Flash Living on the Web? (June 4, 2007)

Still under construction, but listenable with their...ahem...Flash-enabled player, X1FM located at http://www.x1fmradio.com/ is broadcasting from the old building of the former XHRM 92.5 radio station on Southport Way in National City.

sdwulfdawg on a radio messageboard points out an article from Craig's List San Diego http://sandiego.craigslist.org/med/341307236.html seeking an airstaff for the X1FM radio station.

Comment from Duke Dawg: "Click on their player link and you can listen to them online. Very good Flash-based website: so much nicer than the cluttered garbage Clear Channel puts up. Just a brief listen reminds of the kind of energy 91X used to have before it became a sick, tired dinosaur."

It appears from their website that Binational Broadcasting is the owner of the X1FM station. Binational was the former programming and marketing company for XHRM until Jacor bought their rights in 1998. This is the first time since then that Binational is getting back into some form of broadcasting music.

Another post in the forum suggests that Jacor, then Clear Channel, set up a DBA Binational Broadcasting company and retained the location for XHRM to broadcast the Magic format until Finest City Broadcasting took over the Magic format and moved the format to the current location at 9660 Granite Ridge Drive but I'm not sure of the story. The station facilities, albiet without a frequency to broadcast on, stayed at the Southport Way location, paving the way for it to be used as the location for X1FM radio.

Kevin Stapleford, former vice president of programming for alternative-rock station 91X and R&B outlet Magic 92.5, is on board to help get the station up and running as an online-only radio station broadcasting from San Diego. When I asked if the station might get their signal on an FM transmitter, he replied that their focus is on the Internet, reasoning that broadcasting over the airwaves will become unnecessary as we're getting closer to the possibility of having Internet radio in every car, as well as having Internet radio in their cell phones.

The mix of music seems to be an adult album alternative format with some twists in like Madonna and Le Tigre mixed in. So far, I haven't heard any screaming nu-metal or grunge on the station.