Online radio is either live or pre-recorded MP3 recordings, via a microphone through an Internet broadcast using a data stream. With online radio, you are often not limited to a geographic area as other radio stations pick up your transmission. What's more, you can play your show anytime and at night from anywhere on the planet. It's quite the turnaround of traditional radio in an office, restaurant or public house, to be a star on a satellite radio system in a bedroom or living room in the suburbs.
Yet another advantage of online radio is that the technology allows the audio to be replayed multiple times at no additional cost. This is what gives am and fm radio an edge over online radio. Podcasts offer similar benefits to audio broadcasts but cost subscribers money to download. AM and FM Radio are completely free to download, so they have no advantage over Internet radio.