Since your station’s likely playing everything from music to commercials off of computer, there’s never a bad time to ask your engineer if everything’s backed up.
The theft of an estimated $10,000 in equipment included the hard drive that contained all the Perry Broadcasting station’s music, says KSWO. KJMZ jock Joe Biggs says “I actually had to hook up my laptop and played some music off of there.” GM Joy Chapman says it’s been a trying year, starting off with the loss of the tower during an ice storm. The burglary at the East Lee Boulevard studios happened early Friday morning, and the culprits made away with computers, monitors, TVs, webcams and two transmitter tubes – tubes the station was using to get back up to full power. The police are offering a cash reward through the “Crimestoppers” program. More at Radio-Info.
Got more than one computer? Need to keep some key show prep files or audio in sync? Want to move things between your home and station computer with ease? Get Dropbox. It’s free (up to 2GB) and the program works like a dream. Get Dropbox. (After you set up Dropbox, check out these hacks.)
Radio Bookmark is a key chain device that lets the user tag radio shows or stories so they can catch them later in their entirety on the Internet. The gadget, from Sky Blue Technologies, can’t be bought. It’s a gift offered by at least 50 public radio stations to members who contribute at a certain level — typically about $120 a year. Sky Blue founder Chris Baker says there’s no plan to adapt the technology to commercial radio.
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Here’s a good article on the pros and cons of the most common digital audio formats.
With the Portable People Meter, radio is learning a few things about its listeners, listening habits and format preferences.
If you’re not using the newest generation of digital voice recorders, you’re working harder than you should. Olympus makes some great little models that start under $100.
I’m currently using the Olympus WS-100 digital voice recorder. The quality of the files isn’t FM, but it’s good enough for short listener sound bites. The best feature: it slides apart to reveal a USB plug that you can pop directly into any computer for quick file transfer. (Each file is saved as a .WMA which can then be converted to .MP3.)
The Olympus DS-2 costs a little more and requires a USB adapter cord for transferring files (included), but the sound quality is better than the WS-100’s.
I’d love to hear what you use for recording sound bites. Leave a comment below.
In the late 1940s, Stratovision was hailed as a way to bring TV and FM radio to a wider audience. It worked, but the plan fizzled out. Read the story of Stratovision.
I’m a geek. I love computers, the Internet, Podcasting, etc. But more and more I think radio stations need to stay focused on keeping it simple… doing what we do best. Audio and video on the station website is great, but the time vs. benefit may be quite large. You can spend hours a day adding nifty content to your site, creating web features, etc., but ultimately you’re better off spending most of that time focusing on your core product.
I’m not alone in this thought. Consultant Joel Raab reminds us:
Podcasts, uploading pictures and video. We’re all moving in that direction if we’re not there already. Do not assume however that your listeners understand your hot new contest which requires uploading or other technical skills. Bottom line is that we have to bring much of our audience along with us. Like too much unfamiliar music, too many unfamiliar technical requirements can doom your station’s promotion or message. Relevancy is key. We must balance the need to sound connected to today’s technology while helping the audience understand how to use it. Let’s not get too hip for the room.
And recently I saw this story:
A new survey is out about the technology people have, how they use it, and what they think about it. The study (by the Pew Internet and American Life Project) found that adult Americans are broadly divided into three groups: 31 percent are elite technology users, 20 percent are moderate users and the remainder have little or no usage of the Internet or cell phones.
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