A community radio station has been increasing its audience by broadcasting on the internet.

Cable Radio provides a service to Worthing from digital studios at Portslade on the analog NTL cable television network.

The station's founder, Rashid Mustapha, approached Brighton-based internet service provider Mistral to find a way to simulcast the shows from a web site.

He said: "We had wanted to expand our listener base and using the internet seemed a good way of letting more people hear what we are doing. Most of the options we looked into were too expensive or were aimed at larger ventures.

"We had been discouraged from considering ADSL by other providers but Mistral was able to show us the benefits of using this solution to provide the high-quality reliable service we were looking for.

"People visiting our site using an ADSL connection can hear our shows in near-CD quality. Users with a standard modem will be able to listen to a lower quality stream, comparable to a good medium-wave signal.

"We have also been able to add a web camera to the site showing what is happening here at the studios. Because of the bandwidth, we can achieve with this option."

ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) is a high-speed internet connection operated over the standard BT telephone network.

Mistral installed an ADSL connection with a downstream speed of 1MB capable of streaming Cable Radio's output to thousands of people simultaneously for less than £2,000 a year.

Mistral sales manager Karl Robinson said: "Despite all the bad press surrounding the BT ADSL roll out, the management at Cable Radio has yet to experience any problems.

"BT has now lifted the ordering restrictions it placed on its clients earlier in the year, so we are able once again to offer ADSL for installation within two weeks of order."

Jon Hyder has been presenting shows on Cable Radio since broadcasting began last summer.

He said: "We aim to entertain people in Worthing with a range of music aimed at all ages and it's amazing we can use the internet to reach further afield.

"While we are on air, we are now getting a lot of email from people in the States where there are low or no call charges for internet use. It's quite a daunting idea that our radio station can reach anyone with an internet connection anywhere in the world."

Bolney-based Radica Broadcast Systems has been managing Cable Radio's main server at Telehouse, the UK internet communication hub.

General manager Alan Brown said: "In many ways, the system works the same as with the traditional transmitter broadcast.

"The ADSL connection provides the link from the studio to the server from where the broadcast is 'transmitted' back to individual customers requesting the content from the Cable Radio web site.

"The introduction of ADSL has made internet radio possible for smaller broadcasters, such as hospital and student stations. We are hoping to find stations wanting to share server space with Cable Radio and reduce the costs involved even further."

www.cableradio.co.uk