resp.Body.Read(buf) always reads in spurts of 4K characters. I need it to be much smaller. so that the chunks come through immediately

ReadingChunked.go

resp, err := http.Get(url)
log.Printf("stream started: %s", url)
defer func () {
	log.Printf("stream closing: %s", url)
	resp.Body.Close()
}()

if err != nil {
	panic(err)
}

//capture only one letter at a time
buf := make([]byte, 1) 
cnt, err := resp.Body.Read(buf)
for cnt > 0 {
    //this only prints in bursts of 4K letters
    //each chunk is a JSON object of about 200 characters. delineated by a newline
    //There is approximately 4 seconds between each chunk.
    //I need to write each chunk to a writer in realtime.
    //This writes bursts of 20 chunks once every minute or so.
	log.Printf("this is a single letter: %s", string(buf))  
	cnt, err = resp.Body.Read(buf)
}

You could perhaps set up a custom Transport for net/http to use. One of the fields you get to control is Body, allowing you to set up your own reader. It's pretty low-level, but it might be the ticket you're looking for.

This is being commented on this g+ post as well:
https://plus.google.com/107663931165035909387/posts/5hmF4UAnAPy