China
Nick Swanson: How to do Internet Radio
Fed up with Hong Kong’s limited offering of all-music radio, Nick Swanson - an A330 pilot - launched Hongkongfm.net on July 1, 2007. He now claims more than 10,000 listeners and hopes to give up his day job.
Video of Nick below the fold and here.
Streamed across the Internet, he was not restricted by government regulations or required to build a large broadcast infrastructure.
Why would anyone bother listening to a local Internet radio station when they can use iTunes or Last.fm?
“Anybody can play Madonna or David Bowie,” Swanson said. “It is the bits between the songs that makes you stand out.” Those bits between the songs include promotions for Dragonboat racing and other local events.
Hongkongfm.net’s current and upcoming channels include:
- Top 40
- 1980s
- Classic Rock
- Asia hits
- Alternative
To attract listeners, Nick uses a combination of:
- Events
- T-shirts
- Advertising in city magazines
- Sponsorship
- Advertisements on Hong Kong’s minibuses (He must have purchased adverts on most buses that pass in front of my apartment in Mid-Levels.)
Nick’s music passion is the driving force behind the station and he loves the 5 to 6 hours it takes him to program a full week for one channel.
The future for Hongkongfm.net will be in taking the Internet into devices, such as wifi-receiving clock radios.
Future cities under consideration for Hongkongfm.net include Bangkok and Taipei.
Revenue come from advertising and Nick said he hopes to make Hongkongfm his full time job soon.
Discussion
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Link up:
My newspaper articles:
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I’ll be a HK full time inhabitant within 1 month, good to know that services