Internet Radio... not a new idea?

Here I thought that the internet radio idea was a relatively new idea... one full of great potential that has just yet to be tapped.  Upon researching this topic more, I found that I was wrong... well sorta.

In 2007, a research article published in the International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media, by E. Menduni, outlines the history of internet radio and also the history of pod-casting.  The article states that internet radio dates back to the early nineties and that it never caught on due to a couple of reasons:
1) lack of portability
2) lack of accessibility

The article examines the idea that pod-casting was a better alternative and replacement to internet radio.

I think though, that this article is already outdated in its thinking.  A couple of recent developments and advancements makes the internet radio of today very different from the past.  1) Mobile internet capable devices now make internet radio much more portable and accessible.  2) Web 2.0 technologies, such as tagging and social networking, make internet radio a safe & legal way of sharing music with peers, and ultimately with my students.

In fact, in that same year 2007, J. Knowles published an article titled: "A survey of Web 2.0 music trends and some implications for tertiary music communities." Knowles details services such as Pandora radio and lastfm.com and writes about the power that Web 2.0 technologies brings to these services.  One thing that I learned from this was that lastfm.com allows users to publish their own music to the site... great potential in a music classroom for sure!

So I began to look for a site with tips/steps on how to do this and found a jumping off point.

What I couldn't find, were projects like my idea.  I am beginning to think it's a bit narrow in its scope so finding others who are doing similar projects will be difficult if not impossible.

On another tangent, my new school had new teacher orientation this week.  Part of that orientation was us revisiting a district wide initiative of including rigor, relevance, and relationships in our curriculum.  I began to think about my project and how it was related.  So I dug a bit deeper on International Center for Leadership in Education website.

I began to realize that this activity fostered a high level of all 3 rigor, relevance, and relationships (a big eureka moment for me):
Rigor - promoting higher level thinking skills of evaluating existing musical performances, and then applying that evaluation to their own creation/synthesis of music.
Relevance - Making real-world connections with unpredictable situations (new music) and having to use their knowledge of music to make informed decisions and opinions
Relationship - Because I build the radio stations, I foster a new connection with my students that goes beyond the classroom.

The last article I'll share dives into how music affects the mind and learning.  This ties back to the idea of rigor (higher levels of thinking).  I realized from reading this article how powerful this tool of using internet radio can be.  It not only can serve my needs in providing exemplars to my students for performance, but might ultimately affect their cognitive abilities and stretch their thinking in new directions.

UPDATED: Continued my research in... part 2.