So, I mean, you may be on to something.
― roxymuzak, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 15:04 (sixteen years ago) link
I'd love to get into radio, actually. No college radio experience or similar though. Is it just a question of volunteering for a few months to learn enough to be let on the air? Surely anyone can do a graveyard shift on hospital radio. Or at least that's what I'm hoping...
― gnarly sceptre, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 15:14 (sixteen years ago) link
Define "work?" I host Breakfast of Champions Thursday on WMBR, listen to two weeks of archived programming here.
― zaxxon25, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 22:01 (sixteen years ago) link
What kind of computer programs do you all use in studio (if you use computers -- the station I volunteer at, WDVX, is all oldstyle. Everything is run on like a 1960s TEAC)?
― roxymuzak, Sunday, 13 April 2008 12:51 (sixteen years ago) link
When no one's in the studio, we run off SAM Broadcaster (streaming audio manager). We're very low-budget (and low-power, at 93 watts). What we transmit is actually a 64-k webstream because the bandwidth at the studio building is so low. But we get to use the studio for free, so no complaints. Nobody gets paid in our operation. Matter of fact, it costs us money to do it. It's all for the love. If anybody here sends me a mix sans swearwords and it's good, I'll play it on our radio station for almost all of martha's vineyard to hear. My show is Wednesday, 10-12 noon (listen at http://rs1.radiostreamer.com:8360). This week I'm going to play a lot of Nigerian stuff.
― scott seward, Monday, 14 April 2008 21:46 (sixteen years ago) link
i keep doing that - scott and I share a cmputer now
― Maria :D, Monday, 14 April 2008 21:47 (sixteen years ago) link
also, i often put up archives of my show at myspace/mariad The one that's up there now might actually be a skotmix
― Maria :D, Monday, 14 April 2008 21:49 (sixteen years ago) link
i've probably beat you all over the head with it already, but i'm doing an eight-week reading + discussion program about old science fiction stories for Resonance FM in london with former board regular mark sinker and a rotating cast of bozos. sorry i mean valued guests. it's called "a bite of stars, a slug of time, and thou" and is available for the castin o' the pods at http://freakytrigger.co.uk/slugoftime
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 14 April 2008 22:04 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.wrek.org/?q=staff http://psychoutwrek.blogspot.com/
― Curt1s Stephens, Monday, 14 April 2008 22:06 (sixteen years ago) link
some of our gear:
Eventide BD500 digital cart machine
some Tascam pro CD players. The CD-450's are awesome, the "professional" CD-01U is garbage.
D-16 digital audio console
Mosely MRC 1620 remote control to transmitter
we just got approved for an antenna height raise, twice as much power (up to 1000 watts), and a station expansion! Life is good.
― sleeve, Monday, 14 April 2008 23:12 (sixteen years ago) link
there is a damned dog loose in the studio
― roxymuzak, Saturday, 3 May 2008 20:16 (sixteen years ago) link
there were a bunch of old guys loose in our studio. grizzled ones.
― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Sunday, 4 May 2008 09:18 (sixteen years ago) link
Can anyone find a list of hand signals used in broadcasting on the web? We're having a breakdown in communication in this piece.
― roxymuzak, Saturday, 31 May 2008 20:27 (fifteen years ago) link
wow I had no idea such things existed.
only four google results for "hand signals" + "web broadcasting", but I'm sure you already know that. not much info in any of them.
sounds like you should call a journalism school, maybe?
― sleeve, Saturday, 31 May 2008 20:57 (fifteen years ago) link
i've basically invented our system of signals at our station, but i know there is a standard language. the only one i know from this is the "C" sign = 30 seconds left.
― roxymuzak, Saturday, 31 May 2008 21:10 (fifteen years ago) link
i think she meant an article, published on the web, about hand signals in broadcasting
― max, Saturday, 31 May 2008 21:11 (fifteen years ago) link
the only hand signal we used at my station was this one http://twothirds.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/middle_finger.jpg
― max, Saturday, 31 May 2008 21:14 (fifteen years ago) link
well yeah, that is what i meant
xpost pretty sure that one's universal in the field
― roxymuzak, Saturday, 31 May 2008 21:15 (fifteen years ago) link
ta da!
http://books.google.com/books?id=0e8SjtqlRfIC&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=%22hand+signals%22+%2B+radio&source=web&ots=Gegm3nSAUR&sig=CtNxRqe2KqV-MDAJJkYudQNLghI&hl=en
― sleeve, Saturday, 31 May 2008 21:18 (fifteen years ago) link
firefox is being forced to close!
― roxymuzak, Saturday, 31 May 2008 21:34 (fifteen years ago) link
wtf I am using ff on a mac.
it is a Google Book Search result so I cannot C-and-P
weird
― sleeve, Saturday, 31 May 2008 22:09 (fifteen years ago) link
here is the pdf file
you want pages 9-11
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qsck8r
― sleeve, Saturday, 31 May 2008 22:26 (fifteen years ago) link
bump 4 roxy
― sleeve, Monday, 2 June 2008 16:29 (fifteen years ago) link
THANKING U SLEEVE!
<3
― roxymuzak, Monday, 2 June 2008 16:58 (fifteen years ago) link
feel so shitty right now. lots of weird conflict undertones going on. tension between student and community factions. volunteers treated badly. i've been there for ten years and i can't really figure out what's wrong right now. got a good relationship with the GM and we're gonna talk soon but it just sucks. good DJs are leaving. ten years (11 actually) is longer than any job/house/relationship i've had.
if anybody has more specific info regarding FCC policy around student/community ratios and volunteer requirements and such I would love to hear more or get pointed towards info. or if any of y'all have been through upheavals at stations before.
I probably shouldn't even be posting this here.
― sleeve, Tuesday, 10 November 2009 05:27 (fourteen years ago) link
"if anybody has more specific info regarding FCC policy around student/community ratios and volunteer requirements"
can you be more specific? i'm the operations manager at a college/community station and i might be able to help. you can email me using the email in my user profile if you don't want to talk about it in public.
― elan, Tuesday, 10 November 2009 05:32 (fourteen years ago) link
great, thanks.
― sleeve, Tuesday, 10 November 2009 05:37 (fourteen years ago) link
lol
Important song note:
Have you heard, seen, downloaded, or otherwise considered the song "Did You Say" by stephaniesid? Please DO NOT play the song!
There are EAS tones in this song, used as sound effects at about the 20-second mark. EAS is the Emergency Alert System and it is prohibited by the FCC to use the tones in any circumstance other than a valid EAS issued by the federal, state, or local agency. It is a big deal too, the FCC fined iHeartMedia $1million for airing the tones in a program. You would recognize the EAS tone if you heard it, all radio and television stations air the tone before and after any Emergency Alert message, an example is here via YouTube.
We have not put this track on rotation. The record label is aware and working to get an edited version out.
So again, DO NOT AIR ANY CONTENT WITH EAS TONES!
― sleeve, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 20:28 (eight years ago) link
Hahaha
― pplains, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 20:49 (eight years ago) link
regarding recent discussions on the DMCA and the prohibition of multiple songs by the same artist in an hour, I thought I'd c&p this message from our station manager regarding "The Current" and their all-Prince marathon:
spoke with The Current and they are indeed streaming this as well as broadcasting over their FM airwaves. I asked about how they're doing it considering the DMCA rules and was told they are disregarding the rules... they said they may be the test case and they are willing to do that (they have good legal counsel and lots of money). To my knowledge there has not been enforcement against any stations disregarding the artist/time DMCA rules, but as more stations do it, I can see enforcement beginning. As mentioned above, the recording industry is ever-lobbying to protect artist rights (and protect the labels' profits), and the DMCA came from that intent. The DMCA is outdated (it was written based on 1996 treaties), as digital technology has changed a lot, but it is still the rule and we still have to follow it.
So yeah, our manager is not willing to be a DMCA test case, hence the restriction. If you hear a station do this, they are technically violating the DMCA. Hopefully this will get resolved/changed in the courts sometime this decade (especially if stations keep flaunting the rules like this).
― the 'major tom guy' (sleeve), Saturday, 23 April 2016 00:13 (eight years ago) link
This is a long, interesting (if you’re interested) artcile on the new prominence of the Adult/Hot AC formats, but which also touches on lots of other general issues in current radio programming — including the reluctance of pop stations to play hip-hip/R&B, and their corresponding decline in relevance (“Have you looked at a Top 40 chart from 20 years ago — the diversity in styles, artists, tempos?” asks a programmer. “We’ve gotten very safe, very homogenized.”); the “tempo” debate (Top 40 playing too many ballads); the “zero mainstream currency” of rock (“with the exception of Imagine Dragons, ‘the Foreigner of this decade’”), etc.:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/adult-contemporary-radio-hits-millennials-724945/
― a neon light ablaze in this green smoky haze (morrisp), Thursday, 25 October 2018 13:00 (five years ago) link
(I haven’t worked in radio for years, and don’t even really listen, but I still find this stuff interesting!)
― a neon light ablaze in this green smoky haze (morrisp), Thursday, 25 October 2018 13:03 (five years ago) link
The way they're using "millennials" seems odd but I think I'm actually in favour of making generational terms meaningless.
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Thursday, 25 October 2018 14:51 (five years ago) link
Interesting and helpful piece, though.
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Thursday, 25 October 2018 15:03 (five years ago) link
Yeah, “millennials” seems to be used as just an all-purpose headline hook.
― a neon light ablaze in this green smoky haze (morrisp), Thursday, 25 October 2018 15:07 (five years ago) link
Hm, is this working differently in Canada (or Ottawa)? Fall 2016 ratings for Ottawa seem to show CBC1 (news, talk) way out front, followed by a Top 40 station, an AM talk radio station, the classic rock station, and then an adult contemporary station, just ahead of CBC2 (a few classical programmes and a mix of mid-tempo bland music of all kinds the rest of the day) and an alternative/modern rock station, which is not very different than what I would have expected and not really showing much evidence of a new prominence of Hot AC. I just checked the Fall 2017 numbers and they show the same thing.
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Thursday, 25 October 2018 15:13 (five years ago) link
not really showing much evidence of a new prominence of Hot AC
or zero mainstream currency for rock (esp given that CBC2 plays a lot of triple A-type stuff).
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Thursday, 25 October 2018 15:26 (five years ago) link
OK, looking at radio ratings for Boston makes the article make more sense.
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Thursday, 25 October 2018 15:51 (five years ago) link
Four AC-related stations ahead of the "alternative" station!
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Thursday, 25 October 2018 15:52 (five years ago) link
Interesting, though: the closest analogue to CBC is NPR, which doesn't even rate.
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Thursday, 25 October 2018 16:35 (five years ago) link
Here in the L.A. area, the NPR affiliates are KCRW & KPCC, both of which do make the rankings: https://ratings.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb003
― a neon light ablaze in this green smoky haze (morrisp), Thursday, 25 October 2018 16:44 (five years ago) link
(It's actually interesting to me that KPCC rates higher than KCRW, I would have expected the reverse.)
― a neon light ablaze in this green smoky haze (morrisp), Thursday, 25 October 2018 16:45 (five years ago) link
Anyway, the L.A. chart also seems to illustrate this phenomenon well -- KIIS (the market's big Top 40 station) is #4, and look at #1-3...!
― a neon light ablaze in this green smoky haze (morrisp), Thursday, 25 October 2018 16:46 (five years ago) link
I think there were some affiliates on the Boston list too. They just seem a lot lower, compared to the dominant place of CBC. OMG, though, three AC stations in your top 4! 2xp
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Thursday, 25 October 2018 16:47 (five years ago) link
which I guess I knew re NPR; just striking to see it documented. Tbh, I had no idea so many people listen to CBC2. It's practically a station designed by music critics.
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Thursday, 25 October 2018 16:49 (five years ago) link
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/ariana-grande-revolutionizing-pop-radio-803279/
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Saturday, 9 March 2019 19:03 (five years ago) link
(It’s not just about Ariana, btw, lol)
Poor pop radio....such an issue
If each of those marquee artists start pushing four or five singles at once, that would make it difficult for anyone new to get major radio play. This can be especially dangerous at Top 40 radio, further decreasing variety in a format that’s already struggling with what one former promoter calls “lack of diversity.” “It’s hard to make room for other artists,” Graham acknowledges. “I have talks with labels all the time: I would love to get to your song, but when Ari is dropping something [or three somethings], or Bruno and Cardi are coming out, those take the place of other new songs.”
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 9 March 2019 23:25 (five years ago) link
I guess the algorithms tell them they can’t play other people
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 9 March 2019 23:27 (five years ago) link
The thrust of the article is that they actually do want to play other artists, and traditionally try to maintain diversity. What’s not spelled out (b/c it doesn’t need to be) is that no PD wants to turn down a new single from an established superstar.
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Saturday, 9 March 2019 23:40 (five years ago) link
No pd wants to limit airtime each hour for star’s multiple hits
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 9 March 2019 23:49 (five years ago) link
Well, they want to strike a balance, that’s what makes it a challenge when suddenly the big artists are releasing singles on top of singles.
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Sunday, 10 March 2019 00:04 (five years ago) link
yeah yeah yeah
https://i.imgur.com/Ghyv9yr.jpg
― pplains, Sunday, 10 March 2019 02:52 (five years ago) link
Between writing, interviewing and radio, the latter was the most fun. God I miss it tons. :-(
― nathom, Sunday, 10 March 2019 21:07 (five years ago) link
headed into my 25th (!!) year volunteering at the local college station, I am on now for another hour-plus
www.kwvaradio.org
coming up on my 32nd anniversary of being on real FM (various Oregon stations), and my 39th of being on cable FM (various Indiana stations). Amazingly I still love it.
― obsidian crocogolem (sleeve), Tuesday, 7 March 2023 00:52 (one year ago) link
Congrats
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 7 March 2023 06:41 (one year ago) link
sweet
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 7 March 2023 10:31 (one year ago) link
39th anniversary! incredible!!
― stirmonster, Tuesday, 7 March 2023 17:42 (one year ago) link
Thanks all!
The cable FM stations didn't really "count" as the signal only available in houses/businesses with cable TV, otoh it was a great place to learn because you could do anything.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_radio
Eventually the Indiana station (WQAX) morphed into a full FM community station but it was in the 90's after I left. When I finally got on a real microphone at a real station in 1991, I was nervous as hell!
― obsidian crocogolem (sleeve), Tuesday, 7 March 2023 17:55 (one year ago) link
Went to a DJ meeting tonight and the current group of student staff are, I think, the sharpest and most together and most committed staff I've seen in my whole time there. Super inspiring, the DJ director, music dept, sports, marketing, and news all seem really plugged in and engaged. The station's 30th anniversary is later this month. Go team.
― Perverted By Linguiça (sleeve), Tuesday, 2 May 2023 03:10 (one year ago) link