PAUL JONES, ON COVER OF BEATLES ALBUM?: Despite his self-admitted resemblance to certain characters of the 1960's (and Kyle Petty), UNC Professor Paul Jones was there at UNC in 1994 putting together the technical components that allowed WXYC to broadcast online. Check out Paul's website here. |
WXYC, UNC Radio Station, Celebrates 10 Years Online Radio Station Was The First Ever To Broadcast On Internet November 17, 2004 FROM A UNC PRESS RELEASE CHAPEL HILL, NC - WXYC, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's student-run radio station, will celebrate this week a decade since becoming the world's first radio station to broadcast live on the Internet. Anniversary events will include the release of an online MP3 compilation, a promotional concert and a panel discussion. The MP3 compilation, titled "Bandwidth: Celebrating 10 Years of Internet Radio on WXYC-Chapel Hill," will feature 23 songs by area artists, including Shark Quest, Etta Baker, Cold Sides and the Moaners. Internet users can download the compilation for free from their website at www.wxyc.org. WXYC officials held a panel discussion and media briefing about the history and future of Internet radio last week on campus. David McConville and Mike Shoffner, who configured the original 1994 Internet broadcast, will be joined by Paul Jones, their supervisor in information systems at UNC during its conceptualization and completion. Jones is now a clinical associate professor in UNC's schools of journalism and mass communication and information and library science. He is well known for his work with iBiblio.org, a digital library and archive which items online for public viewing and use. No Rules When They Started Back when the station looked at Internet broadcasting in 1994, it took two months for volunteer lawyers to make sure that WXYC had satisfied Federal Communications Commission rules governing radio stations. "We had to find out what the rules were because no one had ever done this before," said Jones, also director of ibiblio.org, a digital library and archive that now hosts WXYC's live webcast. "The technology was ahead of the law." In April, the WXYC name appeared on the TV game show "Jeopardy." The answer was, "It's believed that in 1994 WXYC in Chapel Hill in this state became the first radio station to webcast." The correct response was "What is North Carolina?" Shoffner, now of UNC's Information Technology Services, said he is amazed by the progress made in the 10 years since the first webcast. "Now it's just as easy to listen to a station halfway around the world as it is to listen to a local one, and there's a lot to choose from," he said. "It's a big win for the radio consumer." Shoffner and McConville, who now owns his own Asheville-based mulitimedia production company, worked on the technical aspects of the project. They collaborated with Jones, then in charge of UNC's SunSITE (one of the first Internet servers ever created and forerunner of ibiblio.org), in fall 1994 to test the possibilities of online rebroadcasting with Cornell University's CUseeMe utility (software used for Internet audio/videoconferencing). "We were working with CUseeMe, and we decided we could turn it into a radio broadcast on the Internet," Jones said. The team began testing the system in late August 1994 and made the final product available to listeners worldwide by Nov. 7, 1994.. And the rest is Internet history! Ten years later, WXYC is still broadcasting online -- as well as through its tower -- reaching listeners around the world. RTP-TV |
The Research Triangle's TV Station! www.rtptv.com |
RTP-TV Is Watched in 70+ Countries Worldwide |
WXYC, THE ANSWER TO A JEOPARDY QUESTION: The fact that WXYC was the first online radio station was not ignored by the Jeopardy game show (above). |
PAUL JONES, ON COVER OF BEATLES ALBUM?: Despite his self-admitted resemblance to certain characters of the 1960's (and Kyle Petty), UNC Professor Paul Jones was there at UNC in 1994 putting together the technical components that allowed WXYC to broadcast online. Check out Paul's website here. |
