Website: http://www.afradio.com/
Background: Founded in January 11, 2004 by a group of fans, aF Radio has quickly become the number one most popular online radio site for Asian music. aF Radio not only have music from Asia, but they also promote music from Asian artists worldwide.
Another plus about aF Radio is the fact that the site has a dedicated worldwide community of DJs and fans that constantly participate in chat, forum discussion, blogs and the radio program.
With excellent music selection and a dedicated community, aF Radio is easily the best online radio for Asian music.
Music Selection: aF Radio have a great selection of Asian music from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and much more. The music selection includes famous Asian music superstars like Janice Vidal, Bi, Se7en, BoA, Utada Hikaru, Mika Nakashima, Jay Chou and Wang Lee Hom. In addition they often promote music from Asian artist worldwide no matter of what language they sing in (i.e. Asian-American artists, Asian-Canadian artists, etc).
DJs: The DJs from aF Radio started out as fans for the radio station. Through a relatively easy and painless process of earning the DJ status, they became DJs to aF Radio. The list of dedicated DJs includes: DJ sOra, DJ Fantasy, DJ Magz, DJ Sleepy, DJ Flo, DJ Aki, DJ Ekaro and DJ Xero.
Features:
– Radio: The radio immediately starts as you enter the site. No signup or download is required; you just need to have a Winamp, Windows Media, or Real player already installed on your computer. You have the option to use a small pop-up player for your convenience.
– Chat: Fans and DJs can chat with each other through aF Radio’s mIRC chat room (#afradio) at irc.chatspike.net. You need either Java or mIRC to be able to access the chat room.
– Live call-in request: This is a new feature that allows fans the ability to call-in to the DJs to either request a song, dedicate a song or give a shout out during aF Radio’s live broadcast, which starts at 8:00pm EST everyday. This new feature effectively turns aF Radio into a FM radio station without all the commercials.
– Forums: aF Radio’s forum is like any other forum. You can discuss about aF Radio, the DJs, the playlisters, Asian entertainment, or just about anything else as long as you keep it clean and don’t break their rules for the forum.
– DJs: Fans can become aF Radio DJs if they meet the following prerequisite: they must have at least 350 Asian songs (Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages only), a clear microphone, and high-speed internet connection. DJ hopefuls also have to send an audio file with his or her own voice describing his or herself and also giving an example of his or her skill as a DJ.
– Playlisters: Fans can have their playlist played on aF Radio. The prerequisite of becoming one includes having at least 500 Asian songs (Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages only), as well as a high-speed internet connection. aF Radio plays playlists when they aren’t doing live broadcasts with their DJs.
