Question:
With regard to internet radio stations, would you recommend using call letters when registering a domain or not? - JW
Answer:
That's a great question and it depends on what your goal is and what kind of station you're putting together.
Many call letters, at least with the .com domain extension, are already registered by the legitimate and respective stations which have corresponding call letter as recognized by the Federal Communications Commission.
You can, although, still find many call letter combinations with the the company that issues the .FM domain, dotFM.
People are used to seeing call letters, so it can make your Internet station look more legitimate. For instance: www.ksbd.fm looks fairly professional...a lot better than www.ksbd.cc or www.ksbd.info, etc. You get the point.
But, if your featured programming is, say, just heavy metal rock, maybe a domain like Headbanger.com makes more sense or Headbanger.fm or BangYourHeadAgainstMyGuitar.fm.
It just sort of depends on what you're doing, who your audience will be and what's available when it comes time to register your domain. When deciding to register a domain, keep in mind how it will play in the search engines, too. A more descriptive domain will yield better results for potential visitors than generic call letters you make up.
Sometimes the name of the domain is much more important than the actually domain hierachy. (.com; .net; .org; etc.)
One last tip: shop around for domain costs. They really range in price and there are some excellent discount domain registrars who can save you a lot of money over some of the original, older registrars. Just type in "domain registration" into your favorite search engine and see what I mean.
