KMP Radio will begin broadcasting online today from Otto’s Niteclub, 118 E. Lincoln Highway.

The Internet radio station has gone through test runs during the past couple of weeks. Nort Johnson, director of public relations and promotion for Otto’s, and Jeremy Eisenberg, general manager, have been getting used to the SAM Broadcaster program used for the station.

“Jeremy had the idea of an Internet radio station,” Johnson said. “When I came here, I said, ‘Let’s do it.’ We Googled ‘Internet radio’ to find the broadcasting program, and that’s how it all started.”

Johnson said the program is user-friendly enough that he has plans to allow his 3-year-old grandson to pick the songs.

Although there are some confirmed on-air deejays, bartenders from the club have also expressed interest in playing some songs from the station’s library of more than 1,000 songs.

“We have all kinds of deejays in mind for shows – people of different race, age and sexual orientation. But if anyone wants to come up and throw some music on, well, that’s just fine,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be loose as a goose.”

One specialty show confirmed is an hour-long slot run by husband and wife Phil and Lynn Hoffman called “Black Magic Biker Show.” The two motorcycle enthusiasts will discuss their knowledge of bikes and all things related.

Eisenberg said he believes students in the area are used to the Internet format because of NS*Radio. There aren’t enough media outlets in DeKalb, he said.

“We want to stress independent music with the station,” Eisenberg said. “There will be some commercial stuff on there, of course, but we want to make it primarily independent. Our lives are immersed in music, and this is a great way for [Johnson and Eisenberg] to release after the stress from our jobs.”

To stress this dedication to independent music, the station will allow bands to e-mail mp3s of songs to be played on-air. The mp3s will go into the cataloged library for rotation. There is also interest of putting bands live on air for exclusive performances.

The station will promote upcoming shows at Otto’s, but Johnson stressed that KMP Radio will promote other upcoming shows around the area as well.

The station is relatively inexpensive to run, Johnson said. There currently are no confirmed advertisers.

“We aren’t avidly looking for advertisers,” Johnson said. “If someone approached us about it though, that would be great.”