The Second Post, Hey listen to Radio on your Computer, oh yeah faith

I want to thank all the folks who visited this blog on its initial week. Thanks. As I said I want to use this blog to build your faith, comment about radios and communication, and will freely mix both topics. In my future post I hope bring you information about internet radio, faith, discipleship and even people using radio to reach the world for Christ. I presently am waiting for a response to some interview questions from a station called “Life Radio” in New Zealand. They sound great. You can listen to them online at the links I have on the right of the page. Today I just want to point you to those links and give you some help on using your computer as a great radio. As well as a great radio it can be a good tool to build you up and maybe for the guys keep you out of online trouble.

Stations have been and will all ways will be anxious about getting people to listen to them. The internet has provided an awesome forum for this. The great thing that some folks know and fewer have tried is internet radio. You can listen to most any station, any place you can get a decent internet connection. Also, some stations are just on the net. I know about a great Christian “oldies” station called “247Christian Classics.” If you have moved from home, you may be able to get your favorite home town station right on you computer, ipod, pad or even smart phone. You can also sample other stations in other markets. A news station from LA or New York is interesting. A Christian station from India is really quite interesting. A few warning. Standard for all of this are not in place. Some stations need installed software. Some stations just play because they use very simple technologies. Some times you have to go to a web site, but most of the times you can just go to a listing of stations and push a link. In my short experience of this I have also learned some stations are there one day and rules or situations change and poof they are gone. Somebody compared it to early satellite. They said in the early days every one's signal was free, then pay schemes came in, but you still watch a few things on satellites for free. (Free to air – another column) Most radio organizations are still trying to figure out why the want to be on the internet. Who really needs news and adds from Waco, Texas, outside of Waco? People in office buildings that can only get a station on a computer are quite happy with internet broadcasting of their favorite station in Waco. The rest of us may be curious, but really we do not have a lot of reasons to listen very long. What ever may happen, well over 10,000 stations are out there for your listening pleasure. For the eternally curious like me, I just love this stuff. What does radio in the Philippines sound like? Pretty good really. Side note: Lots of English is spoken outside the US, take a listen. If it was an British Colony, US protectorate or English was adopted because they had too many dialects you can hear a lot of stuff you can understand. Indian radio again, is just a riot when they play American rock classics.

Ok, where to start? I have put some good links to the right of this blog. Two of them are really just perfect for anyone playing with internet radio. Vtuner and Tune In Radio. These services are actually used for internet Radios (yep another topic for later) as a huge station index. The station listings are not a secret, these sites just put them in one place for you to sample. They also give you a few tools to sort through the 10,000 plus stations around the world. “Vtuner” is pretty simple and slightly smaller than “Tune In.” Vtuner offers some television stations that offer their signal around the world for free. Lots of education, faith and public broadcasting on these stations. Warning Internet TV can be rough on some older computers. If a station fails try another. Internet radio usually works pretty good. Vtuner will usually just get a station and play it in windows media if it can. Tune In will probably try to go to a stations site and play the station in a window. All that really maters is that you get sound. If a stations bombs just try it again on a different browser or software. (Remember, no real standards of how they get sound to us, some stations use lots of methods, some just use one.) There are other radio sites that work quite well. I also included “I heart Radio” on right side of the blog. This goes to most Clear Channel stations. It has lots of nifty stuff. If you have a favorite, email me a link and I will try it out and maybe add it to the ones I have listed,

A lot of stations have apps for phones or listening through a site. Most stations just offer you an opportunity to look up their websites and push a “listen” link and usually a window pops up and plays the station. Most stations are that way. You can Google a station you know, and go to the site and push “listen” and that works pretty good. (Suggestion, bookmark your favorite stations. Poor man's tuner.) A lot of stations will offer a free phone app that you can tune in their station or a group of stations with a touch on your ipad or smart phone. Usually you will need a droid app, Iphone app or Blackberry app. I have found that a smart phone browser can usually play stations from the web. I have listed a few Christian stations that I like. I mentioned Life Radio earlier, KSBJ is a personal favorite and I listed KLOVE. They are a national radio network (They normally have stations in markets where Christian Radio is weak or the listener base is too small for a local public Christian radio station) that does great contemporary Christian radio. God has blessed their on line work, they are one of the most listened too online stations in the world. They are a very good ministry that is just scary big.

Ok Scott, how does this help my faith. This really is a not a mystery. You are what you putting in your mind? Paul in his letters Philippians 4:8 tell us that we should focus on what is true and perfect. I do not know of anything better than sermons, Christian talk, and music that focus me on the Lord. Out there is plenty of Godly stuff that is at your finger tips. Also as a believer I have found that variety and a little change does a soul good. As I write this, I am listening to KLOVE. The connection is on my old XP computer using an air card to a DSP router. The station sounds great. Worship music, the News Boys latest song and great on air personalities that sound a lot better than a station on auto pilot playing songs from a computer. PS I am a huge Christian music fan. KLOVE has articles and links on some of my favorites. I can also submit a prayer request or read and uplifting article or two. Lately I have listened to a Christian station in the United Kingdom, (Premier. Yep another blog post.) They have some repacked US preachers and some very good stuff that I have never heard. Some teaching stations just have a good mix and people on at the right time. Side Note: If you listen to stations from overseas just be aware that time zones may effect what you hear. Morning Drive time anywhere usually equals good talent.

Last point. If you are easily offended bail now. I find internet radio can also help men who struggle with inappropriate internet browsing. If you are playing praise music, preaching or Christian rock you may be less tempted to browse in place that you know God and you know that you shouldn't. When you listen to God honoring stuff, God is at work and you really have to try too hard to look at stuff you shouldn't. Try it, email me if it helps.

Scott Talbert

scotttalbert1963@gmail.com