My Thoughts On You Running Your Own Radio Show!

In the recent times I have been asked by many about my thoughts on Radio advertising and the relevance of internet radio shows. My thoughts on this subject are more or less as an observer as i do not conduct any radio shows of my own. These days I podcast a lot and am a big fan of voice as a medium.

Years ago creating your own radio show was a huge investment. You had to pay for office space, building and ground maintenance, operations, land use, janitorial services, telecommunications equipment and computers, power, heat and lighting and insurance. Then you had to worry about hiring a staff, legal services and countless other expenses that could not be avoided.

In the Internet age however, you have the ability to create your own online radio show. This is an audio broadcasting service that is transmitted digitally across the Web, also known as web casting. These radio stations are accessible from anywhere in the world and offer a much wider selection than traditional radio stations. Still, many traditional radio stations can pick up Internet radio shows depending on the content they offer.

What matters to you is that Internet radio shows cost you practically nothing to get started. The minimum requirements for running your own Internet radio show are a fairly new personal computer and DSL/Cable Internet connection, items you may already own. In fact, the only major costs of the show will depends on how much free content you can provide. Startup costs are usually less than $40.00, and mainly involving licensing (if necessary) and a few technical requirements such as Shoutcast servers, static IP addresses and other inexpensive technical tools.

Just as with traditional radio broadcasting, there are sponsors for Internet programs who will buy airtime for their commercials. Radio commercials are usually sold in increments of 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, one minute or 120 minutes.

Radio stations may offer discounts to advertisers who pay for packaged deals or allow their ads to run at the station??™s discretion. Though these commercials are sometimes produced by outside agencies, occasionally the advertisers will request the radio station to write and perform the commercial on behalf of them.

Internet radio may work off the same model, however at this time it is a much smaller market. If your Internet show gains a following then it may be easier to score advertisers. Until this unanimous success however, you will have to convince advertisers that buying ads on your radio show will increase their business. You will have to target your advertisers just as you target your audience??”always aiming for the appropriate demographic.

The most important factor is consistently producing a quality product that you can put your own heart and soul into. You could make your show a news program, a comedy program, a musical station or take phone calls. Whatever the format, the radio can center on the product or services you are selling. Don??™t waste time creating artificial content or clones of other shows.

Find a niche that suits you and make your radio show enthusiastic, fun and meaningful to your business.