Gulf News radios 1 and 2 make waves on the web

Dubai: Thousands of people have been logging on to the internet and listening to Radios 1 and 2 since the stations were made available as live streams on gulfnews.com last week.

Web users across the globe have been making use of the new facility to enjoy music and news from the popular Gulf News Broadcasting stations.

The new internet service went live early on Friday morning and comes just weeks after podcasts were made available on gulfnews.com for the first time.

Vikram Dhar, Head of Gulf News Broadcasting, said the live streams were useful for those with busy lifestyles. "In today's day and age people are multitasking more and more and there are lots of people who like to listen to radio on their desktops. They can listen to the radio at any point of the day," he said.

Dhar said that Gulf News Broadcasting was planning to make the two radio stations available on mobile phones as well.

"All of this is being done with the purpose of increasing our listenership and it means that there is a significant increase in the number of hours in which people can listen to Radios 1 and 2," he said.

To listen to the stations, web users must have a PC with a media player, and an internet connection with a speed of 49kbps or faster. Mac users with Windows Media Player installed on their machines can also listen to the live streams.

Another dimension

Adam Flinter, Web Editor of Gulf News, said the new service "adds another dimension" to gulfnews.com and would be particularly welcomed by people overseas.

"Readers can now listen to radio from Dubai wherever they are - be it in the office in the UAE or on the other side of the world," he added.

"It's early days yet, but we have been pleasantly surprised by the numbers of people using the service and with the feedback we have received for the other new features on the site." Flinter said "several new features" were planned for gulfnews.com over the next 12 months.

"These will enhance our breaking news, multi-media content and further the level of interaction between us and our readers," he said.

Among the podcasts available on gulfnews.com are interviews with former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto and paralysed BBC reporter Frank Gardner.