Friday, October 24, 2008

The Debate Team

I would like to do story about the debate team. However, I do not want to do it alone. Debate teams are great for radio because they are primarily oral (they also frequently talk very very VERY fast) see this. Also the Debate team teacher/director went to high school with me!

So here are the skills that you can work on if you help me with this:
1) Field Recording!
2) Interviews!
3) Editing! 
4) Script Writing!
5) Bouncing to CD!

Updated Proposal for The Soap Box

First of all I changed the name to "The Soap Box" as it's mostly me talking. I have taken Sarah's advice and included clips from interviews - weaving them in with the topic of the week. It's biweekly on Fridays (evenings, preferably) and 30 minutes long.

Kaitlin: just looking around...

*** All sites are easy to find: type in the name of the school and radio in your toolbar if you want to take a look.

The UCLA Radio site is awesome. They are terrestrial, but the site's still gorgeous and they've taken on podcasting (though I wasn't "allowed" to access them from my computer... which is silly. There's a lot of music on there schedule, not much news, they have a sports division, and you can't really tell too much from the show titles that aren't obviously under these categories. I haven't decided between whether that makes me wonder or sort of just not care. The site and content is really geared towards the younger people in the community - it's brightly accented (black and yellow and neons) and grungy and very pop-inspired. Overall, this is a site to admire. They have videos and pictures throughout, it's easy to navigate, the blog is part of the webspot, and they have giveaways... very cool. Obviously, they're safe to spend - but these are some cool things to look into doing as we are able.

KUSC is different. The site is more zen - with moving images of older men and women happily listening to their classical music, trees and sunsets... the word "Relaxation" coming in and fading out periodically. They also have podcasts available, and they are easy to access. I liked how simple they made it look - geared towards people who are not as technologically knowldegable. I would say this site is more geared towards families, and they have information on activities that are going on for kids in the community. I would say the website isn't as fancy as UCLA's because their terrestrial listeners are not mainly college students who are constantly online and expect that - it's really supplemental. The site is clean, well organized, easy to navigate, there's not too much stuff to click on (which can be confusing) - it's tasteful.

WKCR has cool site - the colors are appealing and the layout isn't too linear. It's very clear - you know where you need to go to get the information you want. Again, this is a supplement to a terrestrial station, but it's somewhere between UCLA's site and USC's because there's a broader listenership, or at least it seems that way. Music is the main component, and the word "PLEDGE" is in bright red on the blue background. That may help. They tell you what's playing now, you have the option of whether to listen to it now on your computer or visit the archives later - it's all there. They have news, arts, sports, many different types of music programs and something called "In All Languages." I didn't see a lot of multicultralism represented on the other sites, but Columbia seems to have a specific place for it... I don't know whether that's helpful (in conjunction with the easy navigation of the site - everybody knows where to go to get what they are looking for) or too contained (example of their philosophy: "Many stations offer world music, yet few offer the authentic, traditional music from rich heritages throughout the world that you will hear on WKCR. No matter which of our programs you tune into, you will appreciate the fact that the music is presented to you in an honest and straight-forward fashion, and is not subject to the throws of political correctness and current trend." Once again, don't know how honest it is, but it's a nice idea) . Anyway, the site is great, and great to draw from for ideas.

The newighbors at NYU have an awesome site, too. It's boxy with strange gloomy colors, but there's movement and like the Columbia site I can see how it would be appealing for many different age groups, etc. within the school community. They keep it simple with their "About the radio" in a small section on the main page, all the updates are there and their playlist and archives links are on the top of the page in a well organized and clear manner. Basically what I'm saying with that is that you know where you're going when you click on something. It's very direct and well categorized.

Overall, what I think WNSR can take from these sites is the sense of movement that they present: images are moving, they have video content, lots of color and pictures, the text is really easy to read, when you click on something you know where you're going and what's going to be there without having to click around wondering (and that's a big accomplishment, b/c it's hard to know the best way to go with it depending on the content). Those are really the main things that we could try to apply for now to the site. The site looks nice right now, but there's not doubt we need to make it come alive, and so these are somethings that might help with that (and for the things are already are changing, it's just motivation to keep tweaking things in a good direction).

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

WSOU Seton Hall Pirate Radio - A. Veliky

On Seton Hall University's "WSOU Pirate Radio" site, (http://www.wsou.net/) the home page is fairly structured. The different home categories are Station News & Events, Photos, Artist of the Week, RSS Subscription sign up box, top phone requests, their top ten playlist hits, an ad for "Why wait! Apply now" with a link to the admissions page of the University, etc.

From the home page you are given the following links: News & Events, Programming, Sports, About WSOU.

In "News & Events", there are a variety of news articles and blurbs, however they are just text, there are no audio clips to accompany anything. In this same section they have something called Pirate Advance, which lists special record premieres and the chance to win the featured artists CD (this program occurs every Friday night) When you click on the "featured record" it takes you to the artists website. The same type of linking is done in the Artist of the week portion of this section.

The station programming link consists of a letter from their programming director and a concrete day by day schedule of programing. If you click on a show title a drop down appears stating once again day and time of the program, in addition to a description, a more details tab and an add to my calendar tab.

The sports section has write ups of past and upcoming games in addition to a sports calendar.

The About WSOU section contains a variety of sub sections. First is Contact WSOU, this part lists phone numbers for the request line, general phone, fax, etc., info on how unsigned bands can send in their demos to be played on the station, assistance for those having problems tuning in due to interference, a list of station staff with titles, phone numbers and e-mail's and a list of assistant station staff with titles only. The next section in "About" is on the history of the station. The third section is on Frequently Asked Questions, which is categorized by Listener; Programming; Band Demos, Airplay, Interviews & New Music; Staff & Membership. The next section is about Program Underwriting, WSOU claims to be the number one college radio station in the tri-state area and because of that, they feel they are a good vehicle for getting your name out there if you are a local business. They encourage those who are interested to contact them and request a media kit (link's to PDF of kit). The last section in "About" is for those interested in purchasing merchandise.

Overall, I like the look of the site. It has a lot of information and you can tell that it's a well established station with a following to a certain extent. I think the design is straightforward and serves its purpose and is easy to navigate.

WSJU Radio, by Jeff Weiser

WSJU Radio at www.wsjuradio.org is the website for the St. John's University student radio station. The website front page features a large, color, blinking title banner with the station letters superimposed over photos of the present and past on-air and managing staff. There are six categories for users including Listen Live!, About Us, Departments, Staff, Contact Us and Promo. This website is a work in progress because the listen live function is not yet working. WSJU radio is in the process of working out the administrative and technical details before it will be available live, online. So if you click on the Listen Live! category you are directed to a message saying "stay updated on WSJUradio.org --our internet broadcasting link will be posted soon!"
The other categories provide a description of the radio station and what sorts of programming is offered, a roster of key staff member, and a page listing email addresses, station phone numbers and link addresses to MySpace and Facebook.
As of now, the WSJU website is being maintained by the student Production and IT director and it changes infrequently. As is, it is well constructed, attractive looking and easy to maneuver. There is no present programming available, but I am told that will change when and if the station gets the go ahead to broadcast live on the internet.
While not presently available online, WSJU radio is broadcast to campus buildings and dormitories on the Queens, NY campus.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Northeastern's WRBB

http://www.wrbbradio.org/

I think this might be a terrestrial station as Northeastern University in Boston has heavy funding and is a huge presence in the local area, but the website is still run by a group of college students. The site is really simple, but clean and well organized.

The front page reads almost like a blog, as each entry has it's own separate frame and it reads as 'posted by Alix' or 'posted by Tiny Sam'. It's fun, so it caught my attention. It's not the typical boring 'THIS IS WRBB AND WE BELIEVE IN...blah blah blah." I think that the website being light hearted, they write as if they are writing to a friend in an email, is what would make me want to come back. I don't want to be fed an agenda, there's no commentary on politics or any of that...it's just music and news and events.

In fact, the whole website reads like a blog, which is probably easy for students to go on and update the site. If our site was a blog and was easy to edit we could constantly update our content. Northeastern is a huge school so it would seem like they had tons of content, but looking at the schedule it seems like they really only run on air for a few hours each day.

They don't have a ton of links to other pages, just a schedule, a contact page, an event and a sports page (go Huskies?), and then a link to listen in on the station.

(Not sure if this is where I was supposed to post this..)

Writing department guest speaker for broadcast?

Hi all,

Phillip Lopate will be a guest speaker at the Writing department's Fiction Forum on December 9. The talk/reading will be webcast, so anyone wanting to record this can plug directly into the board and can also bypass the release process. This would be a great first show for anyone interested in creating a reading/writing/fiction/etc. series! Here's the link to get the full info.

Let me or Pam Tillis at Public Programming know if you are interested or have questions!

Cambra

Friday, October 17, 2008

Please take this WNSR web survey from the Parsons class

Our friends at Parsons have created an online survey for the station to gauge interest, to determine outreach needs, and to help us understand how people listen to us -- and how they might listen to us, if they don't already. They've asked us to ask you to take it, and please ask your friends to, too!

Here's the link:
http://www.newschoolradio.org/survey

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Looking for Engineers?

We've begun a roster of people interested and capable of helping engineer your productions, whether you need someone to run a recording session for you, or some help with your Pro Tools editing and mixing. You can find it here as a public google spreadsheet, and also in the WNSR resources sidebar on this blog. Joe and I will be updating this as more interested parties surface, and we'll also be publicizing tech submission guidelines to clarify what we're aiming for in terms of levels, formats, and editing conventions.

If you need the help, go out and seek some people interested both in practicing their skills and in helping WNSR get more content on the site!

In addition to Joe and Andrea from our On Air course, I'd like to throw out a special recommendation for an exceptionally skilled student in my Audio Production class, Mark Breedlove. He is very interested in helping us out!

We're looking forward to seeing more work submitted by this Wednesday!

Best,
JB

Saturday, October 11, 2008

CSUMB Radio

I don't remember who I talked to about this..but I mentioned it to a few people, my friend is a DJ at CSUMB (California State University at Monterey Bay) and they have an online radio station. You can go to the media section of the school's website and literally watch the DJ sit at this little computer desk and hear the music that way. It's almost like a TV/Radio show instead of online radio.

http://tat.csumb.edu/ottermedia/listenlive.htm

It's really fun because you can call in to request songs and watch the DJ answer your call, or watch the DJ dance around the room to whatever music they are playing.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

hi

hi this is erica from parsons,^^

Monday, October 6, 2008

message for MUSIC STAFF

Hello there,

According to a list I have that Heathre compiled early on, people in the "music" group are: Sarah Jane, Amilee, Dahlia, DV, and Angela. (I apologize if I've misspelled or otherwise mangled your name!) As I mentioned a few classes ago, I've been working in establishing solid contacts in various departments and divisions so that staff on our end will always have relevant contact information to work towards soliciting or recording content for the station. I'd like to draft some announcements/calls for submissions of student work that are specifically targeted towards Jazz and Mannes students. If any or all of you are interested in helping out with this, it would be greatly appreciated! Please call or email me to work out further details if this is something you would like to work on. (My info is listed in the roster spreadsheet, which you can link to on the blog's main page.)

Have a great week! See you all on Friday,
Cambra

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Attention WNSR News Staff!

Hello news people;
As News Director, I have been asked to contact you to find out which stories you are working on and the status of the work. Can you please send me a couple of sentences with that information? Please get it to me so I have time to present this information at a WNSR management meeting slated for this Wednesday, October 8th. You can forward the information to me at my email address: Jeffreyweiser17@hotmail.com.

Thanks!
Jeff Weiser

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Friday class

On Air and Radio Lab Classes will meet this Friday, October 3, at 3:15 at WNYC, 160 Varick Street, at the 8th Floor reception area.

Here are directions:

Take the number 1 train to Houston; get on at the southern end of the train, or walk south after you reach the stop, and exit and King and Varick. Walk down two blocks to Charlton. The station is the corner building at Varick and Charlton, but the entrance is on Varick—a big set of glassed-in doors. Note: the address on the floor of the foyer says 10 Hudson Square—do not be confused; this is just a real estate address, you are in the right building.

Building security may ask for ID, then you take the right side elevators to the 8th Floor and we will meet you in reception and take you in as a group.

Punctuality is important because once the tour starts, it will be hard to reach us in the building, but in case of emergencies Sarah’s number is 646-829-4137, and Jim’s mobile, which he will carry on the tour, is 917-620-6999. If you arrive late and don’t see anyone in reception, dial Jim and someone will come out to meet you.

We know you are all models of civility, but be especially aware that you are entering a working broadcast facility with people on air all the time, and a steady stream of guests and frantic reporters and producers, so please be as quiet as you can in reception and all the public areas.