To create a streaming radio station

1. In the console tree, click Publishing Points.
2. On the Action menu, click Add Publishing Point (Wizard).
3. Complete the steps in the wizard, making sure to select the following options:
   • On the Content Type page, do one of the following: If you want to create a radio station by using preexisting digital media files, click Playlist; or, if you want to broadcast a live radio program by using Windows Media Services, click Encoder.
   • On the Publishing Point Type page, click Broadcast publishing point.
   • If you are using a playlist, on the Content Playback page, select the Loop check box to have the playlist play continuously and the Shuffle check box to have the content play in random order. You must have more than one entry in your playlist to use the shuffle and loop features.
4. For unicast broadcasts, on the Completing the Add Publishing Point Wizard page, you can select the following options:
   • Start publishing point when wizard finishes. Select this check box to start broadcasting the content from your publishing point immediately after the wizard finishes. If you need to configure the publishing point or the encoder, you should clear this check box.
   • Start archiving when publishing point starts. Select this check box to begin recording your broadcast to an archive file when the publishing point is activated. This option is useful if you want to broadcast a live program from an encoder because it creates a digital media file of the broadcast that you can rebroadcast later. If you are streaming digital media files instead of an encoder stream, you do not need to create an archive file.
5. Also on the Completing the Add Publishing Point Wizard page, you can start other wizards to help you create announcements and wrappers:
   • Create an .asx or .htm file. Click this option if you want to provide users with an announcement file that they can use to receive your radio station broadcast. The Unicast Announcement Wizard or the Multicast Announcement Wizard will start.
   • Create a .wsx file. Click this option if you want to play certain content to users before they receive the content being streamed from your radio station. This option is useful for providing station identification, advertisements, or legal notices. You can also specify content to be played at the end of your radio station content, but users will not receive that content if they close their players before the end of the broadcast. The Create Wrapper Wizard will start.
   • Create both a .wsx file then .asx file. Click this option if you want to use the wizards to create both a wrapper playlist and an announcement.

Notes

• This procedure only applies to the Windows Media Services snap-in.
• The Add Publishing Point Wizard only supports the creation of simple playlists that contain digital media files and advertisements. If you want to include other elements in your playlist, you can create the playlist before running the Add Publishing Point Wizard. For more information about the playlist elements available for use with Windows Media Services, see Playlist elements.
• If you are using multicast delivery with your radio station, you must run the Multicast Announcement Wizard for players to connect to your stream. A URL connection is not available for multicast delivery. In addition, wrapper playlists cannot be used with multicast delivery.
• Multicast streaming and the WMS Multicast Data Writer plug-in are available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, these features are not supported.

Related topics

• About wrapper playlists
• Broadcasting programmed content
• Announcing content
• Testing a stream
• Working with the announcement wizards
• Implement streaming scenarios