Where can you get weather satellite images for your area that are only an hour old, look at current state and federal legislation, and track your Fed Ex^® package? How can your audience get information about your station such as programming times, event directions, and sound and video clips from your shows at any time of the day? Via the Internet. With your station plugged in to this global data network, you can do all of this and plenty more at a cost ranging from free to ~$1000 a month.

1. Definition of the Internet

Simply, the Internet is a group of thousands of data or computer networks that are tied together via leased lines, or radio (shortwave through light frequencies) that share a common protocol called the Internet Protocol or IP. IP was born out of some pretty crude and slow hardware, but it has had 25 years of development since then. Even from the beginning, IP provided the network with the ability to self-heal in a matter of minutes after sections had been severed. It also scales very well to the current and future fast network technology like ATM and SONET. Because of its flexibility and speed, the Internet provides all the tools to tie local computer networks to other networks.

 

2. Explosive Growth

The Internet has grown exponentially since its development by the Defense Department’s (D)ARPA division just over 25 years ago. In October of ‘84 there were 1024 hosts or computers directly connected to the net. Nine years later, in 1993, there were 2,056,000 hosts. This January. the Internet had an estimated 4,851,000 hosts connected (see Figure 1). The Internet Society estimates that the Internet will reach 100 million hosts by the first quarter of 1999.

 



Figure 1

There is some debate over how many people have access through these hosts. Estimates suggest that the average number of users per host ranges from 3 to 10. These figures produce a total estimate of between 15 and 50 million people on the Internet. Each one can use the resources available on the Internet 24 hours a day.

Access to the Internet is available almost everywhere on the globe. At last count 159 countries (and other entities) out of 238 had conductivity.

 

3. New Tools

Until recently, one of the problems with using the Internet was that you needed to know the arcane "language" of UNIX^®, because most of the Internet hosts ran UNIX. You also needed to know how to use very unfriendly Internet tools like FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and Telnet. In addition, as shown in Figure 1, just a few years ago there were few accessible sites on the Internet.

Recently, several new tools have made the Internet easier to navigate and access. About two years ago, the concept of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) was developed. Essentially an address, a URL contains information such as the protocol, the site, and the directory and file name that are needed to retrieve a document. A sample URL looks like this:

http://www.tbo.com/index.html

This URL defines that a document is available via the HTTP protocol from the site "www.tbo.com" under the file name "index.html". In fact, this URL points to the KKSF and KDFC server, where you can find out all about us. More sample URLs that point to Internet references in this paper can be found in the endnote section.

With the use of URLs, a new protocol was developed called Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP). With a mark-up language called Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML), HTTP can create documents that contain pointers to other documents embedded in them. If someone reading an HTML document was interested in knowing more about microwaves, for example, and that word was attached to another document, the reader could select it and be seamlessly transferred to an essay on microwave theory.

The second major development was a graphical user interface or front end to the Internet called Mosaic. Mosaic was developed in the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) department at the University of Illinois. Using a number of the main Internet protocols, including HTTP, this application can retrieve documents via URLs and can display HTML documents. In Mosaic, pointing to a highlighted word or graphic with the cursor brings up another related document. Mosaic has popularized HTTP so much that this protocol is one of the most used on the Internet in the last year.

Recently there has been substantial interest in creating commercial versions of Mosaic. Spry Incorporated has taken the Mosaic software, added some bells and whistles, debugged it, and is now selling it commercially. Netscape Communications Corp. hired the main programmers from the Mosaic project at the NCSA and created a new "Mosaic" called Netscape. Netscape has added major improvements to this HTML browser so that it is now the application of choice.

4. Ease of Access

1. Mailing Lists

One of the least costly ways to promote your company is the electronic distribution of a station "newsletter." On the Internet, this is called a mailing list. Such a mailing list is a list of listeners/viewers who have indicated that they want to receive promotion material from you. Once a week you could put together a letter that discusses upcoming events, programming, or related information about your station and send it to your list.

The least expensive way to do this is to get a "shell" account with an ISP. Shell accounts run from $0 to about $20 a month. A shell account will let you access Internet e-mail and the conferencing software known as USENET.

As soon as you get your account set up, post a message to the appropriate conference areas on USENET saying that your station has an e-mail list that announces station events, and if folks are interested they should drop you a line. You can also plug the station’s e-mail address on the air and collect addresses that way. Be prepared to be inundated with such requests--KKSF’s mailing list currently consists of over 1000 addresses.

 

2. HTTP or WWW Servers

The next step in information distribution is a World-Wide Web (or WWW) server. WWW servers can deliver text, pictures, graphics, audio, movies, and animation via HTTP. A well-developed WWW server can have the same impact as a well-designed listener newsletter to entice or remind the user to "tune in."

Starting up and maintaining a WWW server will take a bit more effort and cost than a mailing list. You can either set up a WWW server in-house or rent space from a provider. If you don’t have the expertise on-site, it might work better to look for a provider who can run and design the server for you. A provider will charge for renting the "space" on the server, and in some cases by the download. Costs can range from $0 to $500 a month, depending on how much material you make available on the site and how often you change the site.

Running a WWW server in-house is much more complicated. You will pay for both a leased line to an ISP and the ISP’s monthly charges. In addition, you will need to have a computer that can function as the server. This could be a ‘486 loaded with the memory and hard disk space needed to run UNIX or WindowsNT. Finally, there is the labor and knowledge needed to maintain the system.

So, now you have this nifty WWW server, what can you do with it? You can start by just putting up your logos and a short description of the station. This will get sort of old in a hurry. , you will have a better chance of repeat business. You will have a better chance of repeat business if you put up some information that is updated on some periodical, or add interesting pointers or features to the server. Let’s look at some examples.

KKSF/KDFC’s server (see Figure 2) contains pointers to electronic versions of our paper newsletters and documents of current events and concerts. We try to constantly change features so there is something new each time a user queries our server.

Because we are a radio station, pictures and graphics play an important part in giving some image to the company. Logos, portraits of the announcers, and even pictures of the tower can help listeners feel connected to the station.

Our server averages about 8,000 "hits" per week. With an average figure of 10 hits per person, about 800 folks per week may check out our site. As the Internet grows, this number will only grow too.



Figure 2

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (see Figure 3), with the help of the Communication Research Centre, has been experimenting the last couple of years with distributing programming via the Internet. Folks on the Internet can download recent shows and play them back on their workstations in entirety.

The CBC has even set up merchandising via their WWW server. You can order audio tapes and transcripts of shows, clothing, books, and other accessories. Instructions on how to order are included. New developments by companies such as Netscape will enable radio stations to sell directly over the Internet by taking credit card numbers and automating the ordering process.

 



Figure 3

 

3. FTP Servers

Although WWW servers are fast becoming the de facto way to distribute information on the Internet, a large segment of the Internet user population still can’t display graphics or audio. A File Transfer Protocol or FTP server can serve this "underprivileged" set of Internet users. The same text, graphics, and sound files can then be "hand" downloaded and played back on the user’s workstation. It isn’t quite as elegant, but it goes a long way toward having something for them.

 

4. Politics of the Internet