It seems terrestrial radio is not the only broadcast medium that has squashed the hopes and dreams of what "real radio" should be, without all the politics. Luckily, Antonia Reagan, a.k.a. Swan, chose to take the lemons she was handed and make lemonade.

     Swan had previously been the DJ manager of an Internet radio station dedicated to independent music that was being considered for XM radio; providing the support and promotion independent artists deserve is a cause she has been very dedicated to. However, the staff was horrified to learn their efforts to raise money for a worthy charity were all a big ruse. Swan explains, "The station where I had been before ran a telethon for juvenile diabetes and the foundation never received their money." As a result, about 27 of the 35 DJs left, including Swan.

     It soon became apparent that her efforts in supporting independent artists were recognized when a fan offered the use of his stream to keep Swan's vision alive. In February 2005, Cygnus was born.

     Unfortunately, it wasn't all smooth sailing from there. Around October 2005, without notice, Cygnus' stream went down. Newbie DJ Tom Wylde explains, "I called the stream server host to ask about it and they said the bill wasn't paid. I told them I would pay the bill, but they said, ‘You can't.'" He continues, "There is a law now which states if you pay for the server host, you could legally claim the content on that server. Therefore, they would not let me pay for it. I didn't think it was fair to the listeners to just be suddenly cut off. A fair amount of listeners showed up every day and for them to learn the stream was down and the station was down just didn't seem fair. It also wasn't fair to the artists who depended on Cygnus Radio for the exposure. Luckily, another radio station lent us a stream. They had the bandwidth, IP and port available and said, ‘Go ahead and use it until you can get up.' Luckily, I was in the right place at the right time and I was able to get a stream server host. Now we are in control of our own destiny. We are free to do what we want without worrying about the server being shut down."

     Freedom is the key word here. Independent artists want the freedom to expose their music to the public without having it altered to what "the suits" think will attract the masses. Cygnus Radio wants the freedom to play the artists they want. They also want to turn their listeners on to something other than the same songs from the same artists day after day, month after month and year after year.

     Cygnus Radio is so dedicated to their listeners and to the artists they play that the cooperative owners—Swan, Tom and David—actually pay money out of their own pockets each month just to keep the station going. The DJs they invite to join the station are not necessarily experienced, but they too are dedicated to independent music. For this reason, there are no restrictions given to the DJs. "One of the reasons I came to Cygnus and I stayed at Cygnus is because Swan said, ‘The people matter, the people come first.' I think anything that deviates from that is a mistake. Put the people first. Let it be fun. If it is not fun, it is not worth doing, because we don't get paid for this," Tom passionately states.

     It is very obvious the listeners appreciate what Cygnus Radio is all about. They loyally tune in and sign in to chat on a daily basis. They have become a family, not only with the DJs, but with the other listeners as well. Visit www.cygnusradio.com and become part of the family.