Disc jockeys at the University of Richmond's student-run radio station weren'tseeking a global audience when they started playing music online in the fall of 2001. They were simply trying to reach more students at their own university.

Many students look at radio as passé. The computer is now the boombox of choice. While they're studying, surfing the Internet, or sending instant messages to their friends, students get their groove on with MP3s or -- less often -- with online radio stations. "It's just part of the culture for students on their computers," says Max V. Vest, who is director of student activities at the university and who oversees the radio station, WDCE.

But university officials pulled the plug on the station's Webcast in March 2002. New federal regulations and fees that were to be paid to record companies for playing songs online had made station officials uncertain whether they could afford to continue offering music over the Internet. The rules and fees, set in acrimonious multiparty discussions overseen by the U.S. Copyright Office, were called for in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and are just beginning to be enforced.

In May of this year, however, groups representing college Webcasters negotiated a settlement directly with the recording industry. The deal lowered the fees enough that WDCE and many other college stations across the country are booting up their Webcasting operations again.

Besides WDCE, other stations that are Webcasting or plan to resume this summer include KTSW at Southwest Texas State University, WBSU at the State University of New York at Brockport, WFNP at the State University of New York at New Paltz, WSWI at the University of Southern Indiana, WUTK at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and WUVT at Virginia Tech.

College-radio officials hope that, although Webcasting currently attracts relatively few listeners, more people will log on to Webcasts in the future, especially as broadband Internet connections become widespread and as the consolidation of media companies limits the number of broadcast-radio choices in many markets. College radio, officials reason, could play an increasingly important role in the music landscape.

Dan Schumacher, general manager and instructor in the department of mass communication at Southwest Texas State University, says only five or six people at a time listened online to KTSW, the university's student radio station, before it shut down last year. But he expects the online audience to grow in the future as more people discover radio stations through the Internet.

"It's a great outlet for people who are looking for something out of the ordinary as commercial stations become more ordinary," Mr. Schumacher says. "Commercial radio is doing less and less to serve people who have an interest in anything that is unique."

Future Looks Bright

William Clark, director of the media center at the State University of New York at New Paltz, says computers are increasingly central to people's music experiences -- a fact that could make Webcasts more important in the future. "As the technology improves, I see people tuning in more and more," he says. "I don't foresee an immediate spike, but it's something that will gradually grow."

Optimistic as they are about new opportunities for Webcasting, however, many station managers remain deeply worried by an issue that the May negotiations essentially put off until 2004 -- whether the stations will be required to keep detailed electronic records not only of what songs are played online but also of how many listeners hear each song. The recording industry had insisted that Webcasters track such information, but the stations say it would be nearly impossible to do at a college level.

"There was no way that anybody could have kept those records with a student-run station," Mr. Vest says. "At a student station, we're just happy to get along."

Station managers are also concerned by the strict requirements for Webcasts that Congress included in the copyright legislation. The requirements, added at the behest of the record industry, limit the number of songs from one artist or one album that can be played in an hour.

For some college stations, accustomed to devoting shows or portions of shows to the works of a single artist, the requirements are a problem. Unless the stations create separate broadcast and Webcast programming, they'll have to make their broadcasts conform to the rules for Webcasting, or turn off the Webcasts when they would be violating the copyright law. Station officials plan to lobby Congress to change the rules, but they face an uphill battle in getting lawmakers to tune in to their concerns.

Niche Audiences

The growth of college Webcasting has been slow. College radio stations generally play music from lesser-known artists and independent musicians with names such as Flaming Lips and the Klezmatics. The stations are popular with niche audiences, but generally don't have the mass appeal that commercial stations do. When they began Webcasting in the 1990s, some college stations found that much of their online audience consisted of the parents of the DJ's, listening from out of state.

As Webcasting became more widespread, however, some stations found that alumni were listening in on Web streams to keep in touch with their alma mater, and that alternative-music fans were seeking out the stations for the quality of their playlists. And people living in other countries have discovered some of the stations and have become international fans.

Then, in 2001 and 2002, the threat of high fees drove many stations to shut down their Webcasts. The fees would have ranged from $500 to possibly thousands of dollars per year, depending on how many online listeners a station had. The more successful a station was, the more it would have had to pay.

"The university wasn't going to provide that service until this was cleared up," says Mr. Vest, of the University of Richmond. "At the time, we didn't know what direction it was going to take or how much it was going to cost."

After Congress passed a bill giving small Webcasters and the recording industry until the end of May to come to terms, the two sides negotiated. They forged an 11th-hour settlement that was palatable to both.

The compromise lowered the fees, but not as low as college officials had hoped, especially considering that Webcasting reaches far fewer people than traditional broadcasts. Radio stations don't pay fees to the recording industry to broadcast music over the airwaves. Instead, the stations pay a flat rate, usually around $500 per year, to organizations that collect money to compensate songwriters, as well as authors and publishers.

"We didn't get everything we wanted, but neither did they," says Will Robedee, vice chairman of Collegiate Broadcasters Inc., a group that represents 100 college stations. "When all was said and done, we feel like we reached something that is of benefit to all college stations." Mr. Robedee, who is also general manager of KTRU at Rice University, says he knows of no complaints over the deal and has heard that many stations plan to resume Webcasting. (KTRU never stopped.)

The big catch, some station officials say, is that a decision on record keeping was put off until next year. The parties agreed that stations would not have to provide detailed records for Webcasts through the end of 2004. Further negotiations will determine whether record keeping will be required after that year.

Joel Willer, supervisor of KXUL at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, says that the possibility of having to meet stringent record-keeping requirements looms like a dark cloud on the horizon. "We're hoping this deal will increase the number of stations Webcasting," Mr. Willer says. "We still have some uncertainty in the future going past 2004."

Fritz Kass, director of operations for the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System, says that about 300 of the 800 stations the group represents were Webcasting before the settlement was reached. Those stations have continued Webcasting, he says. And now that the negotiations are over, he expects the number of Webcasters to double.

"There's a certain amount who want certainty," Mr. Kass says. "Most of our stations had continued to go on the air with Webcasting, and they still do."

'We're Ecstatic'

Steven M. Marks, senior vice president for business affairs for the Recording Industry Association of America, says the deal will help colleges put their Webcasts back online while compensating artists for their work. "We're ecstatic that college radio stations are back online and are able to Webcast," he says. "We recognize that there is a difference between stations operating for profit and those operating on a noncommercial basis, especially for educational purposes."

When the station here at the University of Richmond was Webcasting last year, about 25 to 30 people tuned in a day. While Mr. Vest didn't expect numbers to rise through the roof, he planned to promote the Webcast and attract a healthy number of new listeners to the station through the online transmissions. "For a small school, for a small station, it offers some possibilities."

Matt Ladd, a student at nearby Virginia Commonwealth University, works for WDCE during the summer, when DJ's are in short supply. He says putting the broadcast online helps the station reach a broader audience, which energizes a DJ. Webcasting is especially important for small, low-power stations like WDCE, Mr. Ladd says. "They say we can get a nine-mile radius, but in my car I'm lucky if I can get a mile."

Mr. Ladd also says WDCE is pretty much the only station in the area that plays music by obscure bands. Webcasting helps make sure more people can hear different kinds of music. "The Internet has done a lot for listeners of music, especially independent music," Mr. Ladd says.

Students at WSWI, the station at the University of Southern Indiana, look forward to Webcasting because it will allow the station to continue operating after dark. The station, which broadcasts at 820 on the AM band, has a license that limits its use of the airwaves to the daylight hours.

"We had to sign off very early," says John M. Morris, general manager at WSWI. "With the Internet, that allows us to keep our DJ's on. Truthfully, we could go round the clock if we were ready for that."

But officials at college stations are worried about content restrictions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The rules state that Webcasters cannot play more than two songs consecutively from one CD, or more than three songs consecutively from a boxed set. Nor can they play more than three songs from one disk or more than four songs from a boxed set within a three-hour period. That is to prevent a company from Webcasting music from only one artist, such as an all-Elvis station, which could cut into the King's sales.

John Bennett, the director of student media at the Savannah College of Art and Design, says he will have to educate the DJ's to make sure they don't violate copyright law. "It is incredibly complex to follow, but we're putting forward a good-faith effort," Mr. Bennett says. "So we tell the jazz host that he cannot play an entire hour of Miles Davis, for example."

Mr. Schumacher, of Southwest Texas State, says the rules hurt independent musicians. "Unfortunately, it screws the artist," he says. "If I give Flaming Lips an hour of my programming time, I'm really going to turn people on to that music."

'Keep It Simple'

Warren Kozireski, general manager of WBSU, the student radio station at the State University of New York at Brockport, says the station won't be able to Webcast when it broadcasts its Sunday-night artist spotlights. "In our case, we would just shut off the Webcast for an hour," says Mr. Kozireski. The station plans to start Webcasting by the end of the summer. "When you're talking about a student learning a craft, you want to keep it simple," he says.

But John Simson, executive director of SoundExchange, an organization representing recording companies and musicians, says he is unaware of any college stations that have gotten into trouble for violating the content restrictions. He says the organization isn't going to monitor stations to make sure they don't violate the rule. "If one of our rights owners complains, we'll investigate," Mr. Simson says. The station "would probably get a warning first, then action would be taken."

Mr. Robedee, of Collegiate Broadcasters Inc., plans to lobby Congress to get the rules changed. He hopes to persuade lawmakers that college stations provide an educational service and don't present a market threat to musicians.

Mr. Vest says he hopes the lobbying is successful and that as many college stations as possible feel comfortable Webcasting music -- and reaching as large an audience as possible.

"College radio appeals to a certain segment of the population," he says. "Webcasting is an answer for a number of stations to extend their reach."

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WEBCASTING RULES AT A GLANCE

The recording industry and college radio stations reached an agreement in May on the fees that the stations must pay for Webcasting music. The principal features are:

A radio station at any college that has played music online in the past will pay $250 for each year of Webcasting from 2000 through 2003. The years 1998 and 1999 will be counted as one year, with a fee of $200.

A noncommercial radio station at a college that enrolls fewer than 10,000 students will pay a blanket Webcasting fee of $250 for 2004. A radio station at a college with more than 10,000 students must pay $500 for that year.

If a station's online audience exceeds 146,000 hours' worth of music per month--the amount that 200 people listening around the clock would hear--the station will pay two-hundredths of a cent per song per listener above the limit. In addition to the other fees, each station must pay $50 for 2003 and $25 for 2004 to avoid having to provide information on each song played.

College radio stations that Webcast now or have done so in the past must make their payments by October 15. Radio stations that have never Webcast before but plan to play music online have 45 days to pay from the time they start Webcasting.