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Online Elvis Presley Radio

By Wouter Broekman, February 20, 2000 | Other
A fairly new phenomenon on the Internet, is online radio. Using new streaming audio techniques like RealAudio, Streaming Media or MP3, you can listen to radio stations from all over the world when you’re connected to the Internet. Of course, there are also some special Elvis Presley radio shows on the WWW, so we though it was time to tell you something about these. We’ll take a look at five Elvis broadcasts, and show you some other options. You can try them by clicking on the pictures.

The first radio station we found, was www.quicktracks.com. This is a site with various Internet-broad- casts, and they also have a special Elvis section. What’s unusual here is that this site offers you an automated play list, so it is not a fixed show like many of the others which makes it stand out.
At the time I visited, there was an “Elvis in the 70s” section, with songs from the “Walk A Mile In My Shoes” Boxset. On quicktracks.com, you can select the quality of the broadcast to fit your connection speed. You can choose from 1.6, 2 or 5.6 K/sec. This is streaming MP3, so you’ll need WinAmp to play them. On the site you can view the song currently played, the last 10 played, and you can even request a song, dedicate it to someone and have it played within minutes! The quality of the broadcast is fine – I chose 2 K/sec – and the speed is good, not too much interruptions. Visit www.quicktracks.com, click on the main menu and then on “Listin In” next to Elvis. Great site!
Another service, that you probably know, is www.broadcastelvis.com. This is a “real” radio show, with host and Elvis fan Jay Gordon. Every Monday evening, a new show is uploaded in Streaming RealAudio (7) format. You can listen to it from a pop-up window, too bad there’s some advertising here. Also during the show there are some commercials.
Otherwise, this is a good show, with a wide range of Elvis songs, and background info on both Elvis and his music told by Jay Gorden.
Since 1988, he hosted ELVIS ONLY, an hour of Elvis music and memories heard on radio stations across America (and now in Canada.) The program is currently heard by an estimated 200,000 listeners each weekend. This broadcast also has it's own site at www.elvisonly.com with more information on this online radio show.
A third site that offers Elvis Net radio, is www.cyberradio2000.com. This site features Elvis as “Artist in the Spotlight”, along with a lot of other stars. The broadcast is in ASX format, so requires Windows Media Player. It’s a fixed show, which means that every time you start listening you’ll hear the same songs. Not very interesting. But the quality is OK, and reasonably fast.
And yes, there’s more! On www.rondiamond.com you’ll find an Elvis play list. A fixed show, with 15 songs – playing for 45 minutes. This one is also in ASX format, with a reasonable quality, not as good as the others. Another little thing we found, is the “Elvis Voice” that the DJ uses …
Not only Elvis music is on line, also interviews with persons around him, for example Leiber and Stoller. From KCRW, an in-depth interview with the creators of many classic R&B / Rock and Roll songs is online. These are the guys who composed "Jailhouse Rock," "Hound Dog," "King Creole," and many more Elvis hits. Learn about their long musical legacy in this 45 minute interview.
Besides Elvis' music, also music tat influenced him is on line. There's live feed from Live365 featuring many of the songs that Elvis eventually covered in his career. This program also boasts a rare recording of WHBQ Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips. Elvis was a regular listener, and it was Phillips who was the first to play a Presley record on the air.
The ElvisPresley.com website offers two hours of Elvis documentary on it's site under the name "The Elvis Presley Story" You can click on these links for two hours of audio. Hour One and Hour Two.
For the last website: there’s www.flamesradio.com. This features a truly live show, aired every Sunday Night. The show is called “Predominately Presley”. We weren’t able to listen to it, mostly useful for American fans – at least they can see what time it is being broad-casted.
So, these were the most important Internet Radio Stations that feature Elvis. The www.quicktracks.com is really favorite, with great music, good quality, and always different. Of course you’ll need a decent Internet connection, but our 56K modem works fine here.
Furthermore there’s millions of other radio stations on the Internet, a lot of which also play Elvis – among others. So you can listen to the greatest of the Fifties too, if you like other artists as well (and who doesn’t?) Finally, there’s also www.launch.com, where you can create your own radio station, and become a worldwide DJ! Anyone interesting in creating an Elvis Station?