How FM Radio Stations Benefit From Lockdown

Tuning into FM radio is a valuable part of my childhood. Every time my family would go on a cross-country trip, my parents would crank up the speaker volume and flip through radio channels. I did not have a favorite station back then, but I could remember getting amazed by how they broadcasted songs. I brought this love of mine for FM radio when I grew up and decided that I would work at a radio broadcasting station no matter what.

Although I did achieve my childhood dream, a lot of people raised their eyebrows at my decision. They said, “You could have applied for a job at this or that media outlet. Why would you insist on working in a dying industry?”

Yes, as horrible as it may sound, many believe that radio is on the brink of death. A likely reason is the birth of Spotify and YouTube Music, which allow digital users to listen to songs or podcasts through their gadgets. Most cars also have Bluetooth technology, so the owners can use these music-streaming platforms instead of turning on the radio.

When the news about the lockdown rolled in at first, I thought that it was the end of this industry. However, it turned out to be highly beneficial for FM radio.

Folks Tune In To Gain Assurance

It is undoubtedly effortless to get news information these days, even if you have no interest in looking for it. Most social media users tend to overuse the Share button on various pages, you see. In case you are friends with such folks on Facebook, the links may appear on your newsfeed, and you may get hooked on them.

Despite doing the latter, not everyone believes everything they see on social media. Their desire to know the truth typically leads them to more valid sources of information, such as radio. They can even go to FM stations, which may ask experts to visit their programs. That’s how they can prove or disprove the news.

Some People Are Cutting Expenses

Due to the lockdown, a significant number of businesses have had to close temporarily or permanently. Companies are laying off employees left and right. Those who can continue working from home may not always get 100% of their monthly income. It causes people to minimize their expenses until their career stabilizes again.

Well, it is not uncommon for the likes of Spotify to get canceled in times of financial emergency. The $9.99 monthly fee that the platform asks for may be negligible for some but a treasure for others. Hence, the only way for them to get free music is by tuning into FM radio.

More Individuals Try To Relive The Good Old Days

Radio is admittedly famous among our parents and grandparents because they have grown up using it at home. Before the TV came to existence, people were used to reading or listening about the news. So, it came naturally for them to try to relive the good old days by turning on the radio once more.

When my Dad started tuning in after decades of not having time for it, I could see how much he missed it. The radio was glued to his side, and he would hum or sing every time a song that he knew would come. It was as if the music had transported him back to his youth.

Final Thoughts

I feel sad whenever I hear about people dying due to COVID-19. I also understand why some can feel bored at home after weeks of not going out. Still, the lockdown has been suitable for the radio industry, in the sense that stations have been gaining more listeners now than in the last few years. I can only wish that they won’t forget to tune in to FM radio even when the pandemic is long gone.…

An Overview On Bloomberg

Source: mediaite.com

Speakers from different states inspired people from all walks of life at the 2018 Radio Anchors Summit. Bloomberg company sponsored the event, and it successfully delivered their end of the bargain, which was to invite speakers who would share relevant information on technology, investing, and entrepreneurship. Bloomberg is known for delivering relevant and reliable information and news through digital technology. This is the trademark of Bloomberg service – providing accurate financial details to nearly 350,000 subscribers worldwide.

What is Bloomberg, and what does it do?

Bloomberg is one of the world’s largest provider of 24-7 daily news and information on finances. This includes real-time price data, analyst coverage, and current news on trade. It also covers other topics, such as sports. It has its television, magazine, and radio platforms, and it also provides analysis resources for financial professionals. Their biggest profit earner is the Bloomberg Terminal, a unified platform that streams live about financials, news, price data, and trading information to over 300,000 consumers around the world.

It was in 1981 when Michael Bloomberg found this technology provider. The company began its first product, the Bloomberg Terminal, which grew exponentially to more than 10,000 units installed within just ten years from its conception. After its success, Bloomberg implemented the Bloomberg News, which was a global new provider for anything financial. This also became a success and grew to 150,000 within ten years. Consequently, Bloomberg Tradebook was created, which enabled people to make trades directly through the company.

Currently, Bloomberg is composed of enterprise, financial, industry, and media products, and services. Since it started, Bloomberg has increased its size and profit and is now at the top of the world’s most relevant financial companies list. It now has more than 325,000 consumers of its products and services.

Chart, Trading, Courses, Forex, Analysis, Shares

Source: pixabay.com

In the year 2015, Bloomberg launched a technology hub in California, transferring a lot of its engineers there from New York. The company has since acquired and retained its top engineering people and is continually delivering the highest level of skills and capabilities to its customers.

 

 …

Love On Air

Nowadays, dating has also become an online sensation. Thanks to the worldwide use of different social media platforms that enable people to connect with each other wherever they are. Many of us have experienced the power of social media when it comes to finding an intimate relationship. It may have been different compared to the traditional courtship yet, most of us find it convenient. However, before the trending of social media platforms, came the phenomenon of radio broadcasting wherein it has also created a significant impact regarding social relations.

 

I, myself have been lucky enough to have witnessed this old fashion yet a romantic way of professing admiration and love for someone. It was almost eons ago when most of us had tuned in to different radio programs that served as a platform for social interaction. Aside from listening to your favorite song, you get the chance to express your thoughts about someone over the radio and be heard by everyone. I can still recall tuning in to my favorite radio station every Saturday just to have an update on the trending songs, and of course, listen to on-air greetings that my friends and I usually do. This lasted for quite some time since this was our version of the social platform during those days.

Love Is In The Air

Ryan was one of the campus crushes in our school. His charm, especially when he is playing table tennis, has captured everyone’s attention. While I was just a typical student, who is focused on her studies to keep her ranking. We were active students but in different fields. He was active in sports as he was giving pride to our school because of his excellent playing skills in table tennis, and I was active in the academics, representing our school in various academic contests. We had different worlds back then, but never did I imagine that our paths would cross and would lead us into something special. In fact, I hated him, as he does not need to study hard just to pass his subjects because he’s a varsity player. His presence was never an existence to me, until one day, the whole campus has turned its attention to me because of that on-air greeting addressed to me from the anonymous guy in our school. Studying in a school with a 300-student population, news like that spreads like wildfire. At first, I just ignored the incident, but the on-air greetings went on, I was clueless who could be that person, as I do not find

 

myself pretty to be liked by anyone, but I must admit it made me feel special. However, I did not dwell much on it because I was thinking that my friends were tripping over me, but deep inside, I was hoping to find out that person.

Until one day, one of the most memorable events of my high school life happened. It was during our school’s sports fest when I finally found out that Ryan was the one sending greetings over the radio. Thanks to his guts as he finally dared to introduce himself, but I did not expect that he would do it publicly. Yes publicly! I was dumbfounded in front of many students and my teachers, as they were enjoying their lunch, the request booth operator tuned in to the radio, then during the DJ’s greetings and song request, Ryan’s message for me was heard over the campus, and we became the highlight of the intramurals. After that, we started to talk to each other until we became a couple when we were in the Senior year.

Radio Love Romance

Well, until now, there are a few instant greetings that we hear over the radio to express hidden desires or admirations to the person that we love. This is especially true for someone who lacks the guts at first to tell it personally for reasons that they will be humiliated or turned down the moment they say it straightforwardly.

 

The times indeed have changed from writing love letters to broadcasting your feelings over the radio, and now, we have the internet to add to these novel ways expressing our emotions. At the turn of the next century, we may be surprised at what other ways information technology has to offer us. One this is certain and will never wane over time – that love will find its way to the person no matter what.…

Love Your Techie: The Unappreciated Jobs in Radio

 

Every industry has its unsung heroes, the little elves who actually keep the bearings greased and the lights on. Almost any company can survive for a month without a CEO without anyone but stockholders even noticing a difference, but almost none will be able to operate without that one person who knows where the files from 1996 are kept and how the building security code can be changed.

 

Yet these guys might end up feeling unappreciated when they realize just how much the “talent” earns, often without needing a formal qualification or even working very hard. While household names might be able to bank on their brand recognition, the writer’s guild strike of 2007 proved that the whole machine can come to a standstill if a single part stops working. Ultimately, everyone is replaceable, but refusing to acknowledge the contribution everyone makes is rarely a good management strategy, whether in the broadcast media or elsewhere.

 

Broadcast Assistant

When an announcer or journalist says “We have spoken to…” or some similar phrase, there is not always an I in that we. Few people know how much sheer work goes into making even a 30-second audio clip: research, planning, fact-checking, finding members of the public to speak to or tracking down persons of interest, chasing leads and rumors, as well as solving all of the myriad problems that seem to crop up out of nowhere.

 

From answering the phone to obtaining any needed licenses, broadcast assistants support radio producers at every step in the process. This job requires flexibility and charm as well as a wide-ranging skill set. Broadcast assistants are expected to know how to record and edit audio, help keep track of expenditure and even present short items on air. This is typically an entry-level position but tends to be far more demanding than just knowing how coffee makers and fax machines work.

 

Newsreader

One reason the news is read by a different person from the show anchor is to give the latter a chance to pee, but this isn’t the whole story. When listeners hear the daily news on the radio, the bare content is not all that matters: the presentation is equally important. Histrionics are clearly not acceptable, but the delivery can also not be so dry that listeners will lose interest.

 

Think of a simple sentence like “Today, the president announced that cuts to the federal education budget may be necessary.” Depending on which words are emphasized, the way the listener perceives it can change completely. Professional newsreaders will constantly study tapes of their own work as well as analyze the style of others in the same profession to perfect their personal technique.

 

Additionally, there is no room for stage fright or hesitation in this profession, especially when the wrong clip is played or some other error makes improvisation necessary. While most of the job may seem routine, the ability to think on your feet is a must, since there isn’t always time to prepare detailed notes on a breaking news story. Since much of reported news is controversial or upsetting, the ability to retain composure under any circumstances is absolutely essential.

 

Radio Engineer

Unless it’s part of a national network, the typical radio station can’t afford full-time technicians for every system they use, but they still need all of the technical bells and whistles larger organizations have.

 

This means that the same person might have to calibrate the transmitter when needed, administrate the email server, act as audio engineer, maintain mobile units for field reporting, run cables as needed, and be on call 24 hours a day in case any of a hundred things go wrong. Be kind to this person: technology isn’t something that just happens automatically, but something that only works when dozens of things are done right.

 

Whether as freelancers, interns or full-time staff, everyone working in radio is expected to understand at least a little about everyone else’s responsibilities and challenges. This is especially true in smaller stations where everyone knows each other. Some people may earn less than others, but if even one cog in the machine drops the ball, embarrassing errors or worse are likely to result.

 …

Responsible Broadcasting How To Do All The Wrong Things

 

Something every single person working in the radio industry should understand is that the effects of a transmission spread out far beyond the walls of the studio, and can persist long after the “on air” light goes out. As curators of public opinion, it’s essential to realize that inaccurate or inflammatory reporting can easily sway the results of elections, create hatreds that can take on a life of their own or even result in violence.

 

Outside of fiction, it’s not often that one single individual manages to tick all the boxes marked “never”, but as far as broadcasting is concerned, Alex Jones is an example no one should want to follow. It may seem cruel to single out one person, but in this case he’s certainly set himself up for it. Few people in modern times are better examples of why basic journalistic standards matter. Mr. Jones, no one cares any more about an imaginary issue because you punched the table. And even when the issue in question is not wholly imaginary, presenting it outside its proper context, or accompanied by speculation that’s nothing short of preposterous, this kind of demagoguery does nothing for your cause’s credibility.

 

 

Broadcasting Questionable News Without Presenting Evidence

A full list of his “fake news” items would have to wait for a longer article, but some of the whoppers he’s told were:

  • That 9/11 was orchestrated or at least allowed to happen by the U.S. government. The same for the Boston Marathon bombing and nearly every other terrorist attack in recent memory. In actual fact, Jones’ website Infowars may actually have helped inspire the attack in Boston. This is not an isolated instance, and although Jones can’t be held responsible for the actions of others, the culture of paranoia he helps create certainly plays a role.
  • Obama was not only a Muslim but also a member of Al Qaeda (this in 2016).
  • That the Sandy Hook school shooting was part of a government plot to curtail citizen’s rights to own guns. Interestingly, the debate in the media was instantly and nearly universally framed around gun ownership, rather than improving people’s access to mental health services. Jones’s broadcasts around the event led directly to his followers harassing and threatening parents of the children killed on that day.

 

The problem here is that none of these represent credible alternative viewpoints as far as the evidence he accompanies them with goes. Jones often relies on inconsistencies in how mainstream media reports on these events, (in contrast) testimony from witnesses who saw what nobody else did, unreliable records or anonymous sources that cannot be corroborated in any way.

 

 

Manipulating His Listeners’ Emotions and Fears

Jones repeatedly refers to a coming takeover of the world by a powerful group of politicians and financiers, which seems to be the lynch pin of all his political and social theories. Another favorite topic is a coming citizen’s revolt in the United States. The parallels to totalitarian discourse in past situations will be clear to anyone who’s studied history.

 

Other imminent threats he regularly warns his listeners about include eugenics, conscious, directed efforts to break up families, destroy religion and promote pedophilia by allowing same-sex marriage, and the creation of a police state complete with concentration camps. While these threats would certainly be worrying, the only way to take them seriously would be to abandon rational thought and accept Jones’s worldview lock, stock and barrel. This isn’t commentary; it’s barely even entertainment, and fearful people are even less likely to think and act rationally.

 

 

Making Wild Predictions…and then not Owning up to Them

When a commentator makes a prediction, or allows an expert such as an economist or political expert on air to do so, the audience can usually expect that a great deal of raw data and experienced analysis went into such a projection. There’s also an implicit obligation to stand by them later, admit it if the prediction failed and try to explain why.

 

Alex Jones simply does not believe in this aspect of journalistic ethics. He and his guests regularly make outrageous claims about the future, that are rarely challenged, and which are simply never mentioned again when they fail to pan out. Whenever he’s criticized for his content or presentation, his default reaction seems to be to label any detractors as enemies of the people while reiterating his views passionately.

 

Why He Does It

If nothing else, we have to admire Mr. Jones’s persistence, who has been involved in the making of around three dozen “documentaries” aside from his broadcasts, which currently claim somewhere north of two million regular listeners. There’s no doubt that he’s an extremely skilled showman.

 

Whether he actually believes in what he promulgates, there’s little doubt that Infowars and its various related franchises are quite lucrative. While the site also accepts donations, much of the advertising on Jones’s show is directed at supporting his own online shop and dietary supplements in particular. These are marketed under intriguing brand names such as “Survival Shield X-2” and “Super Male Vitality”.

 

***

A person would think that, in a country where freedom of expression covers even madmen like Jones, the operation of the free market of ideas and information would quickly make his fans notice the various flaws in his broadcasts. There are certainly a large number of Alt-Right, Libertarian and Conservative options to choose from. Several of them cover what are called “conspiracy theories”, which have historically often turned out to be true when examined diligently.

 

The problem seems to be that there seems to be almost no crossover between the Infowars listener base and that of these stations. People don’t like to have their views or beliefs challenged, a natural tendency that can occasionally become pathological. When this happens, they start living in an ideological bubble in which any new message that supports what they already know is automatically accepted, and anything that contradicts it is rejected regardless of its supporting evidence. In a world where “soft power” forms of social influence and control are becoming increasingly important, broadcasters like Alex Jones may in fact be more dangerous to the societal fabric than lone mad bombers.

 …

A Brief History Of Pirate Radio

 

What types of counseling do you and your neighbors receive on a daily basis through the airways? Is it propaganda, or perhaps censored? Perhaps how the daily news is presented is partially determined by the interests of large advertisers, or the playlist drawn almost exclusively from the three big music labels?

 

These and related issues have cropped up numerous times since the 1920’s and the dawn of publicly broadcast radio. However, when all that’s needed to circumvent arbitrary, restrictive laws is a soldering iron and a couple of vacuum tubes, it’s basically a given that someone will. When governments tried to regulate how and for what the radio spectrum could be used, a few rebels took up arms and gramophone needles against the system and played that which some people wanted to hear, even if a few laws and a border or two happened to be in the way.

 

Early Days (1890’s to 1950’s)

Initially, legislation surrounding radio had nothing to do with the content of broadcasts, but were motivated by the practical need to stop anyone with a spark gap transmitter from interfering with maritime signals, which could obviously become a matter of life and death. Radio hams were told to stay off certain bands, allocated their own frequency range and otherwise mostly left to their own devices.

 

One notable exception, in the United States, was that the president could shut down radio stations by fiat in time of war, which was done during WWI. It was hoped that this would put a crimp on both espionage and propaganda.This was perhaps not unreasonable: the German language, at the time the second most widely spoken tongue in the United States, was also banned in almost any public setting, leading to the arrest of over 18,000 people.

 

The principle had been set: freedom of speech was not above political necessity. Even in democratic nations, and certainly in Fascist and Communist countries, content ranging from news to music would now be controlled in times of both peace and war. In terms of propaganda, each side tried to demoralize its enemies while keeping its own population productive and loyal. In countries ranging from East Germany to Great Britain, it was actually illegal to listen to “unauthorized” transmissions originating from outside the country’s borders.

 

Rock ‘n’ Roll (1960’s to 2000’s)

As societal norms began to change at an increasing rate and transistors replaced vacuum tubes, an increasing number of disaffected youth got their hands on radio receivers. In Europe, iconoclastic broadcasters began to broadcast from boats anchored in international waters, leading to the term “pirate radio” becoming popular. In the U.S, “free radio” stations began popping up around the San Francisco area, broadcasting from secret locations on land.

 

While some of these stations specialized in playing banned content or promoting controversial views, a number of them were simply middle-of-the-road commercial ventures that didn’t feel the need to subject themselves to formal licensing requirements. What eventually killed them off was not any kind of massive government crackdown, but that mainstream, licensed programming increasingly began to resemble that of pirate stations as it proved the existence of untapped markets. In a few cases, particularly along the border between the U.S. and Mexico, some radio stations still obtain legal licenses in one country with the intention of broadcasting across the border, thereby evading restrictions such as those on output power.

 

Streaming and Podcasting (2000’s and Onward)

Just like compact transmitters made pirate radio possible, the UDP protocol and broadband internet reduced the barriers to entry in the radio market still further. Today, anyone with a microphone, a PC and an internet connection can theoretically set up his very own radio channel.

 

As these are completely unregulated and unlicensed, the quality and focus of these stations vary widely, from conventional, commercial radio stations providing simultaneous webcasts of their normal transmissions to the downright nutty. As with pirate stations in days gone by, the difficulty of forcing them off the air is completely out of proportion to the actual damage they can cause. Censorship is therefore dead unless a country is willing to cripple their internet access at the same time, and since the broadcast range extends to most of the planet, everyone can now have their say. Whether your interest is in Bornean folk music or chasing UFOs, there is probably a web radio station just right for you.…

Things Talk Radio Hosts Dread

 

 

Talk radio remains one of the most popular formats around, providing information, opinion, intelligent entertainment and a surrogate for an actual company to millions of people. One common misconception among people who have never actually worked in the scene is that it’s easy. Work only three hours a day? Snap! And the work itself is just to keep blabbering, right?

 

The truth is that being a successful talk radio host is far from easy, and the only effective training available for the job is an experience. Even then, though, some things come right out of left field: a caller needing anxiety attack help and for some reason wanting to broadcast the fact to the whole city, cranks who won’t shut up until the rest of the world is as crazy as they are, and of course the occasional troll who just likes to hear his own voice, regardless of who else has to listen.

 

That a host will have to deal with these is a given; one of the main differences between a pro and a newcomer his handling them with aplomb and good humor. So, double-check that your phone really is on silent, make sure some cough drops are within reach, and steel yourself for the unexpected.

 

Thinking You’re Prepared for an Interview…and Finding out You’re Not

In one case, a talk show host was going to interview a crime mystery writer on live British radio. She’d made extensive notes, researched the author and his work and was feeling confident. So, her first question was about the link between people who vicariously read newspaper reports on crimes and those who get their kicks from novels in the same genre. No, says her guest: those two groups of readers are motivated by totally different things, and there is almost no crossover between them. Whoops! The interviewer had to shuffle through her notes frantically, looking for questions that weren’t based on that assumption. Luckily, the writer turned out to be a talkative type – it would have been some bad radio if he could only answer “yes” and “no”.

 

As another example, a scientist once went on talk radio to argue that the coal-fired power generation industry has less of an effect on global warming than people tend to think. Thinking that he had a sure-fire way of undercutting this assertion, the interviewer waited until about two thirds of the spot was done before asking the scientist where his funding comes from. Well, he replies, my specialty is power station design, but most of my clients are in the nuclear sphere, so I’m kind of speaking against their interests. I don’t think they’ll be mad, though.

 

The moral of the story is that, however carefully it’s planned, an interview can often go off into completely unexpected directions. Doing research for only one possible scenario is not a very good idea, unless an interviewer is really good at improvising.

 

Having to Tip-Toe Around Advertiser’s Interests

It’s sad but true: radio is a business just like seal clubbing and investment banking, and a host occasionally has to decide how far his professional ethics are able to stretch.

 

Most talk stations try to walk a line between controversial and uninteresting, and where exactly that line lies is determined by what will critically offend its target audience. In fact, advertising on talk stations only costs about half as much as on music stations, given similar audience metrics, precisely because of this risk. The increased importance of social media also means that fewer advertising dollars get spent on radio spots overall, while a station associating itself with a controversial brand – or vice versa – is obviously less than optimal.

 

Any conversation that involves politics or religion will probably offend at least a few people, but even subjects such as urban speed limits or celebrity divorces can cause tempers to flare up. The most important thing here is perhaps to respect the audience – losing one advertiser is nothing compared to losing 10% of listening share. Still, some slip-ups are bound to occur, such as the host who come on the air directly after an ad for a rock concert with the words: “Oh my…was that music? Do their parents know they talk like that?”

 

When Fanaticism and Facts Collide

Occasionally, someone on the show – whether a caller or an in-studio guest – will make a point that is simply so dumb that it’s impossible to argue with, such as that Islam is a country or that rape cannot produce pregnancy. In a perfect world, these little hiccups would be addressed through reasoned debate and empirical proof, and I implore anyone who finds this utopia to send me a postcard.

 

Simply cutting someone off is considered bad form. In the first place, this can and will be seen by some as suppressing the rights of others to have their views heard; in the second, these individuals provide quality entertainment for free. A true master at the talk show game will often handle such a situation by keeping calm and making fun of the fool. Asking enough questions, as respectfully as possible, will eventually show up the absurdity of such a position while keeping the host’s reputation intact.

 …

The Principles of Broadcast Advertising

 

Everyone reading this is probably familiar with the story of how a broadcast of H. G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” caused mass panic, with people fleeing their homes ahead of the Martian invasion they thought was coming. The thing is, it never happened. The entire myth arose on the basis of falsified newspaper reports: print media was simply scared to death of the impact radio would have on their advertising revenue.

 

As the wheel turns, the radio industry today finds itself in a similar position, with television and especially web advertising placing pressure on stations’ profitability. The best radio station isn’t the one with the most listeners or the finest content. At the end of the day, keeping the doors open and the lights on relies on booking advertising revenue. If I want to find a therapist near me, a hardware store that delivers, or an idea of what to do Friday night, why would I tune in instead of googling it?

 

I know that half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. My only problem is that I don’t know which half.” – William Lever, founder of Unilever

 

Competing with Internet and Other Channels

Spending on clickable ads is seen as a great deal cheaper than purchasing radio spots and recording a professional-sounding commercial, but how does their relative effectiveness stack up? In the first place, we should be wary of comparing apples and oranges: online ads are good at promoting specific products and offers, but they are less useful for creating brand awareness. Positioning a company’s name in the mind of the consumer requires repetition and engagement. Radio can do this sort of thing by grabbing listeners’ attention through humor or sound effects, but browsers are by this point so conditioned to ads that they get scrolled right past.

 

One way to grow a station’s advertising revenue is to play up this less tangible aspect of the medium. It’s extremely easy to quantify the performance of online ads, with every click being recorded. However, regular radio listeners soon memorize taglines and jingles, making them that much more likely to convert into long-term customers.

 

Scheduling and Demographics

If you want to sell car repair services, you have to reach car owners. If an ad is about teenagers’ clothing, you ideally wouldn’t broadcast it at 10a.m. on a school day.

 

This principle means that advertisers who want to get the best results for their spending work together with a station, as well as perhaps a public relations firm, to design coherent campaigns and not just individual spots. Detailed, regular market research is needed for this, which also allows the station to improve its programming. Simply stating that you can claim around 10,000 listeners at some particular time is not enough: are they married? What proportion of them are female, or under 25? One of the comparative strengths of web ads is that they can be accurately targeted based on a person’s search history, so radio station management should up their marketing game if they don’t want to lose market share.

 

Targeting the Right Advertisers

Promotion via the airwaves is far from dead, and the outlook for 2018 is actually quite positive. At the same time, a lot more can be done, in some cases, to raise the amount of revenue a station earns.

 

While larger networks can typically expect ad agencies as well as individual companies to come to them, local stations are in a different position. What they lack in reach, though, they can often make up for in flexibility. Although pricing structures are reasonably firm, radio management can assist more or less formally with scripting, campaign design and production, essentially giving away studio time in return for paid transmissions. Every station will already employ writers, sound engineers and every other specialty that’s needed, and these people might just have time on their hands.

 

The thing to remember is that different advertisers have different needs and budgets. Some may only need five seconds a few times a day to read off a web address, some will require a well-known announcer to read their text, while some will be willing to spring for an ad with all the bells and whistles. All of these can be accommodated, and in fact a client who requests an ad in the morning can have it ready to air in the afternoon.

 

***

Although the people who’ve “watched the sausage being made” will have few illusions, advertisers are still drawn to the immediacy and glamour of radio. A magazine or newspaper might have a few regular features, like on gardening or restaurants, but the ads on those pages tend to fade into the background even for people specifically reading the articles. Radio, by contrast, and specifically talk radio, guarantees an audience at least marginally interested in the topic, with some of the lowest cost per customer rates.

 …

How to Start an Internet Radio Station

 

One of the less appreciated shifts that the digital age has brought about is the rise of truly independent media: citizen journalists, bloggers, and even those people who make a living by creating Youtube videos. Whether you have a Ph.D. in economics or just a couple of strong opinions, everyone can now have their voice heard, leading to an unprecedented level of competition between different viewpoints.

There are a number of reasons that can motivate a person to look into setting up their very own web-based radio station — starting your own radio career can be very rewarding. Often, a person will want to set up the kind of radio they themselves would like to hear but can’t find, whether it consists of discussing Greek poetry or vegan cooking. Others are natural entertainers and would prefer friends as well as strangers to tune into them instead of spending their time in a depression chat room. Whatever the station’s intention and mission, a little more than a broadband connection is required to start jamming.

 

The Easy Way: Streaming Services

Suitable for both audio and video, streaming services require no technical skill whatsoever and start at around $100 per month for professional packages. This may seem like a lot for a hobbyist, but a reasonably popular station can easily charge as much for a single ad. All you’ll need is a decent microphone and an MP3 player, and you can potentially start broadcasting immediately.

 

The Less Easy Way

If someone plans to start broadcasting as a career or doesn’t want to be exposed to policy changes on the part of a third party, it’s not all that difficult to set up your own server. This doesn’t even need to be a rack-mounted monstrosity that requires its own air conditioning since an ordinary desktop PC will likely be all that’s needed to handle initial traffic volumes and production tasks.

Essentially, what is needed is installing an application that can play music, another to convert audio into a real-time stream, and a third that turns your computer into a server. In addition, a computer with a dedicated sound card (rather than using the chip on the motherboard) and professional quality microphone are recommended, which will allow good audio quality at least at the source.

There are a whole bunch of options for the various software functions, including open source alternatives. For easy configuration, a budding broadcaster can look into Winamp with its Edcast plugin, while Icecast2 creates a no-nonsense radio server.

 

Getting Started

The only data rate your ISP normally specifies is the downstream capacity, whereas you will mainly be broadcasting, not downloading. The bandwidth you’ll need is affected both by the broadcast quality and the number of simultaneous listeners, so you may need to upgrade to an enterprise internet plan. Alternatively, part of a cloud server can also be rented to handle all of the data requirements, with high availability at a reasonable cost.

Once you’ve wrestled with concepts such as ports and encoders, it’s time to actually start deciding on programming. There are few hard and fast rules when it comes to attracting listeners, whether you’re broadcasting as a business or as a hobby, but high-quality, consistent content is obviously a must. It’s better to only broadcast an hour or two per day and keep people interested in what’s being played or said.

Secondly, specialization is the name of the game. A quick look around the internet will easily reveal the existence of web stations in every niche you can think of. Competing with them is almost never possible by diluting your efforts across multiple genres. Instead, focus on what you can do well and wait for like-minded people to find you.

As one example, copyright fees can easily cripple a small station that tries to play the most popular tunes, but it may be possible to negotiate good rates with individual artists looking for exposure. Another route which can be followed is to focus on listeners in your town or even a single neighborhood, which helps keep content relevant and interactive, as well as making finding advertisers easier.

 

 

 …

What Every Radio Station Operator Needs To Know About Copyright

 

Different radio personalities specialize in different things: the fictional Frasier Crane provides talk therapy over the airways, millions of people trust the news as they hear it from Glenn Beck’s lips, and Howard Stern is presumably up to his own thing.

However, there are some commonalities that have to be taken into account whatever the program’s format, including internet broadcasts and podcast. One of these principles is that creative artists of all kinds are entitled to compensation whenever any of their work is used – unless you’re in a country such as Turkmenistan, which has no copyright law whatsoever. At least, in theory, copyrights both allow the actual creators of the work to make a living wage, while the corporations they’re tied to continue to have an economic reason to invest in new works. This principle is even mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.

As a freelancer, the copyright on articles and recordings literally make up a large portion of my livelihood. As an author, torrent sites offering copies of my books make a real though unquantifiable dent in my earnings. As a broadcaster, ignoring the basics of copyright law can have serious legal and financial consequences, and small independent broadcasters are in no way exempt from understanding and enforcing these regulations.

 

What Is Protected?

The Copyright law or practice is ridiculously complex. As a general guideline, any work that isn’t specifically stated to be licensed under a Creative Commons license or older than 100 years should be considered as being the property of its owner, whether it’s an actual sound recording or something more abstract, such as a musical composition or written text. Some countries require works to be registered for copyright to apply, but merely the act of creating something is usually sufficient, even without including a phrase such as “all rights reserved”. This is the case in all countries that subscribe to the Berne Convention.

The good news is that non-profit or student radio is often given a long leash as long as it acts in good faith. In addition, it’s understood that only a particular way ideas are interpreted can be copyrighted, not the ideas themselves. There are also various different types of rights that can be assigned from the owner or creator to a broadcaster, including reproduction, public performance, and control over derivative works.

 

Enforcement

While a few countries have laws that make copyright infringement illegal, government resources are usually devoted primarily to actual forgery. This means that the copyright holder has to bear the costs of protecting his intellectual property itself in a civil suit rather than involving the police. In practice, this means that large, financially muscular organizations such as the “big three” record labels receive more advantage from copyright law as it stands. Due to the costs of initiating a trial, violators are usually first asked to stop using copyrighted work through a letter or phone call.

The actual scale of intellectual property theft is unknown. Should it be determined on the basis of the nominal value of all pirated works, or as a number representing the actual lost sales an industry suffers? In fact, it has not been proven that technologies such as file sharing actually harm music vendors, many of which have embraced Youtube with open arms.

 

Copyright in Radio

As mentioned, copyright law is a minefield at times, and anyone who needs to pay royalties might well need legal advice before letters of demand start arriving.

Fortunately, rationality has prevailed in the broadcast industry. You might think that a radio station needs to keep a record of every song they play, find out who holds the copyright and how much they charge, and finally send out hundreds of little checks each month. This would clearly lay a heavy administrative burden on everyone involved, so companies such as SoundExchange and Live365 were founded to take a lot of the pain out of paying royalties.

The two examples mentioned are focused on digital broadcasts, but national or regional equivalents exist in nearly every jurisdiction. These are typically industry associations rather than organs of government. Essentially, each radio station pays a monthly fee based on size (typically determined by output power), with discounts applying to community-based stations or those tied to educational organizations. The proportion of funds that should go to each performer and record label is then calculated through a complicated algorithm, and in principle, everybody gets paid according to the contribution they make to broadcasting.

 …