Pakistan is always buzzing with the entrepreneurial spirit. Look at kids, college dropouts, college grads, working people, retired folks, middle-aged folks, etc. everyone is thinking about some ‘business’ they would like to get into.

Just the other day, I was listening to one of my favorite Jazz radio stations online, called “Martini in the Morning.com“– I know – weird name for a Jazz radio station, but the more you will listen to it – the more you will agree it is a great name.

Anyhow, it just hit me then, how many online – Internet ONLY radio stations do we have in Pakistan?

I know a few Internet radio stations are being operated from Canada and US, and I would like to stress ‘few’.

The answer to the question asked is None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Can you believe it? Not ‘one’ single radio station is being operated in Pakistan that is Internet only… not one. How sad is that.

I know people will say, PEMRA this and PEMRA that, but you can create a VPN to your streaming server in the US and then stream, screw PEMRA!

But seriously, imagine what it takes to operate an internet radio station? Let me list it out for you…

1. Computer with a half-way decent sound card
2. DSL (minimum 512Kbps, 1Mbps would be great! and a 2Mbps circuit, awesome!)
3. UPS
4. A half-way decent microphone
5. Music (which I can get for you)
6. Mixer (software), again, 100s of them around.
7. The will to be an RJ!!!

That is it.

Nothing more.

It is very simple.

Don’t believe folks who tell you it takes a lot of money, blah blah blah. They are only there to discourage you.

The cost of streaming to a listener is about US$1 / user / month. Let’s say you’re aiming for a 30 user audience, the cost is mere US$ 30 per month. Try operating a real radio station at that transmission cost.
Never operated a radio station before? Not to worry, 100s of SIGs (Special Interest Groups) exists to help you out. Being an RJ just requires a bit of practice and a bit of innovation and imagination. You can buy 2 streams out pay US$ 2/month and practice.

Have fun. See how it fans out. Try your hand at automated shows, live stream, play-lists, advertising breaks, etc.

Surely in this great nation of 160+ Million – there is someone passionate about owning and operating their own 24/7 internet only radio station?

If anyone would like to have one setup, I’d be willing to help pro-bono. You may contact me at babushka99/at/gmail/dot/com

I love Vintage Jazz. For some reason PTA had asked ISPs to block www.Live365.com – perhaps one of the most famous Internet Radio Stations aggregation websites on the Internet. I then found out this was because the Balachistan Liberation Army (BLA) had a couple of radio broadcasts on it (not anymore) and the government wanted to suppress it. A pity really as a lot of the Internet users in Pakistan were missing out on a great source of music.

No matter what your taste or mood, I am sure Live365 has a radio station just for you. The sound quality is amazing and if you spend a little bit of money (why not spend money on yourself), you can get the commercial-free subscription for it. Very much recommended.

PTCL is still blocking the site. However, ISPs that route traffic through TWA can still access the website. One of the most favorite radio station stream that I listen to is Bop-City Vintage Jazz.

The Web Widget is below – and you can click and listen to it.

Ever watched a video online and wanted to save it? But did not know how – well – KeepVid makes it all very easy for you to do so.

http://keepvid.com/

Work Safe, the links may not be work safe.