History of LifeJive

Little about me and LifeJive.

My name is Ben Hendrix and I run/DJ/manage all of the LJ stations and website. Its a great hobby that I started as my outlet for sharing new music with people. The stations here run 24/365 (except for the occasional, amazing downtime due to either monsters under the bed or thunderstorms electronicly stripping me of my broadcasting abilities). 

All of the stations on LifeJive consist of variety and change. I never want to play the same songs over-and-over like many FM stations do in nearly every city of the world. The music is just as important as the listeners are so if you ever feel that something's being over played, feel free to send me an email :)

My dream is to always be expanding and growing LifeJive with more songs, shows & stations. This however requires support from listeners; click on the Donation page to learn how you can help there.

Chronological History of LifeJive:

• May 2005 - I began broadcasting Libra Radio from my home computer with a max listener base of 2 people at a time. The original playlist consisted of The Postal Service and Tom Petty's Greatest Hits. What a mix!

• September 2005 - Libra Radio changed to LifeJive.net with a website that was never working or finished. Because I was still broadcasting from home, I could never host more then two listeners at a time.

• December 2005 - LifeJive.net's inconsistent air time and lack of vision destroyed the once "dream radio station" I had in mind. I shut the station down, with little hope that I would try it again.

• November 2006 - While in New Zealand, I purchased a webserver from Dreamhost at an extremely small fee and had no idea what to do with it or what my free domain should be. In the spur of the moment, I bought the domain, BensJukebox.com.

• July 2007 - I finally put BensJukebox to work. I began to learn about web building with Joomla, running a radio station with Sam Broadcaster and how internet radio stations should be run. BensJukebox was now my perfect learning curve.

• January 2008 - LifeJive Radio was born for the second time, only this was the real deal. I finally acquired LifeJive.com and was now able to purchase 1000 listener slots from MixStreaming out of the UK. The station took time to find its audience, but over the next few months began to receive attention from all over the world.

• March 2008 - After several attempts and several applications, LifeJive Radio was accepted into the official iTunes Radio listings.

• July 2008 - LifeJive Radio was added to the Windows Media Player Radio Listings.

• February 2009 - A second station was created, LifeJive: Pop, Rock & Classics!

• April 2009 - LifeJive Radio teams up with GenerationWhy Radio to offer LifeJive's third radio station "LifeJive: 80's & 90's Rock" [Update: This deal was terminated after both stations could not come to collaboration agreements]

• May 2009 - Hitt Music Group and LifeJive radio team up. Read details here.
   
• June 2009 - LifeJive begins broadcasting its third radio station Van Morrison Radio. [Update: VM Radio was taken off the air due to copyright claims *eye-roll*]
  
  
• October 2009 - LifeJive's new station, Cafe Monet goes live on the air.
  
  
• March 2010 - Eclectic Heaven was listed as one of the top 10 Online Radio Stations by Listen2RadioOnline!
  
  
• August 2010 - Pop, Rock & Classics! is completely reformed into the new LifeJive station, Album Rock.
   
• September 2010 - LifeJive iPhone App is released featuring all of the radio stations and podcasts.
  
  
• October 2010 - Van the Man Radio goes on the air playing nothing but beautiful Van Morrison music 24/7/365. 
  
  
•  August 2011 - New LifeJive site allows users to browse Eclectic Heaven's library of music and rate songs (my dream that took over 3 years to complete)
  
  
• September 2011 - Eclectic Heaven is changed and reformed into Avalon Radio - less pop, more rock.
   

More stories and notes to come as the station grows and expands its audience to the entire world.

 

Big Thanks to the following people for their ongoing help and support with LifeJive Radio behind the scenes. They help give me the ability to broadcast to hundreds and thousands of listeners worldwide.

Genius Web Developer - Chris Veile

Where do I begin? How can I translate the indescribable service and quality of work I have received? Let me tell you, this will be an underrated testimonial. I stumbled upon Chris when he responded to a forum post in a Radio Station forum. I have had dreams of integrating song ratings, artist profiles and allowing listeners to comment on everything played over the air. This dream finally became a reality when Chris emailed me and said he could provide all these services at an affordable price point. Chris didn't just deliver what he had promised, he exceeded all expectations with his quick communication and quality of workmanship. I can handle all of my basic web needs, but anything involved in heavy coding or advanced MySQL work, I will look no further. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend you at least talk with Chris before hiring anyone for your web development needs. You can find Chris with his consulting company (www.affordableconsulting.net) or even check out his own rockin' radio station; www.HardRockin80s.com


Gavin Bell with MixStream has always been been quick and helpful when I've needed it most. If you're looking for any hosting or streaming needs, please support LifeJive & MixStream by clicking the link below and having a look at their great services. http://www.MixStream.net

 

 

Powweb has hosted LifeJive.com from the beginning. That being said I've never had a reason to think twice about changing servers. I can honestly tell you that i've never had 1 moment where my server's have been down or slow to respond (unlike my other GoDaddy hosting account). Also, unlike Godaddy or other slow webhosts, all changes you make in the custom Powweb Control Panel are instant. No "24 hour's till your request is completed". Powweb will host all of my websites until the clouds drop purple rain ;) http://www.Powweb.com

iPhone Development - Aaron C. Wright
If you or someone you know is looking for a highly reliable, affordable and dependable iPhone developer, let me give you the best recommendation right now. After months of searching for a programmer and iPhone developer, I found Aaron C. Wright out of Denver, CO. He has always been quick to respond to every email I send and address any request I throw his way. Visit his website for his portfolio and more testimonials. http://www.WrightsCS.com