The last time Venice had a radio station of its own was 1926. The station played live ballroom music from the community’s dance pavilion on the pier.

Michael Linder believes that 84 years without Venice radio is long enough, so he plans to launch Internet radio station KVB.FM from his Venice home. Programming will include news and music designed to capture the distinctive vibe of the beach community.

Starting next month, Internet listeners can access the station live on computers, smart phones and iPads. The station will play top 40 songs during the day, and transition into electronic music in the evening and overnight hours, Linder said. Pretaped news packages, including interviews with neighborhood characters, will play between sets.

“I’ll have people out on the streets with the skaters, tourists and artists capturing Venice like a reality TV show,” he said.

At first, Linder will rely on a handful of volunteers to help him package his news pieces. But eventually, with the help of advertisers – and possibly listener donations – he hopes to hire a staff.

Linder was a creator and producer on reality TV show “America’s Most Wanted” in the ’80s, and then later worked as a television reporter for KTLA (Channel 5) and KCOP (Channel 13). He did radio reporting for KNX-AM (1070) and KABC-AM (790), but was laid off from his job as a City Hall reporter for KABC in August.

Sudden unemployment gave Linder the opportunity to explore the idea of starting an online station.

“This is the next wave of media,” he said. “Traditional broadcasters are seeing it as something of a threat to terrestrial radio.”