pebkac thoughts : Save Internet Radio (again)

I’m sitting here listening to Girl Talk’s Night Ripper. I’m also reading the comments in the most recent /. article heralding the death of internet radio (there are a lot of great comments).

I’m having a mix of reactions. The first is that I’m sick of the corrupt process that has brought us to where we are. I just wish there were a way to have Lessig magically kill corruption before July 15th. My second thought is that I need to get together with some friends and start running a pirate radio station or three. Another thought is that I actually need to sit down and figure out where the loopholes are. That is, I need to figure out what kind of internet broadcaster of music can keep operating without paying any kind of royalties.

Curiously I’m having trouble getting motivated to take action on saving internet radio directly, mostly because I feel like it’s hopeless and I personally can’t have any impact, but I need to get over it. Two reasons: (1) I know there are millions of listeners like myself who feel passionately about this, which means that it’s not hopeless, and (2) if I’m too lazy to stand up, how can I expect others to do the same? So stand up if you’d like to continue to see:

Radio ibiblio
WCOM *NEW*
WNCW (Western NC Public)
WCPE (24 hour classical)
WDAV (Davidson College)
WHQR (Public)
WUNC (UNC NPRstation)
WXDU (Duke)
WXYC (The First and Best!)