Internet radio is a big part of the reason that public airwaves are creaking to a halt; barely relevant on a local level as they’re all syndicated talking heads who stretch from coast to coast in an embarrassingly wide, yawning arc; talking in general terms about the “national scene” how politicians are all corrupt or that people are all ignorant or whatever suits their narrow viewed audience base and anything else that they want.

Then along comes the internet and internet radio. Now you can listen to the morning drive in New York City from your overnight post at your job in France or you can download your favorite program from Friday on the following Tuesday because you were out of the area and missed it.

Internet radio really has thrown a whole new source of advertising revenue into a dying business and has added an entirely new dynamic as “agenda filled” radio programs, hosts, and just random people’s begin populating the internet planet.

Internet radio is, for the most part, free. If it’s not free, for some strange reason, you can probably find a streaming partner who subscribes to it and then offers it for free. Just be wary if you’re led to a third party website where you need to leave personal information. You should never give anything personal like social security number, mother’s maiden name or birth date unless it’s extremely relevant and a necessary element to the discussion.

Free internet radio is offered in a number of different platforms by a number of different providers. MSN offers a free internet radio where you can choose a bunch of music or talk types. There is also free internet radio that offers country music selections for the country music lover. If you live in a big enough market (any big city in America) you probably still have at least part time live radio broadcasters; most have gone digital years ago and have websites which offers streaming live radio broadcasts on your internet frequency.

Internet radio is a necessary part of the 21st century living both in the world and in the United States. If you’re away from home but want to know what’s still going on locally, you have a number of different options online. But if you’re looking for local news, weather, traffic, and sports all in one place, you can check out your local radio stations internet radio broadcasts.