In the late 1990's Wired Magazine ran a website called HotWired which was honestly a lot more fun than anything on the web these days appears to be. One of the features was the Beta Lounge - an online radio station that played electronic music out of San Francisco. It was literally the pulsating beat of the dot com bubble broadcast directly from its hub to your computer, anywhere in the world.

Lycos bought HotWired back in 1999 and most of it has long since been dismantled. However, the Beta Lounge still rocks on - 15 years later! - from Germany... I wanted to buy a t-shirt as I used to have one 15 years ago but unfortunately with shipping and currency conversion its over 40 bucks. However, its nice to listen to the mellow layered textures of electronic soundscape that are still pouring out of that url - and all of the old sets are up there in the archive, running all the way back to 1997!

I donated a few bucks to them - may the Beta Lounge never die!

15 years of the BETA LOUNGE