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entertainment: World of music
Local Web radio station pushes independent bands on its site

Tired of listening to the same songs on the radio all the time? You're not the only one.

That's why Dave Kaspersin, president of Dynamic Recording Studios in Rochester, decided to start a Web radio station — WDYN — which you can hear by going to www.wdyn.net.

"We saw a chance to promote our own — and others' — independent music," Kaspersin says. "The majority of radio stations in the world do not play independent music."
Photo illustration by Lisa Carp
Since WDYN went live in 2000, people in more than 75 countries have tuned in. The station is based in Rochester.
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What can you expect to hear on WDYN? "The only rule we have is to play independent music," Kaspersin says. "All of the disc jockeys get to play anything they want to play, and they can say anything they want about it. They can also say anything they want about politics."

The lack of rules is one of the best features of Web radio, Kaspersin says. "The majority of radio stations are owned by large conglomerates, so the people who work for them have absolutely no say over what they play on the station."

The freedom to put a wide variety of music and opinions on the air has helped the station grow. Since it went live on Sept. 1, 2000, people in more than 75 countries have tuned in. "It keeps growing every month. Because of our opinions on things, we've had comments come in from all over the world in the form of e-mails," Kaspersin says.

Another thing Kaspersin doesn't like about most radio stations is the amount of advertising. "Advertising on our station is not something I'm in a big hurry to do, so I just allow a little," he says. "The first year, we didn't even try (to advertise). We just wanted to get the independent music out to the world."

So, how do they make money? By promoting the indie music they produce and sell. "In the beginning, we just played local music, and our sales picked up dramatically in our online store," Kaspersin says. "From that standpoint, Web radio's the best thing that ever happened to us as an independent label."

Dynamic Recording also helps itself by helping others. Groups all over the world send in music for WDYN to play. The exposure helps the groups sell their music. Some then ask WDYN to sell their music in its online store.

WDYN not only plays music from all over the world, it has disc jockeys from other countries. In addition to nine deejays based in Rochester, WDYN has two disc jockeys in Tokyo who record their show in Japan and then upload it to WDYN's server.

That ability to interact with the entire world has Kaspersin thinking that the Web is the future of radio.

"If I owned a radio station, I'd be looking to get on the Web," Kaspersin says. "The potential's fantastic. I really see that this is the way radio and television will go. I don't know how long it will take, but I'm glad we're on the cutting edge of it."


Tune them in

There are five ways to listen to WDYN, and you can find all of them by going to its Web site:

www.wdyn.net

Musicmatch

www.musicmatch.com/download

Live365

www.live365.com/downloads

Windows Media Player

www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download

RealAudio

www.real.com/player

IM Tuner

www.imnetworks.com/products/products.shtml

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