Newest Albums Added


 

The Kittyhawks
WEIRD- A Ska Punk Tribute To Al Yankovic
The Rins
The Soularites
Tribal Seeds
The Overits!
Cale Wilcox
Skank Williams
Alpheus
The Cascadians
Flying Raccoon Suit
Sound System Seven
Half Past Two
PATSKATS
Potbelly MacKraken
Simple Minded Symphony
Checkered Record
KILLER DILLER 
Bam Boom Volume 2
King Changó
Soom T
Amy Gabba and The Almost Famous
Fat Timmy

More new album updates


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Need help listening ?

Listen on Iphone, Android, Itunes
and more !

Check the Radio FAQ page

Articles

Also see FAQ's for band's


 

What is Bob's Ska Radio ?


From the original sounds of 1960's Jamaica, to the British explosion of the 70's & 80's to today's latest wave (whatever # they are on). All that with a bit of reggae, rocksteady, dancehall & dub, you can find it all here. On this fully featured site you can make requests anytime and our trained mini ska-monkeys will load up your song, it will then play after a short delay. You can view recently played songs, look at the top requests and find links to the band's web sites or links to cd or mp3 downloads on Amazon, Itunes or Bandcamp.

Do I have to register to use the site or listen to the radio ? Are there alot of ads on the radio ?

 

No.  This is an ad free zone !!! No registration, No pop-ups and no in music advertisements. 100% music. Station and web site supported by me, Bob. If you are getting pop-up's then it's likely from a spyware, adware or toolbars on your computer. I do not collect email addresses or personal info of visitors. 

 

Does it cost anything ? Do you want donations ?

 

No. The station is ran and paid for by me, Bob. If you really wanted to make a donation you can from a link on the front page. This site is funded by me and it does loose a money each month, but as long as I can afford to keep everyone entertained I will keep it up. If I was trying to make money, I likely would not be running a ska radio station. I recommend you buy albums from the bands played on Bob's SKA Radio to keep them going and putting out new music, maybe let them know you heard their music on Bob's Ska Radio.

 

How do I play it ?

You can play 2 different streams (both have identical music). You can use Itunes, Winamp, VLC Player, Windows Media Player, Real Player and many other desktop programs. If you have Itunes but nothing happens when you click listen now, from Itunes click Advanced, then Open Stream, then past this address in the box http://eu8.fastcast4u.com:2199/tunein/chrtre00.pls or http://eu8.fastcast4u.com:5528/listen.pls?sid=2 for a lower bitrate mobile stream. 

Also, if you have Itunes, this site is listed under Internet Radio, in the Reggae/Island category.

 

You can click on the Pop Out Flash Player, it will play on most any computer with a recent version of Adobe Flash installed. It will also work on some phones that support flash but requires alot of cpu power.

If you don't want to (or can't) install any software and you are running Windows, you can listen to the Windows Media Stream. You can click the Flash Player on most computers to listen on a website player, no downloading or install.


You can also listen on most any portable device by downloading any number of internet radio apps, then searching for Bob's Ska Radio. 

 

Can I download your podcast or music to listen to offline ?

The station is live streaming only, like a regular radio station. There are no music, podcasts or song download's avaliable. 

 

I can not connect...

There could be several reasons. Planned outages (computer/software/network) updates should be posted on the Facebook page.

At times the stream may have reached the maximum numbers of listeners, just wait a few minutes and try again. Check the Now playing page, if the listener count is in the 60's then the stream has likely reached it's limit.

The host computer(s) or internet may be down. Check the Now Playing page, if the song title, date and time is not changing every few minutes then the stream may be temporally down also.

Last, check the news in Seattle, WA. Was there a major windstorm, snowstorm, flood or earthquake ? When the power may be out and there is little I can do.

 

 

I am listening at work or school, will I hear anything inappropriate ?

 

Most likely, if you listen for long enough. Some music is NSFW and may contain bad words. These songs are not marked and can be played at anytime. Most bands played on Bob's SKA Radio do not release radio or edited versions of their songs.

 

Sometime songs in the upcoming artist list do not play in order....

No, they do not. Listeners may be making requests or I may be at the helm adding in songs I want to hear.

 

Can you play music from my band ?

Yes. See the Band FAQ page.

 

I like that song, can you email it to me or burn a copy of their cd ?

Not really. The best way to make it possible for your favorite bands to keep putting out music is to buy their CD's, or if you cant wait you can probably find it on Amazon MP3, Itunes or Bandcampfor 99 cents or less.

 

 

 

Technical info

 

Bob's SKA radio is running SAM Broadcaster.   

You can make requests 24/7, the tiny trained monkeys will add them in the playlist weather I am here or not. There are limits to the number of requests one listener can make in an hour and limits to how often a song, album or artist can be played. If you get an error saying that song or artist was recently played just give wait for a bit then try it again.

It broadcasts using Shoutcast. 

 

Bob's SKA Radio offers live streaming only, there is currently no downloadable content(songs, podcasts, etc...)  If you are looking music to take with you, check out the Links section (over there <------- ) for links for downloadable SKA shows.

 

How are the songs picked ?

Many time during the day I am adding the songs to the playlist. When it runs out of songs I have picked, it goes into automatic mode.

The software (see above) picks songs based on a weighted playlist. Each song has a rating of 0 (Never play) to 100 (Play often). Songs with higher ratings are more likely to be played than lowered numbered songs, IE: songs rated at 100 may play twice a day,  70 may play about 1 time per day, a song rated at 30 may play once a week, songs rated under 15 will not play, unless requested. Since there are many bands on the site who's style varies greatly, when adding albums I may give non ska sounding songs a low play rating, but they still can be requested and played at any time. Whenever possible I always add the entire album then let the listeners pick what songs they want to hear and not split up the album by adding only the 3 or 4 songs I like.

Requesting a song will automatically add it to the upcoming songs list and will also it will increase it's rating,  making requested music more likely to be played at a later time. I also set beginning ratings on each song as they are added to the station, the ones I like and new albums get higher ratings.


 


Is Bob Famous ? Do you make any money from the site ?

 

I have not gotten any requests for Bob's SKA Radio merchandise or signed pictures, so apparently not. I am not & have not been in a band, I am just a ska fan turned dj. I play my favorite music all day and hopefully someone will want to listen along.

It costs alot the stream hosting, plus the cost of the website & then the cost of albums I buy each month. So Bob does not make money. Maybe if I filled the site with ads and put ads in the music I could break even, but then I wouldnt listen to my own station.

 


About Bob

 

SKA BOB live with my wife(Mrs. Bob or Beenies)  & fake sister Betty. We have about 3 dogs and 3 cats on 5 acres. The commute give me ample time to listen to lots of SKA. I also download podcasts of SKA radio shows each week. For non-music I listen to downloads of previous nights Art Bell's shows (during the times he hasn't quit) or science shows like the weekly Explorations with Dr. Michio Kaku and Startalk. 

When not listening to SKA I may be enjoy bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Charlie Daniels Band, Horrorpops, older Metallica, MC Lars & other nerdcore(ish) music, Surf music at times or comedy by people like Jim Gaffigian, Cary Hurley, Mitch Hedberg, Bill Engvall & Brian Regan. Audio books like Harry Potter and Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy also keep Bob occupied in the car.