goat, this isn't exactly free but aol has chat rooms which cover absolutely everything, unless they've changed that feature in the few years since I've been there. These chat rooms are named and if you don't see anything that interests you, you can establish your own, name it what you want and others can drop in, and, or you can invite anyone you want.
Since you must pay an internet service provider anyway, depending on your level of interest and how much time you want to spend, the increase in monthly fee (from your current provider to aol) may be entirely reasonable. I know the reason you're looking for free is that all the sites that advertise are not cheap so give this some thought.
