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AF Radio: Best Online Radio for Asian Music by Orza
Background: Founded in January 11, 2004 by a group of fans, aF Radio has quickly become the number one most popular online radio site for Asian music. aF Radio not only have music from Asia, but they also promote music from Asian artists worldwide.
Another plus about aF Radio is the fact that the site has a dedicated worldwide community of DJs and fans that constantly participate in chat, forum discussion, blogs and the radio program.
With excellent music selection and a dedicated community, aF Radio is easily the best online radio for Asian music.
Music Selection: aF Radio have a great selection of Asian music from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and much more. The music selection includes famous Asian music superstars like Janice Vidal, Bi, Se7en, BoA, Utada Hikaru, Mika Nakashima, Jay Chou and Wang Lee Hom. In addition they often promote music from Asian artist worldwide no matter of what language they sing in (i.e. Asian-American artists, Asian-Canadian artists, etc).
Associatedcontent.com - read entire article here!
About Us
aF launched about 3 years ago on January 11, 2004. Founded by Drag and friends it started out
pretty small and as time went by more DJs and people were exposed to it.
Below are some DJs' first experiences on aF Radio. This might ease you up a bit if you're thinking about trying out for aF Radio!
DJ Aki
Hey, this is DJ Aki. The following paragraph is a little introduction on
how I got into aF Radio and finally becoming a DJ; however, I am going to
limit it down to mostly my first time on air and hope that this will give the
fellow listeners and potential DJ candidates a little insight on DJing.
I came across aF Radio through a friend of mine who sent me the link to
radio. At first, I though it was another one of those play listing shout
cast links, but then I heard DJ talking after a song. From the radio, I
found the yekaroo forum and IRC chat room– aF and yekaroo was together
during the time – and decided to tryout. It took a while to get my new
headset.
My first time on air was actually with DJ Flo doing the dj dueting. If I
have to say, it was awkward at first because when I got on, DJ Flo asked me
to introduce my self first. I only said my name and where I was from and
though DJ Flo was going to talk after. But, she didn’t and was allowing me
to keep on talking which made me nervous, but she did come in and help me
out by talking and asking question. Then after a song or two, I became a
bit comfortable with the talking on air and it went smoothly afterward.
My first tryout – where I was DJing alone – was much easier because of DJing
with Dj Flo. The beginning of my tryout session was not as smooth because I
had to configured my settings properly. After all the setting and
configuration, I went on with my DJing, which went by fairly smoothly
because a few days before I went on air. I had gather some topics that I
wanted to talk about and DJ Mak – a tryout back then – told me to list songs
so I would not have to pick songs each time. I did not take that advice
though, although, it would have been better to. I mostly clicked on random
songs.
That was my first tryout, now here is a little advice for any potential DJ
and tryouts. Before beginning to DJ, reboot the computer, yes reboot and
make a folder of songs that you want to play – preferably in different
language order. It is also nice to make a small list of topics to discuss
on air because when people run out of topic, they tend to become silent or
does the hmm hmmm thing – I do it sometime. As you get used to going on
air, that problem so do not worry too much. Also, do not download or chat
when on air, especially during the speaking part as it will become confusing
chatting on aim or IRC and talking on air at the same time, you can chat
during songs. Lastly, sound energetic and lively since no one wants to hear
a monotone voice. The last advice is for first timers, it might be nice to
write down how you are going to introduce your self, do a count down to 1
and say it once to get the feel of being on air.
DJ Ekaro
How did i start as a tryout for afradio dj? well, i was suprised about the amount of stalkers that sOra has, so i wanted to become a dj so i can get some stalkers of my own. I basically follow the guildelines on becoming a tryout. Which is submitting an audio clip, a picture, and a playlist generated on winamp. First time on the radio was HORRIBLE for me, but the djs helped me out without complaining how much of a noob i was. I basically tune in to other djs to find out what they play and what the listeners like to listens to. I am not chinese, korean, or japanese, but i don't think you'll be judged by those factors anyway, so if you feel like trying out, GO FOR IT!
DJ Xero
I once was an aF listener just like you are right now. First tuned in at June of 04. I still remember that the first DJ I ever listened to was Fantasy. I became really active in the chat and forums. One day February 19, 05, DJ Sleepy was talking about her dog and I always liked dogs because they rock, so I go "woof" she decides to throw a dog biscuit at me and just like that I become her dog and gained rep. as the so called "aF Doggie Mascot". ROFL. Of course I had my dreams of becoming an aF DJ and I was like, "Wow, I hope I get in and become part of the team." Turns out that I got rejected. Twice. BUT that didn't stop me because I thought to myself, "If I'm not a good DJ then I'll just become a Playlister!" So I went and talked to the Sora and I got half way in. Then a few nights later my computer dies of a power supply fry which delays my dream of playlisting. About 2 months later I get my computer back from Best Buy and I try for Playlister. AGAIN. BUT I get rejected again because aF had enough Playlisters. Then at aF's Grand Re-opening I see, "Currently looking for Playlisters and DJs." So at March 26, 2006 I get accepted into the aF team. GO AF!!! :P.
Former DJs
Here's what former DJs have to say about their first experience on aF Radio!
DJ sOra
I remember listening
to VRadio (no longer exist) a few times and tune into Drag's session (who was guest DJ'ing atm).
He made fun of Japanese Boybands 'KinKi Kids' and 'W-inds' (if you can see why) and I message him
telling him not to hate lol because even though their names were weird, they had good music. He
then told me about aF Radio and how 'awesome' it is. I told him how interested I was in Chinese,
Korean and Japanese music.. so he told me to tryout. Man if you guys said DJ'ing is hard.. then
let me tell you! All Drag said was 'Winamp- for playing music' and 'Soundcard for talking'...
and that was it! I was like WOW OKAY. So the first time I got on, he gave me the signal 'gogogogogogo'
(which is our cue to click connect lol) and then I was confused if I was connected or not. So
I kept on saying 'can you guys hear me? uhh can you hear me?' and the others in the chat were
like 'no we can't hear you'.. okay so that didn't process through my head fast enough but after
awhile I'm like 'if you can't hear me then how you know I asked that question on air?' HAH okay
I'm a newb (back then. pro now heh) but yea. And I remember the first song I played for my first
DJ session was 'MP4 - What's Love' and second song 'Jill Xu - I Wanna be with you' third song?
Don't remember =P hehe yea it was fun! Good times, good times. And the worst part was.. it was
so hard to get 20 listeners! LOLL yea can you believe it? Well I end up DJ'ing for 5 hours
straight until I started to dehydrate and crap.
So that is my experience -_- Thanks for reading! ^__^
DJ Fantasy
I started listening to aF radio when a friend IMed me and gave me a link. She told me to click on it to listen and told me to request a song. So I was like umm… ok. DJ Drag was djing during that time and the first song I ever requested was Vic Zhou – Your body temperature. I got addicted to aF after that. After a few months of listening, DJ drag and DJ Kisses told me I should tryout. At first, I decided no I don't want to. But later, I gave in and started to tryout. I tried out for a few months, and then something happened. Drag decided to restart everything with the djs and others. I stopped being a tryout. July 4 th came around, Drag asked me to DJ and I told him I wasn't a tryout or anything. He said I was an official DJ and I was a dj ever since then. Shortly after DJ sOra left aF around January, I was promoted to Head DJ and is still one ever since. I no longer dj anymore ever since June 2005 due to connection problems.
DJ Flo
I’m DJ Flo! So why did I join aF Radio? I was actually a listener of aF Radio for about a little after a year before I even thought of trying out to become a DJ. So I did what all the tryouts had to do, record a clip of yourself and send it to the head DJs. The first time getting on air is always the hardest. I was so nervous! I was like shaking and everything. Before I got on, I was thinking of the things I was going to say on air, but when I got on, I totally blanked out. I remember I tried to cure my nervousness by drinking water, but it only made the situation worst. Haha, I ended up wanting to visit the washroom every 5 minutes for drinking so much water. DJ Magz was nice enough to coach me while I was on telling me to be myself and stuff. But after a couple of times getting on air, the nervousness eventually died off. I’m still deeply in love with aF Radio! So what are you waiting for? Start listening!
DJ Sleepy
Shortly after discovering the existence of internet radios, I found aF Radio through random searches on my Winamp search. The first time I tuned into aF Radio in August of 2004, DJ Drag was djing and I was amazed to hear actual people djing live from the comforts of their own homes and broadcasting music that I love. From then on I was hooked to aF. It took me about a month or two to get settled in the aF Forums and the old aF AIM chats. After posting so much that I ranked second in the forums, below DJ Fantasy, I finally joined the IRC chat in December 2004. By then I had made so many friends in the forum, I was already known and recognized in the IRC! I got to know each and every dj and before long, I got a lot of encouragement from the djs and my new found friends from the IRC to tryout. I finally took up the courage to purchase a new mic, with my Chinese New Year money, and became the next aF Tryout. It took me nearly three weeks to get all my entire playlist organized, but it was worth it. Before the first day I was to dj in March 2005, I made a list of songs that I wanted to play on air and another list of topics that I wanted to talk on air about in case I run out of things to say. I even remember the first story I told to the aF listeners was about my weird neighbor that likes to walk around his house shirtless in the middle of the night. Honestly, I was very nervous the first time I djed and kept reviewing the djing manual over and over again. Luckily, everything turned out great and I found a great new family and many new friends within aF Radio.
DJ Magz
How I got involved with aF? I was tuned to a Korean only online radio that broadcasted from Korea. Then I got tired of just listening to just Korean music so I decided to do a little search and found aF radio on shoutcast. At the time, DJ Drag was hosting “China Hour” and I thought it was pretty interesting. Drag mentioned about looking for deejays and I just messaged him out of “fun” to see what’s all about. Next thing, I was told to dl this and dl that and then the time I should get on for tryout. First night trying out was a disaster. Every tryout’s nightmare….I didn’t connect and buffered like crazy. So another night was picked for me to tryout once more. This time I connected and had a wonderful time broadcasting all my favorite music. Of course, like many new tryouts, I was really nervous and have been reviewing about what topics I should talk about on air during the couple day before the “big night”. I remember former DJ Mle and DJ Vi was deejaying the session before I went on air. They were giving me prep talks as to just pretend the radio is like a blog and just say whatever is on your mind. Truthfully, I don’t exactly remember what I said for that 3+ hour I was deejaying…but I do remember the first song I play on air was Miriam Yeung’s “Grand Opening”…cuz, well, it is sorta a “grand opening” to me since this is the very first time I’m doing this. After that first night on air, which is almost 2 years ago (6/2004), I absolutely loved the idea of sharing my love for music and my life with the rest of the listeners. Not to mention, the valuable friends I’ve met thru here.
Due to school, I had to part with aF for just a little bit, but if you’re lucky/unlucky, you’ll still be able to tune in whenever I guest deejays. Even though I am unable be with aF “live” 100% of the time, my playlist will continue to fill the airwaves of aF.
Hopefully there will be many many more years of aF to come!
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