Tips for Radio Presenter Shows Submission to Radio Stations

INTRODUCTION

Here are our top tips to presenters to consider when submitting shows to internet radio stations.

1. FILE SIZE - Make sure the file size is set to the station kilobits per second output, we transmit at 128kbps which is the most common format. We get shows submitted in 320Kbps which are larger, take much longer to download and are sometimes too large for our Cloud Server. We then have to reformat to 128Kbps anyway. It's a pain for the station as well so watch out. Try out the free
   Media Human Audio Converter to keep things sweet.
   
2. VOLUME LEVELS - Quite often, even the most proficient broadcasters appear to slip up with their levels. Music and voice being very inconsistent. This shows up more when listening at reduced volumes. Our best tip is to set the microphone slightly above the music levels. Make sure your music is all of similar volume, we suggest using a free software tool called  MP3Gain to set all your music to the same level. 
   
   
3. FILE NAMING - Make sure your file naming is also consistent as some cloud systems rely on this to set your shows up correctly. A good guide can be found here: Shier Rzow website
   
   
   

Hope this little article has helped, let us know if you have any comments or other tips for presenters too. Thanks to all who have contributed.

Dear Listener

A MESSAGE TO THE LISTENER

This is a message to all listeners of internet radio stations (not just ours).

Over the past few years, us internet radio broadcasters have been under
pressure from a whole onslaught of other music providing sources.

We like our other broadcasters have been trying our hardest to make out output compete and fill in a gap in this market. Stations come and go more rapidly than before as some folks think it is easy to grab your attention. This is definitely not the case.

COMMUNICATE

We have some die hard listeners who also from time to time communicate with us for which we are grateful. We also have those who also listen regularly but never communicate with us. This we know and accept, we change shows around and seek new program content on a regular basis but have little feedback from you the LISTENER. All stations will appreciate your feedback and it may be the difference between them improving or giving up. You the LISTENER have an ideal opportunity to have an impact, don't waste it.

GET IN TOUCH

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I ask you to consider maybe taking a few minutes to visit your favorite internet radio's website and say hello. Without you we would not be doing this, with your help and feedback we can prevail against all the odds stacked against us by the big boys (Itunes, Spotify, Deezer etc.)

Dave Kelly

Affinity Radio

Things to consider if producing an internet radio show

How we do it

Running an internet radio station is great fun but also for small operators like us at Affinity Radio it can be very time consuming. Live shows from the studio are bounced up to our Cloud server then out to the world, this enables the Cloud to fill in any gaps if the LIVE broadcast drops out, so you should never hear dead air. Prerecorded shows are usually sent to us via Drop box, we-transfer or other file sharing system. We then have to remove all dates, editions etc so that the file title is set to a predefined format (defined by us). We then drop these (mp3) files into our presenters folders then the clever stuff happens.

Automatically add meta data

Data from each show gets transmitted with the music and is displayed on our on line player so we need to make this sensible for the listener, this is often not done by show presenters. 

We used to do this manually which as you can imagine took ages.

We use SAM Broadcaster Pro as our broadcasting software since 2010. We have found that this software can also re write the files with the appropriate data in seconds so that the listener will be able to see the artist name, the show title, presenters picture or Affinity Tile. There is additionally space for website links and much more.

Upload to the Affinity Cloud

Once the metadata is correct we upload the completed mp3 to the Cloud server. The server analyses the file and normalizes the volume so that it is in keeping with the other output on the system so sound levels are at a constant output volume. This is great however if the presenters voice level is low, the system can't compensate for this.

Scheduling

Each show has its own slot (or slots) on the server so times are set automatically when the show is uploaded. 

Things To Consider

So, you have made your show, recorded it onto mp3 and sent it out, fantastic. Making the program for free is amazing, stations like ours are self funding so we can't pay as it costs us a small fortune to keep on the air. Here are a few things to consider when doing your shows.

• keep file naming consistent
• make sure the microphone level brings the voice volume slightly above the maximum music level
• remember to keep the file size to the station maximum output "quality", in our case 128 kbps as it keeps files small and some cloud systems have upload "caps" that prohibit files above certain levels so, again the poor old station manager has to convert these down to an acceptable size.

Contact Us

If you found the information useful, would like to get a show on air, or would like to know more, please email me at studio@affinityradio.net and put "Blog" in the title and I'll get back to you.

Cheers

Dave Kelly

Presenter and Technical Manager

Affinity Radio

Affinity Radio Website

Affinity Facebook Page

Affinity Twitter Feed

Listen to affinity here:

Affinity via Tunein

Affinity via Affinity Player

New things happening on www.affinityradio.net in April 2011

Hi folks,

Well Ray and I have been working very hard on a number of improvements to the station. Our Dedication system, introduced over a month ago is working well with listeners saying how easy it is to use. Week commencing Monday 18^th March brings some new evening programming which means we have the following new programmes:

Monday’s – The Sound of the Seventies 8.00pm – 11.00pm

Tuesday’s – Remember This Golden Classic (60’s pop) 8.00pm – 11.00pm

Friday’s – Great Eighties (a cocktail of 80’s hits)

This means that we now have a “hosted” show every night of the week so check out our website for details, make sure you hit that “refresh” button on your browser often.

Best wished to all our listeners.

Dave Kelly

Station Technical Manager & Presenter

Affinity Radio

www.affinityradio.net

studio@affinityradio.net