“Slap Happy” Lives!

I know that not many of you heard the radio show Slap Happy on the late lamented WNRB, because it was on Sunday nights and you could only get WNRB in your car. But Slap Happy now has a new life, thanks to Odeo and WordPress.

Odeo is a podcast host site and WordPress has direct support for their players.

You can download Slap Happy by clicking here. Or you can subscribe to the podcast with your iTunes or other podcast software by adding the feed to your list here:

Or just listen to it here

Either way I hope you enjoy and feel free to comment!

Not Dead Yet

The community Radio Journal is not dead yet, but I am trying to figure out a focus that makes sense and will attract some readers and will not take up all of my time.  Look for new material coming soon!

Driftless Radio

In this case Driftless refers to the section of Wisconsin that was not glaciated and that their frequency will never drift…because they are not actually on the air. Driftless Radio actually illustrates the reverse case of most community radio stations.

The “theory” of LPFM stations is that lowering the power and engineering requirements will make it possible for community broadcasters (that is to say, groups without a lot of money) to reach people. The reason we want to use radio to get our message out, the theory goes, is so anyone in the listening area can tune in with any old radio, an investment of a buck or two.

But even a LPFM station is pretty expensive to build and run. On the order of tens of thousands of dollars. Less than the hundreds of thousands for traditional broadcasting, but still not pocket change. And we still have to face the fact that even in the absence of regulation, the radio spectrum is limited. Add to that the fact that the FCC has pretty much stopped issuing new LPFM licenses, and a community group is pretty much stuck.

Unless you turn the tables, like Driftless Radio did. This is an internet only community “radio” station. Getting on the internet is quite inexpensive in comparision to a tradtional or even LPFM station. So the good news is that even a small group could have a nice internet presence, if not for pocket change exactly, at a cost that runs thousands rather than tens of thousands of dollars. Plus, essentially an unlimited number of “radio” stations can coexist on the internet because of the scalabilty of the net structure.

But there is a huge downside, of course. Instead of community members being able to receive the “broadcast” essentially for free, they need to incur some serious costs. Perhaps someone could get by with a used computer of a hundred dollars or so, but listening to internet radio is certainly best with a broadband connection, dial-up leads to to much frustration. But either way, listeners have to pay someone (usually a big corporation) a healthy monthly fee to listen to the radio!

This is one very good reason to support city wide wi-fi efforts that are springing up in cities across the country. Using tax support to give all citizens the infrastructure to use broadband internet makes a lot of sense — and may actually lead to an increase in the number and diversity of community “radio” stations like Driftless Community Radio.

Another Big List

I came across this non-commercial list of non-commercial radio stations in the US and around the world.  He has bitten off such a huge chunk, there is no way the list is comprehensive, but wow, what a wonderful list.  Chuck Taggart is the talent behind this and it is fabulous!
If that is not enough for you, check out Chuck's homepage, a literal Gumbo of local "Louisiana stuff" as he puts it, and lots of wonderful radio related pages, including his antique radio collection.  So go visit Chuck and plan to spend a few hours.

More Cool Tools

The Berklee College of Music has provided, through the Creative Commons license, series of online music lessons. The ones of most interest to community radio people are probably the ones on music production.

The lessons focus on the use of Pro Tools as the editing software, but certainly the concepts are adaptable to Audacity or any other sound editor. Lessons include such topics as setting up a recording studio, recording, mixing, studio sound, setting up a home studio and more. Most of the lessons are focused on music production, of course, but good sound is good sound, whether speaking, singing or playing.

You can freely copy and adapt these lessons for your station’s (noncommercial) use under the Creative Commons license.

Striking Back at the Empire

It has been a long time since I listened to a commercial radio station. But back when I was a kid, one station or another was always reading (in the driest monotone voice possible) the information about the public right to comment on the license renewal of said radio station and their service to the community. There was always some reference to the file of public services that the broadcaster had provided being somewhere in a locked file cabinet in the third sub-basement where the flood occured last year or something like that. But at least the public was mildly aware that the station had to actually renew their license and that the public had some right to comment on that.

Well, whether stations still read that or not, some people have taken the right to public comment seriously and have petitioned the "FCC to deny the license renewals for 11 radio stations locally owned by Clear Channel Communications, and Citadel Broadcasting Company." You can read the complete story here.

In a nutshell the petition says that by not provding real local content and news programming the corporations are not providing the public service that is required of them to use OUR airwaves.

It is very unlikely that the FCC will deny any licenses, but you could make some noise in your local community if you have a corporate clone station in town. Just commenting on the license may get you in the local paper and make some noise about local control and ownership of the media.

A Bit Further Afield This Time

I have been trying to keep things pretty close to my backyard with this blog, but with the internet, I suppose the entire world can be my backyard if I so choose. I was looking for interesting LPFM sites, preferably a forum, and came across an interesting example of what LPFM looks like elsewhere in the world.

Just a quick warning before I give you the link, this site would NOT pass FCC muster and it looks as though the station would not either. If you really think that George Carlin's famous seven words you can never say on television really will rot your brain and cause us to lose the war, then don't click here.

Don't say I didn't warn you. Now, this kind of station is not actually not my cup of tea, but it does show what is possible in a different environment. A community broadcaster should actually reflect the community they are in. This station shows a level of honesty that is lightyears beyond even the most radical LPFM station here. Of course they go even further than our LAW would allow.

So here is their statement of purpose:

mofo fm 107.4 is a non-commercial Low Power FM radio station in Christchurch, New Zealand.

We are based in, and broadcast exclusively to the innercity of our dirty ol' town, strongly rejecting the mainstream commercial sound and concepts, completely add free and keeping it filthy real.

Even though we are a dance scene orientated station we also pride ourselves on varity, with shows ranging from metal and kiwiana, to kids storys and live experimental eletronica.

Ready to abuse the ears of anyone willing to tune in and listen to a bunch of mofo's playin' some of their fav tunes – that's us in a nutshell really…

If you think you can stand it, you can listen in on their station here. Like their website says, if you don't like this sh…ummm, stuff you can alway turn it off.

 

If you have a chance to listen (they do not broadcast 24 hours, so check the page for availability) why not drop a comment here and tell us what you think.

 

Happy listening!

WWSP — University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point

WWSP is not an LPFM station, but it is certainly one of the most dynamic and interesting student/community stations, perhaps in the entire country.

In many places the college student station is a low power affair, sometimes even a closed circuit being piped into a student union or dorm.  But not WWSP.  They put out a strong 11,000 watt signal, soon to be upgraded to 38,000 watts according to some on air banter I heard there a few weeks ago.  WWSP is received easily in my car radio as far north as Merrill.  Of course it takes more than signal strength to make a good station.  WWSP abounds with good radio.

Like any community station WWSP has a very eclectic mix of programming.  Their schedule can be found here.   Of course much of their programming includes alternative pop music that is generally considered "college" music, but the shows are certainly not limited to that.  Weeknights feature jazz for several hours.  Saturday mornings feature the "Fabulous Freak Show" which features the alternative hits from the 70's.  Sunday morning features "Accoustic Revival" or alternative unplugged.

As you might guess, you will certainly hear students on the air, but also community members and I assume faculty also take their place as programmers and hosts.  WWSP truly serves both the student community and the greater community of Stevens Point and Central Wisconsin.

You can listen to WWSP live on the web here.  I was told via email that sometimes they have technical problems with the stream, so if you get a "stream not found" type of error, check back at a later time.  WWSP's homepage is here.

I would be completely remiss if I did not mention WWSP's claim to national fame.  They claim — and many people seem to agree — to run the world's largest trvia contest.   I am certainly not one to argue with that.  How many radio contests do you know of that have their own parade?  How about being inducted into the Trivia Hall of Fame?   For a history of the event (I won't vouch for the accuracy of this page) you can go here. This year's contest drew over 2,000 teams and some 8,000 people as contestants.  And a good time was had by all.  So next April you can sit glued to your radio like thousands of other people.

All in all, WWSP is a wonderful station with clever promotions and events and just oozes with personality.  Unfortunately, the word is out that the faculty mentor of the station is leaving and that perhaps WWSP will get folded into the Wisconsin Public Radio network.  If that does happen it will be a great loss to Central Wisconsin.  WPR is a great network, but it is just that,  a string of stations being programmed from Madison and Milwaukee.  WWSP is a tremendous local voice and I hope they will continue as such.  As their on-air tagline says they are Stevens Point's "Only Alternative." 

And long may they be so!

Home Base: WNRB, Wausau, Wisconsin

Before I go any further, I guess I should say something about my "homebase." 

I am a volunteer at WNRB, a LPFM station sponsored by Northcentral Technical College in Wausau.  The college has been absolutely wonderful to us and put us light years ahead of where we would be if we were simply a community group using our own resources to put things together.  They have provided space, equipment, pull in the community and most importantly a full time employee, Dino, our Bossman.

After giving the station all of those resources they have basically given the station back to the community.  WNRB is a very eclectic station with a wide range of informational and musical shows.  We carry programming in three languages, English, Hmong and Spanish.  Musical styles range from the blues to classical.  We have informational programming on health, finances, the environment and world news.  WNRB is all over the map, and we like it that way.  

Here is a link to our homepage.  At the moment the homepage is a little bit staid and out of date, but we are working on a new, dynamic content management system that will allow each show to have a blog and those blogs to all be linked together.  Should be quite nifty when it is complete. 

You can listen to WNRB live on the web.  Yet another service that Northcentral Technical College provides for the station.  We said we would like to stream on the internet and they said "sure" and within a week had installed the software and hardware necessary.  The stream is a wonderful sounding 128K stream (not so good if you are on dial-up, I am afraid).  I am told that in one month we have had over 3000 unique hits on the stream, which is quite amazing.

In addition to our "official" website we do maintain a blog, where we post station information and sometimes show notes. 

In a bit of shameless self promotion I will say that I produce and host two shows on WNRB.  The first is an enivironmental newsmagazine called "Earthtones" which airs from 10 am to noon (Central US time) on Wednesdays.  The second is something completely different.  "Slap Happy!" is a music show where I play songs which I hope will slap a silly grin on your face.  The Slap Happy! playlists are posted here each week. 

I hope that you can tune WNRB in and let us know what you think. 

It Takes Audacity to Say That!

Now I find it hard to believe that anyone working in community radio or podcasting does not know about this very nice software tool, but that is what a blog if to share information people already know.

Audacity is a free, open source, cross platform sound editor that is available here. Whether you are running Windows, Mac or Linux you can run Audacity.

What some people might think is Audacity's greatest weakness turns out to be it's greatest strength. Audacity does not come with a lot of bells and whistles, like a professional sound editor like Adobe Audition. On the other hand Audition costs a couple of hundred dollars and has a very steep learning curve. There is even a slight difference in the size of the programs and how much computer power you will need to run them. The trial version of Audition is about a 450 megabyte download, Audacity is a 2.5 megabyte download. Below are are screenshots of both programs.

Audacity can certainly do the job for creating radio shows and podcsts. I produce two shows for our community radio station, WNRB in Wausau Wisconsin, and have used nothing but Audacity.

Here is a nice list of the features of Audacity.  But a quick overview shows that Audacity is a true multitrack recorder that allows you time shift tracks where you need them, cut and paste soundbites, import a bunch of different audio file types, export to wav, mp3 or ogg, and liven things up with special effects.  A very nice Swiss Army knife of sound.

There are several online tutorials for Audacity, which give you a good idea of what the program can do and will get you up and running pretty quickly.  In addition there is a forum where you can ask questions and get help from other users and a Wiki to dive deeper in to the program.

If you have ever used a sound editor before you can be up and running with Audacity in mere minutes.  If you are fairly computer literate and use the online tutorials and such you can be producing audio with Audacity in a couple of hours.  I have been using Audacity for several years now and in the last year have recorded over 100 hours of programming for WNRB using only Audacity.  It is a solid, functional tool.

One note however.  There is a new beta version which was released in November.  It has many wonderful new features and the user interface is much improved. Unfortunately I had some problems exporting files in the .wav format, so I am not recommending its use, especially by beginners.  Perhaps a newer version will appear soon, if so I will report on it here.