So, now that it's been a number of days since the last time I've posted anything on there, I thought it might be nice to go ahead and let ya'll know whats been going on!
Over the last few days I've been having all sorts of issues to deal with regarding the radio, the first of which being a loose connection on the external terabyte which causes the stream to up and die for no particular reason. Another little issue I've been having is a smothered network connection from the house. Apparently I've been accused of being a bandwidth hog and thus have been slapped with various restrictions on my network use. Seeing as my net use amounts up to about the same usage as listening to a stream, I'm working on getting those lifted. Til then I'll be running the stream at 96 kbp/s instead of the normal 128.
On to the good news! I've got us a website running! It's still in the building process, but there's enough of it to be up and around for people to use if they like. There will be a chat room coming on there once I get the code right for it. Also, I may end up having to pay for the premium version of the website so I can upload the chat scripts and all that. Also, I think having a real domain name would be lovely!
As far as any more news goes, I'm still working on the promos for the radio and also the videos for youtube (those are hard!). For right now I've got some Robo Promos going on the air, trying to catch people and send them both to the website and also to the Facebook page I set up for the stream ^^
i've also been working on getting some new DJs in on the fun so that we can have a bit of a change of pace for the listeners. Hopefully once I get a number of excited people to DJ with me we can pull in some interesting listeners from all sorts of places. The more people I've got working on the stream, the more people will promote it, the more people will listen! Well, thats the theory anyway~!
Until next time radio lovers!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Few little issues
It seems as though the more you do something, the better you get at it, and still the more mistakes you make. I think yesterday I had to restart the computer from which the stream is running twice, the external TB drive got knocked out once, which of course made the stream stop, and I forgot to make a playlist yesterday, so the stream went on automatic most of the day. To those of you who listen and read and keep up on these things, I would like to apologize. The radio shouldn't stop without someone explaining why it did, and since it did a number of times yesterday, I'm sorry.
Other than a few little problems, I have to say I'm really happy with the radio's success since last thursday when I turned it on. I've missed being on the stream, and I've missed being able to have a built in group of good friends to sit down and listen and troll with. It's been so great talking with people again and having something to say and having people to listen! I wish I could type/write in different languages, since it seems more and more lately people who listen are from other countries and I'd like to be ale to write to then and tell them just how much I appreciate them for listening!
So, I guess I'll be lurking the internet to find 1)more people to play on the radio with me 2)new places to list the station to pull in listeners 3)Come up with some promos and a logo for the station so I can have some announcements play at a certain time each day to remind people of whatever it is that I'm planning on doing in the near future with the radio, be it a show or when other people might be running the radio.
I would like to mention that I'm in the market to start up some sort of website, but I'm not sure where to start. The free sites aren't worth a damn because of the ads that wouldn't be making me any money, on top of all the bugginess of those websites. I need some premium web-space and a few really good tutorials and books on learning html.
Other than a few little problems, I have to say I'm really happy with the radio's success since last thursday when I turned it on. I've missed being on the stream, and I've missed being able to have a built in group of good friends to sit down and listen and troll with. It's been so great talking with people again and having something to say and having people to listen! I wish I could type/write in different languages, since it seems more and more lately people who listen are from other countries and I'd like to be ale to write to then and tell them just how much I appreciate them for listening!
So, I guess I'll be lurking the internet to find 1)more people to play on the radio with me 2)new places to list the station to pull in listeners 3)Come up with some promos and a logo for the station so I can have some announcements play at a certain time each day to remind people of whatever it is that I'm planning on doing in the near future with the radio, be it a show or when other people might be running the radio.
I would like to mention that I'm in the market to start up some sort of website, but I'm not sure where to start. The free sites aren't worth a damn because of the ads that wouldn't be making me any money, on top of all the bugginess of those websites. I need some premium web-space and a few really good tutorials and books on learning html.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Mini-success
If you look and notice, things were going relatively well until i got bored last night. I hopped into BrandO's chat, called on the small army of listeners to descend on the chat with me, and there was havoc. Ah~ it kind of reminded me of the older days.
Anyway, I've been doing pretty well at this whole broadcasting thing, and last night I finally got into the microphone and talked to people. Now i just have to get the Virtual Audio Cables figured out and hooked into my skype account and SAM broadcaster so I can take Skype calls on the radio. Doing that was one of the funnest things I'd done when I tried it months ago, and people seem to get sort of into it. So there's that! Look forward to having the ability to call in next week! Also, depending on how well that takes off, I'll get a premium skype account so people can call me with their "real" phones and i can call and troll Gamestop or something on the air.
Other than that, I think I might take the next few days nice and slow, let the radio play whatever it wants by itself. Got some new music last night too, so at least we've got more music, which can't ever hurt right? I've been trying really hard to diversify the types of music that I have on the radio, but I'm partial to 80's, 90's and like....techno and stuff, haha. I have been running big blocks of trance at night, generally from around 0100-0600 ish and that seems to the working out rather well. I do need to change that up a little too. Ya know that program schedule I was talking about the other day? Yeah....I never finished it. So i'm going to get on top of that and keep ya'll posted.
Other than getting far too wasted for hitting 100 hours of streaming last night, there's not a whole lot more to say. The plans are moving along quite nicely and here pretty soon I'll have some new faces/DJs for everyone. Until next time Internet-Junkies <3 ^^
Friday, December 10, 2010
Moving right along!
Well, the radio has been up for a little over 12 hours now, and I'm averaging about 5 listeners with a listen time of around 3 hours! Wicked! Well, it's pretty cool for me, seeing as I have no idea how long the stream was down, and I've gotten it back and got people listening, I'm super proud of myself. But sadly, there is a lot of work to be done. I've decided I need to make some sort of ad for youtube and I need to start working on and recording promos for the radio.
Playing with the radio aside, I've been working out some ideas for what sort of website I want to tie to the station. Obviously I'd like to keep a link on Brando's site, since the fans there are what made this stream what it is. At the same time, I'm thinking about extending the same option to Duane and his bunch if they would like to and could keep things civil. But that's the problem, I'm not sure if both sides can agree to disagree to the point that they can share the same radio stream. The extra people would help my listener count, and with enough people listening I could start running ads for actual companies so I might be able to make the stream self-sustaining. But then again, who knows, the ads might make my listener count drop to the point that companies would scoff at my attempts at trying to break even.
In any case, things are going pretty well considering. I've also been posting the link to practically everywhere I frequent on the internet. I think that's helping people find the link, and once that happens (hopefully) the link will spread and more people will listen. I'll have to start thinking about how to deal with requests and the like. I've been thinking about taking requests in the chat for a certain time each day, but also taking requests via Skype or my AIM account might not be a bad idea either. I'm going to have to think that one through.
Also, I'm planning on bringing in DJ Mxteve for a spot on the radio. Most likely for friday nights or something like that. I'm thinking giving him a set amount of time each week or every few days might be nice, depending on how he feels about it. I'm not sure yet either, so it's alright, haha. I'm hoping to line Amber up int here somewhere too, but she's got more important things to worry about than a silly internet radio stream. For now at least, I'm planning on just having me run the whole thing 24/7 for a little bit.
I'm also thinking about starting up an IRC channel for the radio as well, since those sorts of chatrooms seem to get more people going in and out and also that way I can write up a bot that can take requests and allow dice rolls and all that sort of thing. Might make the station fun for a while, add something extra. I know that there isn't much that I can do that hasn't been done already. I think I need to spend some time just doing research on how to make this thing successful, but then again I don't want to sell it out.
That's the problem, I would like to see the radio pay for itself with donations and ads and the like, but I don't want to sell out the people who listen. We'll have to wait and see how things work out. I'm just playing things by ear.
Til next time ya'll <3
Playing with the radio aside, I've been working out some ideas for what sort of website I want to tie to the station. Obviously I'd like to keep a link on Brando's site, since the fans there are what made this stream what it is. At the same time, I'm thinking about extending the same option to Duane and his bunch if they would like to and could keep things civil. But that's the problem, I'm not sure if both sides can agree to disagree to the point that they can share the same radio stream. The extra people would help my listener count, and with enough people listening I could start running ads for actual companies so I might be able to make the stream self-sustaining. But then again, who knows, the ads might make my listener count drop to the point that companies would scoff at my attempts at trying to break even.
In any case, things are going pretty well considering. I've also been posting the link to practically everywhere I frequent on the internet. I think that's helping people find the link, and once that happens (hopefully) the link will spread and more people will listen. I'll have to start thinking about how to deal with requests and the like. I've been thinking about taking requests in the chat for a certain time each day, but also taking requests via Skype or my AIM account might not be a bad idea either. I'm going to have to think that one through.
Also, I'm planning on bringing in DJ Mxteve for a spot on the radio. Most likely for friday nights or something like that. I'm thinking giving him a set amount of time each week or every few days might be nice, depending on how he feels about it. I'm not sure yet either, so it's alright, haha. I'm hoping to line Amber up int here somewhere too, but she's got more important things to worry about than a silly internet radio stream. For now at least, I'm planning on just having me run the whole thing 24/7 for a little bit.
I'm also thinking about starting up an IRC channel for the radio as well, since those sorts of chatrooms seem to get more people going in and out and also that way I can write up a bot that can take requests and allow dice rolls and all that sort of thing. Might make the station fun for a while, add something extra. I know that there isn't much that I can do that hasn't been done already. I think I need to spend some time just doing research on how to make this thing successful, but then again I don't want to sell it out.
That's the problem, I would like to see the radio pay for itself with donations and ads and the like, but I don't want to sell out the people who listen. We'll have to wait and see how things work out. I'm just playing things by ear.
Til next time ya'll <3
Thursday, December 9, 2010
A little bit of progress
The radio stream will go live again tonight when I get home from all of the other silly obligations that I have. I think this time things might work out nicely, but who knows? I'm hoping that some of the people that used to listen tot he stream still have it saved in their media players and will be pleasantly surprised to having the radio running again.
On another, slightly connected note, I'm putting together a simple program schedule for the station too, which should (hopefully) give it a little bit of stability, as far as the music played is concerned. The only downside I can think of is that with a regular schedule people might get kind of bored with whats being played, but I'm hoping not. If there are any people out there reading that would like to put in suggestions for what to play when, I would be more than willing to listen.
I'm also considering asking a few people I can think of that might be interested to fill some slots on the radio for me so it's not just me playing all of the time. Not that I would mind doing it all myself, I just think that having more people involved would help the diversity of the station. More people with differing tastes might help keep the music fresh and interesting, I think. So, if you are reading this and have even a slight inkling to broadcast your taste in music and your thoughts to the internet at large (wishful thinking on my part, mainly since no one listens to the stream at the moment, haha) then please, leave me a comment on here or on my facebook and we'll work something out.
In other news, I'm still trying to figure out what to tie the radio to other than just BrandO's site. I haven't quite figured anything out except I'm pretty sure I'll end up having to buy up some webspace and write out my own little website for the masses. I want to do something that will give me space to post artwork (not just mine, but anyone's really), blogs (mine, steph's and anyone else affiliated with the radio that might want to keep one), the radio links, and maybe even a tiny little forum or imageboard. I don't know, I just think that might be fun, and maybe even make me a little bit of money over the long run. Also I'm planning on streaming out into Second Life. I've always wanted to stream into SL but never really had an chance or a machine that could run the game and the broadcasting software at the same time, and even more to that point I'm not sure I'd even need to do it that way. If anyone has experience broadcasting into SL, please let me know.
So I think that I'll leave ya'll with those thoughts for now, since thats what I'm planning for now. I'm hoping to be able to move on some of that stuff soon, but at the moment my focus is on the radio and getting it back and running at full capacity again. I need to fill that stream again, I need to be heard, not just my voice (which still sounds awful by the way) but my taste in music. I miss sharing music with people and I miss their involvement in the station and their requests.
Remember that every day is a good day <3~
On another, slightly connected note, I'm putting together a simple program schedule for the station too, which should (hopefully) give it a little bit of stability, as far as the music played is concerned. The only downside I can think of is that with a regular schedule people might get kind of bored with whats being played, but I'm hoping not. If there are any people out there reading that would like to put in suggestions for what to play when, I would be more than willing to listen.
I'm also considering asking a few people I can think of that might be interested to fill some slots on the radio for me so it's not just me playing all of the time. Not that I would mind doing it all myself, I just think that having more people involved would help the diversity of the station. More people with differing tastes might help keep the music fresh and interesting, I think. So, if you are reading this and have even a slight inkling to broadcast your taste in music and your thoughts to the internet at large (wishful thinking on my part, mainly since no one listens to the stream at the moment, haha) then please, leave me a comment on here or on my facebook and we'll work something out.
In other news, I'm still trying to figure out what to tie the radio to other than just BrandO's site. I haven't quite figured anything out except I'm pretty sure I'll end up having to buy up some webspace and write out my own little website for the masses. I want to do something that will give me space to post artwork (not just mine, but anyone's really), blogs (mine, steph's and anyone else affiliated with the radio that might want to keep one), the radio links, and maybe even a tiny little forum or imageboard. I don't know, I just think that might be fun, and maybe even make me a little bit of money over the long run. Also I'm planning on streaming out into Second Life. I've always wanted to stream into SL but never really had an chance or a machine that could run the game and the broadcasting software at the same time, and even more to that point I'm not sure I'd even need to do it that way. If anyone has experience broadcasting into SL, please let me know.
So I think that I'll leave ya'll with those thoughts for now, since thats what I'm planning for now. I'm hoping to be able to move on some of that stuff soon, but at the moment my focus is on the radio and getting it back and running at full capacity again. I need to fill that stream again, I need to be heard, not just my voice (which still sounds awful by the way) but my taste in music. I miss sharing music with people and I miss their involvement in the station and their requests.
Remember that every day is a good day <3~
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Working toward something.
In the last few days, I've decided to go back to the social scene and try to work out how to get back into doing internet radio. It's been a while since the last time I tried it, and now that I think I know what I'm doing, it might work out better. Also, I've been thinking about doing the radio for someone else, instead of working from Brando's fanbase. that way not only can I play whatever I want, I can handle everything regarding the success of the radio myself and with the help of a few choice freinds. Thats not to say that working for Brando on the radio was a bad thing (in fact, it's what got me into it in the first place) but I want to have a little bit of extra control over the stream.
On top of all of that, I'm going to be paying for the stream myself. thats kind of a big deal to me, mainly because I'm taking responsibility for the stream myself, rather than relying on Amber for everything. Sounds like she'll be wanting to work with me on the radio occasionally, which is awesome. I think having her onboard, along with some of the other adventurers, will bring a lot to the radio and hopefully bring in a bunch of people who like how she works on air.
Having said all of that, I need to think of a way to provide content and a community for listeners to meet, exchange thoughts, chat, all that crap. I just need something that hasn't been done a million times before, and even as I say that I'm typing on a generic blog, haha.
Anyway, hopefully within the near future I'll have a handle on what the plan is for the radio and where we end up heading with it and the rest of the content we're planning. Web space is another big deal though, I'll have to find a good place to get the "website" off the ground, even if I dont.
On top of all of that, I'm going to be paying for the stream myself. thats kind of a big deal to me, mainly because I'm taking responsibility for the stream myself, rather than relying on Amber for everything. Sounds like she'll be wanting to work with me on the radio occasionally, which is awesome. I think having her onboard, along with some of the other adventurers, will bring a lot to the radio and hopefully bring in a bunch of people who like how she works on air.
Having said all of that, I need to think of a way to provide content and a community for listeners to meet, exchange thoughts, chat, all that crap. I just need something that hasn't been done a million times before, and even as I say that I'm typing on a generic blog, haha.
Anyway, hopefully within the near future I'll have a handle on what the plan is for the radio and where we end up heading with it and the rest of the content we're planning. Web space is another big deal though, I'll have to find a good place to get the "website" off the ground, even if I dont.
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