With the Internet getting popular both at home and at workstations, online entertainers, aka Internet Jockeys, are just a click away.

In countries like USA, Canada and Australia, most people get their daily dose of music from Internet Jockeys. But it will take a while before Indians take to it, feels Nishant Walimbe, who hosts a show on a London-based portal called Definitive Beats, since 1997, along with Amit Sanghavi. “Most people cannot go clubbing every night. It is on our show — Crisp Techo-logy that they can request for new numbers to be played on a weekly basis,” he says, adding, “We play during a Thursday evening slot and it is heartening to have listeners who don’t mind experimenting widely with music.”

This is how IJ-ing works: Internet DJs are approached through e-mail or on their website by viewers who like to hear a particular song or a set of them. The IJ is, virtually, a desktop compere. Gaurav Vaz, co-founder RadioVeRVe, India’s only Internet Radio Station that promotes Indian music across genres and languages, feels that the trend is yet to catch up. Vaz’s work includes supervising the content and contacting artistes to feature them and their work.

Sifymax, which launched one of the first internet radio stations mumbailive.in in 2006, has expanded its reach to four more metros — Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru. “The plus point of this medium is 24X7 availability of content. It is also a very interactive medium, where jockeys and listeners are on the same page,” says Arun Rajamani, head, Sify consumer channel. “With wireless connectivity growing by the day, IJ shows are bound to pick up and many new players will enter the scene,” he hopes.

For Ramya Subramanian, an Internet jockey on Chennai live, experience in RJing and VJing is what enables her to create a name as an IJ. “Ours is a 24-hour portal where we feature box office hits, top five movie releases, news, interviews, happening fashion outlets and restaurants in the city and so on,” she says. She laments the limited reach of the medium, and says, “Also, most people think it is a mindless form of entertainment. But there is a lot of research and planning that goes into our work.” Also, the slow internet connectivity in India sometimes takes the thrill out of this new medium.