300 MB

On April 20, 2008, I started my own radio station.

I’d always wanted some way to stack up a queue of songs and to have them play. I’d looked at Shoutcast, but it seemed more involved than I wanted it to be. I didn’t want to have to fret about bandwidth and licensing. I just wanted to queue up the music and let it play.

Thus was borned Radio B.O.N.K. at Live365.

I heartily recommend Live365 for anyone who’s remotely interested in broadcasting online. It’s damned cheap: $9.95 a month (or less when you pay quarterly or better) for my current package, 200MB of storage and 5 max unpaid listeners. This is a good price for such an utterly foolish vanity project as is your own Internet radio station.

My station’s eclectic. “’70s. ’80s. AOR. Brass. Dissonance. Jazz. Ska. Zappa. Zeppelin.” Programming it is easy-cheezy, though I’m always looking for more tracks. I keep a Maxtor 250G drive as full as I can with favorites so I can always post what’s in my head. And I spend some time every month combing eMusic for those off-the-beaten path tracks.

Anyways, look out now. For no apparent reason, Live365 is changing its packages and giving me 100MB more to play with, starting tomorrow. Holy crap. I can barely manage what I have. Maybe I’ll start that “jazz at night” show I was thinking about. I dunno.

Parts and Labor

Have just added a track by a band I’ve just come across called “Parts and Labor.” Why in Harpo’s hair hasn’t anyone told me about this band before? Shame on ya!

The Radio B.O.N.K. eMusic review:

If you have any goddamn sense in your head, you will download this. It is crazy and noisy and lunatic and gorgeous and fresh and very drummy. Most important, though, it doesn’t sacrifice melody for the sake of noise. C’mon. You know you wanna.

The album I’m referencing is “Mapmaker.” Damn. Wait. Here.

Here they are at eMusic. Damnit Jim.

Please Play This Song On The Radio: Updatey Sunday

Am going through some old neglected mix CDs and New Music Monthly issues and pulling up some great stuff to include in the mix here at Radio B.O.N.K., including NOFX’s ever-lovin’ “Please Play This Song on the Radio.” I have wondered if this is the progenitor of the ironically self-referential song or just an offshoot of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain.” It brings to mind “The Four Word Song” by Hoodlum Empire, so I am adding it as well. Also am adding “Down to This” by Soul Coughing…wasn’t that a ’90s band that just hung on the periphery? I like it.

This is of course what Radio B.O.N.K. is actually for. At age 40, I have discovered that I have not been listening to music as much as I used to, was no longer seeking out new music, was no longer learning and hearing new music. This is something I cannot lose. I have always had music, and I do not want to lose it. What better way to enhance my interest than to run my own radio station, even if it can only be heard by five unregistered Live365 listeners at once?

Yes. It’s a vanity project. Just one I need.

Other adds today: “Royal Oil” by The Mighty Mighty Mighty Mighty Bosstones, which to me is these boys at their best. Ska-core freaks might not agree, but I think Let’s Face It was their finest work.

The dog just farted. Good lord.

Master Tape Theater today is from July 26, 1994, after Fred Norris’ ill-fated bachelor party, with Kenneth Keith in the studio. God bless him, RIP.

Radio B.O.N.K.: eMusic Affiliate

Radio B.O.N.K. is officially an eMusic affiliate. If you are the one or two people who are reading us, and if you’ve been shopping for a new way to purchase your online tuneage, then may I suggest you click on the “subscribe” link or on the flashy new banner ad on the right and start your free trial. I’ll get six bucks out of the deal. You’ll get 25 free downloads and a new start to a collection of music in a completely non-proprietary format. I’ve been an eMusic fan since 2002 and have always thought they’ve done it right: Insist on MP3, non-restrictively licensed music, and make your case to fans of indie music. EMusic is very cool. You go now. <./commercial advertisement>

Radio B.O.N.K. Blog, Day One

Editor’s Note: Radio B.O.N.K. no longer exists, so these links have been deactivated. The station is now 8WK Radio at http://www.8wkradio.me.

Hi. I have only been at the Live365 Radio game for a few weeks now. But it’s fun. It’s fun even if I can have only five (non-V.I.P.) people listen. It’s fun even though I’m the only one listening. It is, therefore, the natural next step for the blogger. Let’s make a blog only you and your Mom will read, then let’s make a radio station that only you will hear. Originally, I just conceived of the station as the station itself. Today I realized that I could support it nicely with a blog, where I could write about the playlist, the technique, and other relevant but stupid other topics.

You can go listen to my radio station if you want. You will be redirected by visiting

http://listen.radiobonk.com

I think you need a Live365 account. It’s free, you just have to sign up, I think. You can also listen to like three million other Internet radio stations there. You also may be able to listen on your mobile device or perhaps direct to RealPlayer on your PC at

http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/play.pls?stationid=bradybonk

Or you can pay them for mobile service if you have a Windows Mobile Thingie. I have a Treo 650 with PTunes, and that thing rocks the B.O.N.K. I’m listening to The Black Keys right now. Those guys make Akron cool. And that’s difficult to accomplish.

When I first started the station, I spent quite an afternoon painstakingly establishing the song order. I was always good at segues for mix tapes, so I had quite a fun time creating that playlist. But I realized it was also time-consuming work and that B.O.N.K. would be better if I just worked at building the playlist and allowing it to play randomly. At present, the list is at 4 hours and 42 minutes of music. I generally find two songs to add and pull one down. This helps keep a fresh fresh playlist. And most of the music is from CDs I own or from eMusic. In fact, much of it is from the eMusic. I love the eMusic.

So there you go. Radio B.O.N.K. I have just added fresh tracks from 20 Minute Loop and The Weepies. Enjoy.

Potpourri

  • Filed under “open up and say ‘awesome’”: Neil Diamond gets his own Sirius channel. I don’t know if Tap Root Manuscript was my Mom’s album or my Dad’s. I tend to assume it was Mom’s. But it’s cool enough maybe to have been my Dad’s. But I grew up with it and used to crap my pants over “I Am The Lion.” Anyways. I have added “Free Life” to the B.O.N.K playlist to congratulate Mr. Diamond on his new radio station, short-lived as it shall be.
  • I am, clearly, still working on the theme for this new projekt. I think the header image will change at some point. Update: Ah, that’s better.