Let¡¯s talk about ¡°radio¡±.

Not ¡°traditional radio¡±, but a new kind of radio that is quickly changing the way people will listen to audio content.

As I write this article in Massachusetts, I am listening to \r a live radio broadcast from London, England.

Every Friday I tune into ¡°Science Friday¡±, a weekly online radio broadcast that discusses the latest scientific breakthroughs. As soon as a new show becomes available it is automatically downloaded onto my MP3 player as well as my hard drive.

What I am talking about here is Internet Radio.

Internet radio is simply audio content that is streamed \r over the internet. Nothing more. This is very easy and \r cost effective for anyone who has a computer, simple \r software and a microphone.

If people are willing to listen to your show, you can \r quickly build a global audience of hundreds or thousands \r of loyal listeners.

There are three types of internet radio programs.

1. Live streaming audio programming delivered in ¡°Real Time¡±, and tends to follows a set schedule. www.live365.com is the leader in this type of internet radio broadcasting. They offer genres you would never find on traditional radio.

2. Archived audio content that can be streamed or downloaded by the listener ¡°On-Demand¡± Many small business use this type of internet radio to broadcast audio content to their niche markets.

3. A combination of both, live real time streaming audio, and archived audio content. A show will have a set time when it¡¯s broadcasted, but the show is also archived so listeners can listen to past broadcasts when they want. An example of this type of radio would be www.wsradio.com , home of EBay radio \r and Entrepreneur radio.

I believe that archived, on-demand radio will be the next tool used by internet marketers. With people¡¯s lives getting busier then ever, your show must be available to your listeners 24/7, so they may listen when they want.

Software is now available, at no cost, that automatically downloads your radio shows directly on your subscribers \r Ipod, mp3 player, hard drive, etc.

This allows them to take your audio anywhere and listen to it \r at their convenience. Your show goes jogging with them, it¡¯s \r in the car on the way to work, in the gym, at the beach or \r any other place you can think of.

Some internet radio shows currently have 100,000 listeners or \r more each week! These broadcasts are being done on a computer,\r simple software and a microphone! That¡¯s It!

Why are these stations so successful?

The people producing radio shows have a global audience and \r are broadcasting content to niche markets that traditional radio can¡¯t effectively reach with their limited, local reach.

Some examples of niche internet radio would be

Deep Sea Fishing Radio,\r Loan Officer Tips Radio,\r Dog Training Radio,\r Undiscovered Rock Music Radio,\r RC Racing Radio,\r Marketing Tips Radio,\r C+ Programming Tips Radio,\r Etc, etc

Thousands of potential radio niches could create massive world wide listening audiences. If you can deliver quality audio content to your own niche, imagine the impact this would have on your business!

Once you have a large loyal listening audience, the same money making principals that work with traditional radio will work with internet radio.

With your own show you are able to create your own publicity. By mentioning your product or service in your radio show you could create an avalanche of traffic to your website resulting in mega sales.

With internet radio listeners outnumbering satellite radio listeners by many millions, I would say you will be hearing a lot more about internet radio.

Do you have a show in mind?

If not you need to be thinking about producing your own radio show before your competition does. Internet radio is still in it¡¯s early stages, opening up endless opportunities for the creative entrepreneur.

I look forward to hearing you on the web.

Copyright 2005 Keith DeSantis, Rapid Fire Marketing

Keith DeSantis founder of http://www.multimediatips.com\r A newsletter educating business owners on using multi-media\r on the internet