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's good to see that you are continuing to fight the good fight... Best of luck to you, and you will always have my support.

Peace and blessings.

4:23 PM, August 07, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fantastic news Dan, I'm currently listening to your radio and it sounds really great the quality is very good Thanks to your friend we can now enjoy Louisiana 's rarities even here deep down in Switzerland ;o)

All the best and many thanks again for your efforts to promote the music that I love so much

2:02 AM, August 08, 2007  
Blogger Dan Phillips said...

Good to hear from you all, and thanks for the positive comments. Bringing more of da funk to deepest Switzerland and other remote outposts is all part of the plan, Jipes! I added a few tunes to the playlist last night for Jockomo to process and have got maybe 50 more from prior posts to go. Hope that'll hold y'all for a while!

8:05 AM, August 08, 2007  
Blogger Todd Lucas said...

Dan, I have your station tuned in right now. Sounds great. Here's to hoping the powers that be won't totally screw this up in the coming months.

2:42 PM, August 08, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dan- this is just amazing and the refreshing home page is totally addictive! Great to see your hard enjoying a second life!

Thanks,
Rob
Alameda, CA

8:41 AM, August 09, 2007  
Blogger Dan Phillips said...

Hi, todd and rob,
Thanks for the feedback. I, too, hope for some workable compromise on webcasting for us wing and a prayer, low-rent operators, todd. And, rob, I must direct all praise for how the site works (or blame if it doesn't!) and how it looks and sounds to my partner, Jockomo, who put it all together - and continues to slave away on it. I just supply the music tracks and suggest things that create even more work for the guy. Poor, Jockomo, he's been undone by da funk.

1:37 PM, August 09, 2007  
Blogger Red Kelly said...

totally amazing! the sound is even better than the 'beta', bro!

Congratz to you and ol' Jockomo... great concept, and an excellent way to join the ideas of 'radio' and 'audioblog' together, coming up with something even greater than the sum of its parts (or something).

Just lovin' it over here!

8:45 PM, August 09, 2007  
Blogger Marco said...

Dan, the sound quality using real audio is very good. Good luck with it and keep on pushin' out the grooves!

8:11 AM, August 12, 2007  
Blogger The Reaper said...

This is really hitting the spot. Thanks Dan! I'm kicking myself for skipping out on the beta phase.

As for funding, as an NPR guy (and 'OZ alum), my first instinct is: pledge drive!

7:21 PM, August 12, 2007  
Blogger Dan Phillips said...

Thanks for the sound quality check, Marco. I'ved passed that along to Jockomo, who continues to tweek. And Reaper, as far as I am concerned, the HOTG webcast is still very much beta phase, just larger scale. Maybe by the time Sept rolls around we may know what we're doing. Then we'll consider the pledge drive route - I've done plenty of those myself!

7:02 AM, August 13, 2007  
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