Pacifica Streaming Service

The Pacifica Internet Technology Package includes web streaming of your station's terrestrial radio signal.

The primary intention of the Pacifica streaming service is to enable simulcasting of stations' existing AM or FM signals. Contact Pacifica Affiliates if you intend to stream something other than your station's terrestrial signal.

Service Overview

Pacific Affiliates Network uses the industry-standard Icecast web streaming service.

As stated in the Icecast Introduction:

There are two major parts to most streaming media servers: the component providing the content (what we call source clients) and the component which is responsible for serving that content to listeners (this is the function of icecast).

Here's an example of what this looks like:

Example Pacifica Affiliates Streaming Scenario

As of the time of this writing, Pacifica Affiliates Network runs Icecast version 2.4.4.

Station Requirements

In order to stream your station's signal, you need to provide a device that can convert your audio signal to the digital format required by Icecast. This device is commonly referred to as a stream encoder (or just encoder). In Icecast parlance, this device is also called a "source client".

A stream encoder is essentially a computer that has one or more audio inputs as well as Internet connectivity. Encoders come in many shapes, sizes, and levels of sophistication. It's pretty straight-forward to build your own, DIY-style. You can also purchase purpose-built encoders from the usual broadcast equipment suppliers. See some common encoders in this list.

While setting up your stream encoder, you will need to add the parameters specific to the Pacifica streaming server. Get in touch with your Pacifica Affiliates technical contact for these details.

Monitoring Your Stream

Once your stream is available to the world, you may want to monitor various aspects of it. Pacifica Affiliates offer two different views of listener statistics: a simple graph of listeners over time

Pacifica Affiliates Streaming Statistics (Simple View)

and a more in-depth view with a map of those listeners' locations.

Pacifica Affiliates Streaming Statistics (Advanced View)