Public Radio Starts Streaming the Hour

NPR's December 1997 homepage invites visitors looking for the latest news to listen to NPR news on the hour in RealAudio at 14.4 or 28.8, or through NetShow. It also highlights programs, features, and sponsored material.

The technical details are historically important. Audio online was not yet assumed. The page has to name formats and speeds because listening through a browser required choices and patience.

This page matters because radio was discovering how to become both live and on-demand in networked form. The familiar hourly news update could travel beyond broadcast geography.

NPR's early web page shows public media adapting without abandoning its core habit: informed audio delivered regularly. The browser becomes another receiver, and eventually much more than that. The podcast future is not present yet, but the first streaming bridge is.