Pureplay of the Day: FRISKY Radio

FRISKY is a capricious name for an Internet station that plays serious electronica. Don’t be fooled by the BETA label on the website’s home page; this station is not a newcomer. Founded in 2001 by Faisal Sultan (see our interview), FRISKY is a rare indie pureplay that offers a subscription service. Dishing out ten bucks a month removes ads, enables unlimited listening of the DJ mixes which comprise the main programming element, and allows downloading of those mixes.

Free listeners get a beautiful stream at a high bitrate of 128 (MP3 or AAC) — actually two streams, the main FRISKY channel, and the newer CHILL stream. Scheduled programs are produced by a wide range of participating DJs.

Faisal Sultan comes from AOL, where he was a product lead on ShoutCast, and worked on Winamp. Naturally, FRISKY is a ShoutCast station and Winamp is a streaming option . But listeners can also use the one-click, pop-out web controller, which is always our favorite option.

You don’t get the usual recently-played list with FRISKY, mainly because the station programs long, uninterrupted DJ sets, which is normal for EDM music. Dedicated iPhone and Android apps make it easy to carry FRISKY around.