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NEW STATION - SIMPLIFIED SETUP

Solution

Ok . . . I have my radio station . . . NOW WHAT?

1. You Need Content . . .

One option is to use FreeRip, a MP3 content ripper - Use the program as set out in their documentation. The only setting you have to find is "Encoding". File>Options>Encoding - set Bitrate to desired number (usually 96 or 128), this should be consistent through-out your station.

Download Free content Ripper here- FreeRip.com
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Or create content using a program like Audacity. Remember to set the bitrate on this one too.

Download Audacity here - audacity.sourceforge.net
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2. Now Normalize Your Content . . .

Normalizing content is simply equalizing the volume on files. MP3Gain is a free download - Use the program as set out in their documentation. No setting changes needed. Normalizing is available on SRA but it is best done before sending the content to your new radio station. It's a known fact that if you normalize content before adding it to the station it just has better sound quality.

Download MP3Gain here - MP3Gain
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3. Move Content by FTP To Your Radio Station . . .

Set up your FTP program with the username and password in your SRA Control Panel - "Settings" page(bottom of the page).

Download Filezilla at http://filezilla-project.org
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Now in your radio station control panel . . .

Go to your control panel. The URL was provided with your station information.


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1. Create Categories

KNOWN ISSUE: When your station was set up there were default clocks and categories and schedules established DO NOT DELETE THESE.  You don't have to use them, just don't delete them. I'm not going to tell you what will happen if you do delete them.  Just understand that neither you nor we will like the result.  We are working to remedy this situation.

Your station has a default category already set up. Use this category to get your new station streaming.

You are welcome to create as many new categories as makes sense for your station. Later you will upload files (MP3 files only, not folders and no zip files) to each category.

2. Upload content to categories

In Step 3 above you deposited content in a special holding folder. Now we are going to move that content into your newly created categories where you can use it. Go to Content>Import from FTP. You can send all of the content to a single category or move each individual MP3 file into a specific category.

You have the option of editing the information for each file. Click on the Edit Content button to gain access to the information and advanced options. On this page you are able to move categories, change title, artist, album, year, genre, producer/label, and add any additional private comments. In the Additional Options area you can enable auto move (moves the content to a different category after X days), and enable scheduling a leading or tailing element (whenever this content is scheduled, the selected leading or tailing content is also scheduled).

NAMING CONVENTION - The system draws title and artist from the MP3 Header. Title and Artist should be ALPHA-NUMERIC characters only. Other characters simply confuse the system. The extra (*#-! etc) characters will create skipping issues, duplicating issues and other nasty stuff. THE SYSTEM ALSO DOES NOT RECOGNIZE SOME INTERNATIONAL CHARACTERS. A known issue is Cyrillic characters. Our developers are constantly working to improve these recognition issues. We appreciate your patience.

And Speaking of heartburn and other nasty stuff. . . here's another thing that may cause it.

If possible, keep all of your mp3 tracks you upload at the same bitrate and sample rate, for example: 128kbps, 44100Hz. Although this is not necessary by doing this it avoids any issues or hiccups that can occur as one of the team has discovered with VBR (Variable BitRate) tracks (you should always use CBR (Constant BitRate).

What some have done is to use Adobe Audition (Audacity works too and it's free) for topping and tailing (removing silence at the beginning and end) and then you can save the tracks at the same bitrate and sample rate that you choose. Even if the track you have is say 96kbps, you can save it at 128kbps, it will not sound any better but will match all the others.

3. Create Clocks

Each clock is an hour-long list of content elements. Each clock should be at least an hour and ten minutes long.

Creating and managing clocks is very simple in Shout Radio Automation. A brand new station will have the Default Clock already created and filled with the default elements. To add content, simply drag additional elements from the available category list. To rearrange these elements, simply click and drag. It is updated instantly.

Adding elements is just as simple. Click on one of the categories on the right side of the screen and drag it over to the desired position in the main clock. After the page refreshes, the new category will be in place, and is ready to be scheduled. To remove a category from the clock, click the delete icon on the right side of the category.

Droppable Elements (D) are used to make sure your clock isn't too long. Without Droppable Elements, song clocks will be scheduled longer than 60 minutes, causing your entire day to be mis-scheduled. Simply click on the D (D) and the category is now droppable.

Every hour of the week needs to have a clock assigned to it. This is done on the Schedule Clock page. From the Clocks page, select the clock to be scheduled, and click on Schedule Clock. On this page, check the checkboxes for the hours you want to schedule the clock.

4. Schedule Your Clocks

In your control panel, click on Clocks. On the right hand side of the page you will see Automation Clocks. When you click on a specific automation clock you will see three options. The option we are interested in is "Schedule Clock". A matrix representing each hour of the week will display. Click on each hour where you want this clock to play. Don't forget to "Save Schedule".

5. Schedule Your Day

Click the date on the calendar that you want to schedule. "Do you want to schedule this day?". Click "OK". Wait patiently. . . then check out your newly scheduled day by clicking on the link below, "View the new scheduled here".

6. Start Your Station

Click on Dashboard. Click "Start Station". You are now LIVE!

 

 
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Article details
Article ID: 34
Category: Knowledgebase
Date added: 2011-01-05 00:01:55
Views: 6175
Rating (Votes): Article rated 3.3/5.0 (111)

 
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