Spring Multi-College Internet Radio Music Festival to be Broadcast Free on the iPhone® and iTunes® Radio
A dozen colleges and universities will be showcasing hot, local bands on respective campuses -- sharing content and broadcasting among member Internet stations on the IBS Student Radio Network by Backbone. April 24-25, 2009
Worcester, MA (PRWEB) April 20, 2009
Back by popular demand, the IBS Palooza Student Music Festival is coming from a college radio station near you. This Internet rock fest is only the second installment of what promises to become an institution in the nationwide college music scene. Originally intended as an annual fall music festival, the first Palooza held last September was so successful that IBS Student Radio Network member schools decided to hold the nationwide, multiple venue festival again this month. This Spring festival will be available on the free College Radio Tuner app for the iPhone, as well as on iTunes Radio.
This month's two-day weekend event is another step in establishing Internet radio as a legitimate entertainment medium, as the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System's IBS Student Radio Network by Backbone (IBS-SRN) (http://www. studentradionetwork. org (http://www. studentradionetwork. org)) launches the Web's second live music festival, called "Spring IBS-Palooza". The increased sophistication of student radio clubs combined with advances in Internet broadcasting technology now allows multiple stations to digitally share and play each other's live content and provide valuable exposure to emerging local artists from around the world. The Spring IBS-Palooza will be available on the Internet from each participating school's website, as well at WIBS and Apple's iTunes Radio, College Radio category, April 24-25, 2009. The College Radio Tuner app can be downloaded free through http://www. studentradionetwork. org/tuner/ (http://www. studentradionetwork. org/tuner/).
Last fall's inaugural IBS Palooza Festival successfully broke new ground in the areas of both education and entertainment technology, including coordinating multiple live stations all syndicating their live content on a real-time basis using peer-sharing radio automation software. As the only live multi-venue music festival created for the Internet, it harnesses the technologies of both Apple and Backbone. com to enable live syndication of streaming content among several stations simultaneously. As an educational project, it opens up the student radio experience to a broader, more exciting arena of involvement. Together, with the added power and reach of the iPhone, students and organizations will use this Spring weekend to attract even more support for their stations, hone their live event broadcasting skills and processes, and most importantly, have fun.
The Festival also aims to help local, emerging artists gain wider exposure through student radio and the Internet. Most bands will be performing live at their host school's campus while live on the air, and some schools will combine their efforts to create an even larger live concert event. During non-concert hours, stations will be able to air live music from other time zones or use their Mac-driven Backbone Radio automation software to run highlights of Palooza from their station or syndicated from any participating school.
The following is a partial list of stations scheduled to participate:
University of Connecticut (WHUS)
NEIA New England Institute of Art, Boston
Simmons College, Boston http://www. simmons. edu/ (http://www. simmons. edu/)
Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC (WCCU)
Long Island University, Brooklyn (WLIU-BK)
Roosevelt University, Chicago (WRBC "The Blaze")
Goucher College Student Radio, Baltimore
Towson University, Baltimore (XTSR)
SUNY Stony Brook, NY (WUSB)
Oklahoma State University (KXZY)
Central Methodist University, Fayette, MO
About The College Radio Tuner (http://itunes. apple. com/WebObjects/MZStore. woa/wa/viewSoftware? id=303341290&mt=8 (http://itunes. apple. com/WebObjects/MZStore. woa/wa/viewSoftware? id=303341290&mt=8))
The free College Radio Tuner application for the iPhone allows a worldwide mobile audience to find and listen to cutting edge, student-run Internet radio stations, all of which are members of IBS. It allows the user to scroll easily through a list of stations, find and click to play live radio right on the iPhone or iPod touch, whether connected via WiFi, 3G or Edge networks. The Tuner automatically searches for and adds new stations as they become available.
About IBS-SRN (http://www. studentradionetwork. org (http://www. studentradionetwork. org))
In 2007, Backbone Networks Corporation, in cooperation with the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS), launched what is believed to be the first true Internet radio network, one that specifically aims to enhance the student radio experience.. The IBS Student Radio Network enables student operated stations to syndicate live and produced programming among member stations, as well as automatically access a vast amount of royalty-free programming from worldwide third-party sources.
This formative network is establishing cooperative relationships with content providers to bring its member stations vast collections of news feeds, royalty-free music from emerging and alternative independent artists, and other programming that will be available only to stations on the Network. In addition, member stations are able to draw programming from one another through shared server databases, as well as have access to each other's live feeds, including remote sporting events and concerts.
In addition to Backbone Radio's powerful automation and management software, the IBS-SRN builds upon (Apple's QuickTime™) MPEG-4 AAC, the worldwide streaming standard, as its streaming format. Conforming to this standard not only ensures universal acceptance across all listening platforms, but it also enables each school to partner with the Apple's iTunes store in preparing material, including artist/album annotation and cover art images that display to listeners' free QuickTime players. Select IBS-SRN stations are available on iTunes' College Radio category.
About IBS (http://www. ibsradio. org/ (http://www. ibsradio. org/))
The Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) is a nonprofit association of mostly student-staffed radio stations based at schools and colleges across the country. Over 1,000 IBS member stations operate all types of facilities including Internet - Webcasting, closed-circuit, AM carrier-current, cable radio, FCC-licensed FM, LPFM and AM stations.
About Backbone (http://backbone. com (http://backbone. com))
Founded in 1990, Backbone Networks Corporation helps organizations create, automate and stream their own Internet radio stations. Backbone Networks developed the Internet radio automation (http://www. backbone. com/create-station. html (http://www. backbone. com/create-station. html)) and streaming software used in the IBS Student Radio Network. In addition, Backbone hosts the Network servers and provides streaming bandwidth for all IBS-SRN member stations. Backbone also developed the College Radio Tuner app for the iPhone.
Backbone has its roots in developing television and radio software, especially content production and delivery applications. Its founders are pioneers in developing technology for the broadcasting industry. They have supplied software and systems for some of the highest profile broadcasters and their events.
###
