Q: The newscasting bug has bit me and I’m really interested in getting into Internet radio. How involved is this?

A: This isn’t hard at all - in fact, it’s a snap. When you think of Internet radio, you think of cheesy techno music or grainy, distorted sound - sometimes both on the same station - but this is quickly becoming the exception and not the rule. More and more people are feeling the power of broadband, and are getting on board as their own personal DJs.

Getting started? Find out what sort of service you want first. Live365 offers a fully managed, fee-based service for those who are interested in getting started right away. However, if you care to do things yourself, I would recommend Winamp’s Shoutcast plugin. Shoutcast turns your computer into a full-featured Internet radio transmitter.

The drawbacks? Your bandwidth will be sucked dry. Running your own Internet radio station is simple and easy to set up, but you may be getting some nasty calls from your ISP. Some casters can go through 30 GBs of content in just a few days (and that’s on a lower bitrate)! So, if you want to get involved in broadcasting, and don’t want to commit to a T1 or T3 line, make sure the content you’re serving can be listened to at a low bitrate. Talk radio is perfect for the Net because the quality is of less concern. But, if you have to have excellent quality for your music collection (please check into legal issues too), then you may want to go with a paid service. Now, it’s time to sit back and take some calls on the controversial issue of mono bitrates versus stereo. “Hello caller, you’re on the air!” [Jared Hudgins]