Started in 2019 - the year of Covid-19's entry into the world - Balearic FM exists to always be streaming the music people expect when in Ibiza. The station's mission statement - Streaming Ibiza House Music Love To You Day And Night - intentionally contains certain words / elements:
-
This is a 100% streaming radio station, and doesn't have a central, physical studio or office location - in Ibiza, or anywhere on earth. The DJs live around the globe, and stream from wherever they are at.
-
An implication of that is that the station name does not represent either a physical place of business (Balearic) or technology (FM). The use of Balearic in the name represents love for the musical spirit of the Balearics. And FM - like vinyl records - brings to mind the warmth and history of dance music, and so in order to retain that feeling "FM" is part of our station name.
-
House Music is the center, the anchor of the station's sound. If you know the music of Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, Danny Tenaglia, Ross Couch and other similar greats, then you know the kind of music you will hear here. But, house has many sub-genres, and our DJs love exploring them - from deep house, to soulful house, organic, progressive, old and nu-disco, tech house, and all kinds of other sounds. Our DJs have free rein to sneak over into a full-on techno set from time to time. What you won't hear is what is currently called "EDM". Or mainstream / top-40. Or urban / hip-hop. You might hear the occasional remix of a mainstream tune if it has the right house sound. (We recently played the Wideboys Club Mix of Aretha Franklin's cover of Adele's Rollin' in the Deep, for example!)
-
There will always be music playing - whether any DJ is playing "live" or not. The station encourages DJs to play their mixes "live" - i.e. broadcasting directly from their DJ decks & mixer into the station stream at the time of their scheduled show. However, most of our DJs also play "live" at various venues, and the station encourages them to record those sets and then upload them to the station for re-broadcast in rotation. Or, record a set at home. Whatever the method, there will always be something running - whether live, or pre-recorded. (As of late-2021, when this new website went live, there are over of 350 sets - 1 to 2 hours each - in rotation, with new ones being added weekly.)
For now, the station is not a revenue-making activity. The DJs and owners are doing this for the love of house, and because we love having great mixes being broadcast for listening. Other than a few ads on the website, we are paying for station costs out of our pockets just to bring your great music. (You're welcome ;-)
The DJs and owners are proud of the group of DJs already selected to play at the station, and as of the time we're writing this page (late 2021) we are still looking to add to our group. The goal is to have 4-6 hours of "live" DJ sets every day. That's going to take a few dozen DJs. So if you are, or know a DJ that would like to play here, please contact the station.
Also, for the record:
-
The organization that owns & operates the station is incorporated in the United States. Our broadcast servers are Linux virtual servers provided by a US hosting company, on which the station proudly runs the AzuraCast broadcast software.
-
Because we want to represent the spirit and music of Ibiza, we list our "location" as Ibiza in the numerous Internet radio station directory listings around the World Wide Web, because the locations in those directories are determined not so much by where the stations actually exist (since most of them are online-only, like us), but are determined by where the stations want to be found. We want people looking for Ibiza-style music to find us, so we list ourselves there.