Radio tuning dials in high competition with internet radio

SARAH DUFFY STAFF WRITER SED722@CABRINI EDU

Ten-year-old, Erica Feulner, dangles her feet in the back seat of her mother’s Honda Accord singing along to the 88.5 radio show, “Kids Corner.” “I’m on an Internet…radio, I’m on an Internet…woohoo…radio.” This childlike variation of the popular ‘80s song, originally performed by Wall of Voodoo, is an updated spoof on technological advancement.

Some baby boomers may not have been able to imagine it, but never-the-less Internet radio has become a reality. Broadcasting the radio over the Internet is a growing trend for over 2 million radio stations worldwide. But has it become a trend for listeners?

“You mean like listening to the radio over the Internet?” Erica asks. “Ummm…that’s just weird,”

Her eight-year-old brother,

Game Boy, “Why would someone want to listen to the radio on a computer?”

The children’s mother, Mrs. Feulner ponders, “Why would anyone want to play a video game in the car?”

“Because I can!” Austin exclaims.

The convergence of Internet and radio may not be as popular a wave to hit the entertainment industry as video games, yet it is nonetheless emerging as a standard in the recording arts.

Small radio stations, like the college’s own WYBF, are able to reach listeners across the world during web casting. In contrast, the radio signal for 96.1 can only reach a radius of 15 miles.

The general consensus among students who work on WYBF is that Internet radio is a huge benefit.

When MTVbroadcasted their very first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star,” by The Buggles, it was unlikely to foresee how these two elements of media could work together. Twenty- three years later, both are thriving. wicked witch of the west and Glinda, the good witch of the north. It showed off the aspects of their characters that made them, the way that we see them in the movie. According to www.plabill.com, “Wicked” takes a revisionist look at an American icon of evil and discovers how the young Elphaba, a passionate, committed young woman from Oz, becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. Her character is contrasted with that of her school roommate Glinda, who grows up to be the Good Witch.”

A similar tug-of-war exists today as radio battles many other forms of entertainment: Digital Radio, MP3 players and I Pods all present a threat to the traditional form of radio. Online broadcasting allows local radio stations to evolve with the technology.

The free rein of Internet broadcast has, however, encountered a number of snags with the Recording Industry Association. RIAsees Internet radio as a threat to further encourage file- sharing and enabling the copying epidemic. High fees and mountains of paperwork have made Internet broadcasting more difficult.

But for families like the Feulner ’s, listening to the radio is no longer limited to car rides. Austin was able to find “Kids Corner” online within 5 minutes of pulling in the driveway.

Shows that will be touring in the regional area are “RENT,” “Evita,” “Cats,” “Hairspray,”

“Little Shop of Horrors,” “Peter Pan” and finally “Tony and Tina’s Wedding.” These shows will be at varying theatres, such as The Merriam Theatre or the Academy of Music and the Walnut Street Theatre. In “Tony n’Tina’s Wedding” the audience becomes a part of the wedding party and the lively Italian family, in which you actually become involved within the show and the cast of characters, mingling with family and friends of the bride and groom. In the end there is even a wedding cake to share with everyone as well.

According to the website www.playbill.com, “Hairspray,” which is “set in Baltimore in 1962, is the story of plain-jane Tracy Turnblad, who is going to do whatever it takes to dance her way onto TV’s most popular show. Can a big girl with big dreams - and even bigger hairturn the whole town around?”

So all in all, one has the choice to see many different things in the way of shows, there are plenty to chose from, and a vast variety more than what is mentioned here, to find out more about the shows mentioned here and more that you can see check out www.playbill.com.