THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 23, 1994 TAG: 9412230533
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHAPEL HILL LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
Boom, Buttsteak, Pizzicato 5. Listen up, worldwide surfers on the 'Net. A student-run radio station in North Carolina is bringing these alternative music groups to you.
They'll even serve up some mainstream fare, on occasion - if you get lonely for more conventional voices such as Elvis Costello or Lyle Lovett.
Overnight, this small FM-radio station at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has gone from a limited, local range to a worldwide broadcasting audience.
WXYC says it's the nation's first radio station to offer 24-hour, real-time rebroadcasting of its complete programming over the Internet, a web of interconnected computer networks.
``The stage we're at now is, wow, this is kind of cool, but the sound quality is not so great,'' said David McConville, a graduate student who did most of the technical work to get the station on line.
The nonprofit station began broadcasting on the Internet last month, and listeners from Poland to Mexico have tuned in to hear the hollow, AM-quality transmission of music such as Boom's ``Squint'' and Buttsteak's ``Moroccan VD CD LP.''
WXYC rebroadcasts through the school's SunSITE project (Sun Software, Information and Technology Exchange). The project helps the university put information on the Internet and is funded by grants from two California computer companies, Sun Microsystems and Cisco Microsystems. by CNB