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By Kent Larsen
KZION Radio May Begin Independent LDS Radio
NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- The modest KZION Internet radio station started
this past week may be the beginning of independent Internet for
members of the LDS Church. The new station currently streams a play
list of LDS songs to anyone that wants to listen. The emergent
station has reached agreements with 6 LDS musicians and will soon
double that number.
KZION started simply because John Hesch and his partner Kim Siever
offered an MP3 file of Janet Clayton Sloan's song "Love Is A Verb" on
their Home and Visiting Teaching website, LDSTeach.com . When they got a
strong positive response, and lots of downloads, they decided to
bring in other musicians. That developed into offering the music in
streaming audio, and finally, the service has developed into, this
past week, a radio station.
Listeners can now tune in by connecting to:
http://www.ldsteach.com/realaudio/radio.html
There, they can hear the streaming audio from KZION with just a
simple click, which launches the Real player, Windows Media player or
other audio software supported by their site. Currently, the
broadcast is at 32Kpbs or at 24Kbps. For the play list, Hesch and
Siever choose songs that fit with LDSTeach's theme of Home and
Visiting Teaching.
In the future, Hesch says he hopes to add a playlist and a request
line for listeners. He also hopes to add disc jockey introductions
for songs so that listeners know who the artists are. Hesch and
Siever are also considering some live broadcasts, featuring
interviews with artists or maybe even a game show, such as "Who wants
to be a Home or Visiting Teacher." He also is interested in pursuing
a broader mix of songs, probably with Hesch's other website, MormonFind.com .
Hesch admits that the idea has excited him. "Yea, this is kind of
like a dream for me. I've always wanted to be a DJ and in a simple
kind of way I can do that here." And he can also see more than music
in the future, "I think there is a market for other types of Internet
radio."
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