Producers on BlogTalk Radio and the zinged Living n Black platform are “podcasting” program segments. The compilations define Internet Radio today, yet there’s more.
The Behringer PodcastStudio USB
is a tool for indie producing radio pop
Internet Radio comes in two flavors in our opinion. One is the combination of hosted streamed audio of live terrestrial station programming with pure web site platform stations. The other can be live, but mostly pre-recorded podcasts listed on portal site playlists as “Internet Radio” programming compilations, which may be pre-linked into your cell phone media service option screens and on software-based media player lists.
“Behringer” is a popular name in the Podcasting/Internet Radio production business, in fact before writing this article, we couldn’t find one negative review of their podcaststudio boxed kit shown on this page. We know Behringer is a serious audio products company.
[insert] Boston’s Touch Radio FM 106.1 black owned radio station merges online radio streaming with interactive live broadcast show content conversation influenced by MYSPACE people in Boston. The Funky Fresh Boston Marathon Radio Program on-air broadcast show is impacted by their MySpace Friend communications in real-time!
to wit: creating pre-recorded podcasts for Internet Radio audience playback can be a rewarding but challenging experience. Its like having an FM audio quality broadcast station in your closet, but you have to feed it often with new content or it will get rusty in there.
We began producing podcast segments using the Network Solutions Platform (netsol.com) because NetSol is the oldest, biggest domain name registrar in the business and their $12 pe r month hosting plans provides: a) a streaming Windows Media Server and b) a streaming Real Media server at NO extra cost – while providing all you need for HTML directory web site content storage space for web site language.
For a while, it covered our video and audio streaming requirement by delivering streaming media right away to capable web browser screens, that is before we built our own video playback system.
What’s cool about having your own audio streaming server is:
Think Youtube in your dresser drawer.
What’s bad about having your own streaming server is:
You need THREE: a Quicktime, a Windows, and a Real Media server; not to mention a FLASH file streaming capability just to satisfy every single possible web site viewer that comes to your page, because, not every Windows, Apple, Linux or Cell Phone browser knows how to handle stream x, y or z. Streamed Windows Media audio has WMA as a file extension.
Streamed Real Media audio uses the RM file extension. Both Windows and Real Networks provide free encoding software. Microsoft named it the Windows Media Encoder, Real Networks named it Helix. Both files are efficient and small, however; MP3 audio files are far more universally used and that’s the way it is still trending today. Apple’s Quicktime requirement is different, very different and the streaming server for it ain’t cheap.
So, we tossed netsol out and began to store our MP3 podcst files on a regular server and took a break from podcasting for a while. Shortly after, the Boston Globe called to give us a preview of a soon to be released podcast from their servers about ethnic and minority community issues in Boston and we liked it so much we took a break.
Imagine your own FM radio quality broadcast ! You can do it with use of creative roll-ins, an anchor lead and PSA style embeds.
Save your files in the MP3 /44khz 16-bit format because every CD or MP3 player and web site anywhere can handle them.
No matter who downloads them, your name of track, author; even logos or brand images will pull up on your listener’s browser if you carefully add that information when saving the audio files.
Flash format audio files are appropriate in some cases.
This broadcast opened with Governor Patrick’s Massachusetts win. It also covers topics about the New England Urban Music Awards Show, politics, and thoughts about Roxbury ’07.
AboutBlackBoston.com recorded it on consumer gear at home: a $10 mic and the built in sound card in the computer and it works!
The Behringer PodcastStudio USB
stay tuned: programming about “live food” topics are planned for recording on the Behringer
Leave a reply about your podcast / Internet Radio interests
