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This is the official Megarock Radio blog. You will find important announcements about the radio station, website and all the crap that goes with it here. And once in awhile - complete nonsnese.
It all started by mistake. No joke.
I got into the 'internet' early on. It was the early 80's and I saw my first 'home' computer called the TRS-80 sold at Radio Shack. If you're anywhere near my age you remember them well. I had messed with electronics since an early age and the natural progression to computers was easy. The sales guys let me sit back there and write computer programs because it was helping them sell the thing like hotcakes. Through time along came the Commodore 64, the Mac and the IBM XT.
Well into all that neat techy stuff and having run a very popular BBS and near the end one of the first dial up internet providers that wasn't AOL or Compuserve. Needless to say I was well in touch with emerging technologies. By the late 90's a new high speed form of internet came out called DSL. Then along came Napster. An all you can eat music buffet. And I consumed. Then - RealAudio 1.0 was introduced. It allowed you to record audio, post it on a website and others could come and listen in. Wow, I could actually do my own 'radio show' - like anyone woul dlisten to that. I was one of the few people I knew then with an internet connection capable of doing it. Hell, no one had ever heard of Twitter, Facebook or MySpace.
So I played around with some downloaded music and a mc and made some whacked out radio show (you'd call them a podcast now) and shoved it up on a website. A few people came along and listened and afterwards I forgot about it.
Then, all hell broke loose.
Almost a year down the road I receive a check in the mail. It was a whole $10 and some odd change. But what the hell was it for? It was my name so before I cashed it I checked to make sure it was real. Found out it was for advertising revenue from my website? Apparently in the infancy of streaming audio on the internet people had found it and liked it. Alot.
Seriously? So I started making one or two a month. Two months later a check showed up for $20. That's when I thought - there could be something to this.
During that year a new site opened up called Live365. It allowed you to download a piece of software and it would 'relay' the music you were playing to their server which would then distribute it to many more. So we setup a feed there and within a few months we had several hundred listeners that would come for the daily broadcasts.
Then on December 31, 1998 we began a 24/7 radio show. And it never stopped. While at Live365 we became the #1 rock station and #20 overall out of thousands of stations. After several years we outgrew their services and set out on our own. Between leased servers and bandwidth donated by AOL (yep, the same AOL) we hit the Shoutcast radio directory which featuers tens of thousands of other stations. And rose to the top 10 with millions of monthly listeners. We becamse part of the radio directory in Windows Media Player, iTunes, cell phones, tablet computers and even car stereos and TV's.
There was some downtime however. In late 2006 the battle over internet radio royalties became so bad that thousands of stations were disappering over the year. Insane royalty amounts and uncertainty almost ruined the entire thing. Even Megarock Radio shut down.
After almost two years gone things finally settled down. We began streaming again on (not ironically) December 31, 2008. Since the old website addresses and connections to all those listeners severed we put up a new website at a new address and essentially started over.
Since then it's been a slow build. But as people find out about us and what a fun radio experience it is they keep coming back and bringing friends. We still broadcast 24/7 (except when something blows up), still feature tons of songs and still take your requests anytime day or night. The audio is pure digital and we're compatible with almost any device.
And we've become well known to be one of the very first places you'll hear new music. We have constant 24/7 contact with some of the best sources of the industry so we get the news first and the music too.
Where we go in the future no one knows. Technologies continue to change and we'll do our best to keep up with them. But remember - all you see here and all that makes it happen is the work of me. Not a big crew, not a corporation - me. There's of course a few friends in the background that help out from time to time. This is my labor of love because I enjoy great rock music of all kinds and grew tired of radio stations that play tight formats - just classic rock, just alternative, just metal. Very few stations play it all and that's the reason Megarock Radio came to be.
It was all a mistake.
It's been awhile since I posted an update on things so let's get this out of the way for the month :)
First off the database of requestable tracks was updated on the 15th and now exceeds 23,000 songs and still growing. If there's something we should have that we don't feel free to drop us a reminder through the support ticket system.
Completed several updates to the website including the ability to comment on articles using either Disqus or Facebook, the ability to log into the site using a Google or Yahoo account and some tweaks to the news article pages.
New Facebook fan page is up and linked on the main page. Great way to get those quick timely updates and news. Still have pages on MySpace, Twitter and most social media sites. Add us and help spread the word!
Also squished a few bugs that had been causing problems ever since the new stream server was built. No issues in over two weeks tells me that mission is complete.
Not much in the way of upcoming changes - things are in a good place right now so outside of a few minor tweaks things will be relativelty quiet outside of continuing to add music to the playlist adn keep music news updated daily.
That was easy, wasn't it?
For decades radio stations were local entities - only able to serve a small area near their broadcast tower however with the development of the internet and it's growth around the world radio stations can now broadcast globally to any location with an internet signal including your home computer, laptop and netbook as well as mobile devices like the iPad, iPhone, Android tablets and phones, Blackberry units, internet radio devices and even your vehicle through new internet radio ready head units. We are truly a worldwide presence in the world of rock and have been there since it begain in the early 90's,
Needless to say there are many ways to listen depending on where you are and what you are using. The majority of our listeners are PC based in either their homes or places of work, For those we recommend using one of the many PC based players including Windows Media Player (part of every Windows release), Winamp, RealPlayer (G2), VLC or any other Windows based media player capable of playing .mp3 based audio feeds (MPEG-3). While we have tried to include the most common below there are hundreds so your player may not be included., if it's not visit our Facebook page for help.
For users of mobile devices we have also included our recommended listening methods as well as a few alternatives. Always remember that audio streams via the internet can be bandwidth intensive so consult with your program plan or vendor to verify you have sufficent bandwidth capabilities.
And - since these technologies update all the time this information may not be 100% accurate. While we do our best to keept this information updated it can chance at a moments notice. If you experience issues please visit the support section of the website or our Facebook page for assistance.
Using your PC:
Most of our regular listeners tune in using their home or work computer. This is the method that's been used for years and works easily. But with advancec in technology you're no longer limited to listening to us from that computer. If you would like to know more, read below these instructions.
Easiest Method:
Use the 'Listen Live' link on the main page which will open our website based media player. Instant access to Now Playing and Request information are available within the player as well as current song playing, ratings systems and more. Nothing additional is required.
Listening with Winamp:
You can obtain Winamp from www.winamp.com
- Open Winamp
- Right click while your cursor is over the player area
- Select PLAY from the popup menu
- Select URL from the popup menu
- Type in http://205.188.215.228:8012/
- Select OPEN
The stream should start within a few seconds.
Listening with Windows Media Player:
You can obtain the Windows Media Player from www.windowsmedia.com and it is installed on all versions of the Windows operating system.
- Open Windows Media Player
- On the top nav menu select FILE
- On the drop down menu select OPEN URL
- Type in http://205.188.215.228:8012/
- Select OK
The stream should start within a few seconds.
If you are one of those rare people using Windows, Linux or MAC OS as your OS check out VLC:
Consult with the player documentation on opening a URL. The connection URL is http://205.188.215.228:8012/
Mobile and other device options.
RadioLoyalty Player (Recommended)
Download the appropriate app for your device. Once it is installed all you have to do is search 'megarock', select our station and save it. You then have one click access to the radio station feeds.
iOS 9iPad, iPhone, etc):
http://radioloyalty.com/mobile-iphone.php
Android:
http://radioloyalty.com/mobile-android.php
Blackberry:
http://radioloyalty.com/mobile-blackberry.php
Other options:
iTunes, iPad, iPod - download this app then search for 'Megarock Radio'
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tunein-radio/id319295332?mt=8&;ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Android - search for 'TuneIn' in the Andrioid market. Install then search for 'Megarock Radio'
Windows 7 Phone - install the app then search for 'Megarock Radio'
http://social.zune.net/redirect?type=phoneApp&;id=7f7e3f68-ba3a-e011-854c-00237de2db9e
Blackberry - Search for 'TuneIn' in the Blackberry AppWorld. Install then search for 'Megarock Radio'
Palm - Install the app then search for 'Megarock Radio":
http://developer.palm.com/appredirect/?packageid=com.app.radiotime
Internet Radio Ready Devices:
There are alot of them. Check some out here on Google.
http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&;q=portable+internet+radio&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=mkF5TKnwJc29nAeVsrWWCw&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CDMQrQQwAA
Listening with your iPhone (secondary method):
- Download the Tuner application on your iPhone.
- Open the Tuner application.
- Click on Search and then Open.
- Enter the Name - Megarock Radio
- Enter the URL - http://205.188.215.228:8012
- Click on Done.
The stream should start within a few seconds.
Listen using your TV:
Listening with your TiVO:
Ok, this one is a bit complicated for the novice but it does work. Visit the link and follow the instructions:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/07/how-to-stream-music-through-your-tivo/
With a Nokia phone: (may only be Europe, not sure)
http://europe.nokia.com/services-and-apps/music/nokia-music/fm-and-internet-radio
Listening with a Symbian OS cell phone/PDA:
We do not currently directly support this app. Please see website for instructions on connecting to the URL http://205.188.215.228:8012
Listening with Google Droid:
Listening with a Blackberry:
http://www.getjar.com/products/6073/RadioBee
http://www.moodio.fm/node/32899
We do not currently directly support this app. Please see website for instructions on connecting to the URL http://205.188.215.228:8012
Listen using ANY phone (cell, internet or landline):
- Call 704.772.7627
- At the prompt, enter 3052
- Enjoy!
Via the Nobex Radio Companion:
http://www.nobexrc.com/Download.aspx
Get a device which directly supports internet radio:
Well, streams were back down this morning. This time hiowever it was a very minor issue.
Apparently Windows decided to update itself on 'Patch Tuesday' which is the day MS decided to release bux fixes and updates. Since we had just rebuilt the stream server and it runs on Windows the computer updated itself...then decided to reboot itself killing everything that was running on it.
No worries, streams are now back up and Automatic Updates has been disabled so this doesn't happen again.
Oh, and THANKS Microsoft for having systems reboot themselves in the middle of the night with no interaction from a human. That's really smart.
As of this posting the new stream server has been built, tested and is working perfect. Requests and now playing pages are up and working. The sole remaining issue is a few of the songs in the playlist won't be available for around 24 hours while a script runs through all the tracks.
After that was completed I finally enabled logins to the site. You can now login to the site to comment on articles, vote and anything else that may come along. There is now also a Facebook comment area on each article page so you can post comments using your Facebook account as well as instant clikc sharing to all the social networking like Twitter.
The new rebuild of the site and station is almost complete. Just a few more minor tweaks!
I'll post an update in a few days once we're finished.
~ rob
It was Tuesday morning when the stream server decided it was time to leave the land of the working and depart to a recycling center for disposal. After several days of searching for a suitable replacement it came along late on Friday.
Most of today was spent rebuildind the OS, installing the broadcast software and initializing the 22,000 songs in the database, It's now into the very early hours of Sunday and after several hours of testing, upgrades, reboots and swapping of hardware all is working and stable as a rock. It may take up to 48 hours for every single song in the playlist to again be available for request while the databas repair process continues but 99% of the songs are online.
With that done, everything backed up and new songs to add we can get back to the business of rocking your ass off and adding tons of new music, All is well in radio land.
Tuesday, 29 November 2011 18:55
Boom goes the...computer? Yep.
It's a piece of electronics and eventually they all croak. But not at 8 am in the morning as I get ready to head off to work. The main stream server - the unit responsible for much of what runs the radio station...dead. Lights up, makes noises but that's it. Brain dead.
We all know what happens next in this story don't we? I have been searching on E-Bay, Craigslist and a few local shops that would have something older to work with these aincent hard drives I own. A relatively cheap replacement overall however it likely will take a few days to find it, get it and put everything back together.
So be patient, we're not gone ...just thiink of it as a little brea and it will be over before you know it!. For the majority of people that come in from Windows Media.Com you will still hear music - just not ours. The minute things return live here you'll hear that too. No changes are necessary.
So relax and enjoy a sllightly different cound for a few days and the rock will return quickly.
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