|
|
On June 17, 1999, WKAR began online streaming at WKAR.org.
If you're an online fan of WKAR, please let us know: post a note on our wall at facebook, or follow us on twitter and send us a tweet (use @wkar #wkar10).
Listen to the June 17 1999 NewsTalk Hour
WKAR's Harold Beer and TISM's Gary Reid discuss the launch (requires RealPlayer). Dan Bayer also makes an appearance by phone. And, you can learn about the difference between powered and unpowered sub woofers.
WKAR.org Celebrates 10th Anniversary
While we may not understand how it works, most of us regularly take advantage of the work that began in 1989 by English physicist Sir Tim Berners-Lee and later by Robert Cailliau, a Belgian computer scientist, both working at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.
In 1990, they proposed building a “web of nodes” storing “hypertext pages” viewed by “browsers” on a network. The “web” was on its way to becoming a major application on the Internet.
WKAR first went on line in April 1995 as www.wkar.msu.edu with basic schedule information and music listings.
According to Harold Beer, WKAR Radio engineer, “It was February, 1999, when Steve Meuche, then WKAR’s station manger, asked me ‘How much would it cost, and how long would it take to get WKAR streaming on the web?’ and I started purchasing equipment.”
The Dark Ages
By 1999 Microsoft’s Internet Explorer still had its baby teeth; most people in the United States used dial-up connections; and the iPod didn’t even exist. WKAR’s Ethernet connections were 10 megabits, and no one was sure how many people would use the station’s streams.
It was decided to provide bandwidth for two-hundred simultaneous streams of 90.5’s classical music and AM 870’s news and information programs. The site also provided on-demand viewing of episodes of popular local WKAR-TV programs including Off the Record, QuizBusters, and Michigan At Risk.
January to June of 1999 was a pretty busy time,” recalls WKAR’s webmaster Bill Richards. “Harold installed and configured the hardware and software that actually produced the streams. Susi Elkins and I worked on the design of the actual WKAR.org site folks visit to get the streams.”
WKAR launched its own new streaming service on its new website on June 17, 1999 as WKAR.org. It was one of the first radio and television websites in Michigan to offer content online via streaming.
In the 10 years that followed, WKAR.org has expanded the number of stream connections from a maximum of 200 to “unlimited”; added different stream “flavors” such as Windows Media, QuickTime, and mp3; and upgraded the network from 100 to 1000 megabits.
Today and Tomorrow
Richards is continually working on WKAR.org updates, such as expanded pages for specific programs like BackStage Pass and the recently-launched Outdoors In Michigan site. At the station’s online NewsRoom, you can get the latest in local and Michigan news as audio, video, images, text, or any combination of the above.
And, via the new PBS Video Portal, television fans can now watch full-length, full-screen episodes of some of the network’s best offerings.
"Looking ahead, the web will allow people to enjoy WKAR shows at times and in places that best fit individual needs,” says Bill Morgan, WKAR Marketing & Communications Director. “It’s not that watching TV after dinner will go away – it’s about also watching a WKAR BackStage Pass video on your office computer at lunch. And it’s not that listening to 90.5 in your car will go away – it’s about the new option of listening to AM 870 SportsTalk through your iPhone while walking your dog."
published: June 16, 2009
|
|
|
