An internet radio station for Sheffield!

[Halibut 12]

I've sent an Email - I think it's a really exciting idea and I'd really lke to play some kind of part in it. Count me in!

[AKITA 10]

Were would you broadcast from, i'd love to have ago on a radio station, count me in.

[digirunoff 10]

 

Sheffield Live! was awarded its licence in February 2006. If what was said in its application was true it should have been ready to take to the air by May 2006. More than a year on from being awarded a licence Sheffield Live! hasn't started full-time FM broadcasting yet. What conclusions should be drawn from that?

 

 

 

Sheffield live has been awarded a full FM broadcast license, however there are certain things that affect the time to go on air:

 

1. The frequency needs to be considered so as not to impede on other broadcasts, so there is a you generally need to be at least two or three frequencies clear and when you bid for a frequency a lot of the time it is used in other areas so for example a station in sheffield cannot have the same frequency as one in chesterfield apart from say like Hallam FM where they broadcast all over south yorkshire, but this is another license and costs shedloads.

 

2.The strength of the broadcast signal needs to be tweaked and perfected - especially in Sheffield where there are valleys and troughs. For example Rivelin Valley may only get a weak signal whereas you may be able to pick the signal out in Doncaster if the geography was right.

 

3. Finding a location to broadcast of is difficult, and masts are privatly run, and can be bought out, which then means you have to go thorugh a complete reapplication process.

 

There are loads more but I don't want to write an essay here, Sheffield Live WILL go FM, but a little patience will be needed.

 

I do a show on a friday night on Sheffield Live! and I'm getting really excited, but I also welcome other stations as well, when you guys sort it out we should all work together instead of some nasty rivalries being formed as has happened in other cities with more than one radio station.

 

Please get in touch if you would like a hand with anything!

Dan:thumbsup:

[JoeP 11]

When I was 'Engineering' for Forge FM we found getting good coverage was a nightmare.

 

Our best ever aerial location was half way up teh BBC mast at Crosspool. We paid through the nose for that and it was an expensive feed as well. The next best we did was to situate the transmitter and aerial up at Tapton Halls of Residence and have a UHF feed from our studios at the Workstation up to the transmitter site.

 

With a typical RSL license you cannot get good coverage of the whole of Sheffield - simple as that. We got a hell of a lot out of our feeble licensed power by using some aerial designs that are used in amateur radio circles, to try and get a signal out that was audible on portable radios on kitchen tables.

 

Had we been forced to base our main transmitter aerial at the workstation we would have had much worse coverage than we did. By moving it up a hill and doing the remote feed we had a few more technical headaches (for me, several phone calls with the words 'Feed's gone down! Help!' at the start) but we got good results and the 'tech Team' picke dup some good experience!

[JoeP 11]

I worked with you on one, in 1996

 

Ahhhh! Someone else I need to try and guess!

 

[Phanerothyme 12]

Were would you broadcast from, i'd love to have ago on a radio station, count me in.

 

Nice one. In theory we could broadcast from any broadband connection with sufficient upstream to support about 100kbps constant traffic.

 

We're looking at technological solutions allowing us to patch in different internet broadcasters, and 'retransmit' centrally, like connecting to 'Our Studio in Wisewood for the Akita Hour'. You would need a reasonable computer (P4) with some ram (1GB) and some software (free-£10,000). transmitting live can be tricky, so I think we'll be encouraging people to create prerecorded content for transmission as well. The whole live/recorded aspect hasn't even been looked at yet

 

Akita, a login is on it's way, great to have you on board.

 

As a reminder - if you'd like to get involved, in any way whatsoever, with creating a Sheffield Netcast Station, then send a mail to [email protected] and get in on the ground floor!

[digirunoff 10]

Sheffield Live! has a "Sustain" (When we don't broadcast live) system called Myriad, it was developed for a local radio station in america, but the developers put it out for open source - it's free basically.

With it you can queue up prerecorded music and dialogue, so you can contruct a whole weeks worth of programming and all you need is the ability to record audio into a computer and then either save it in MP3 or Wav. format.

Obviously it doesn't have the instant feel of live radio, it does however make for easy and slick programming.

I know you've already done your research but please remember your PRS - you can get your gear confiscated if they catch you without - the old draconian pirate radio laws still exist.

[Phanerothyme 12]

Indeed, we so far have a copy of SAM from spacialaudio. It has a sophisticated playlist automation language, and works well with live speech. It also features an internal php interface and customisable HTML output for mirroring to the website.

 

It also features full and detailed reporting of listeners and tracks so working out stats for the PRS should be relatively straightforward. For the experimental stage we won't be netcasting any published material, and we're drafting release forms so we can play 'unsigned' content.

 

It's also got some nice audio tools for compression, automatic gain control etc.

 

Click the link in my sig to have a listen to SAM3 in action

 

If you want to get onboard and shape the project from the outset, pop an email to [email protected] and join the party.

[purdyamos 10]

I worked with you on one, in 1996

 

Who are you?

[Pooch_1 10]

Were would you broadcast from, i'd love to have ago on a radio station, count me in.

 

If it is internet radio, you download your own Radio transmitter from HERE or from HERE You need the Latest winamp player for the first link and you would need to download SAMv3 for the second link. With SAMv3 you need to purchase keys (Licences) for each dj that uses your radio station. Dj's broadcast from their own homes, therefore they need a high spec computer. You would need a good web host to host your server SAMv3 and supporting web pages on.

[stevie1957 10]

Well, with some backing from the people that brought you the forum, we want to bring you sheffield internet radio - a showcase for a city oozing with talent. An internet radio station firmly rooted in Sheffield, but with a global audience!

 

Stage one is to bring all the ideas together and produce an experimental station, with a view to taking it live soon afterwards, with a complimentary web site and all that jazz.

 

The project needs plenty of volunteers - if you:

-are in a band

-are a DJ

-know about sound engineering

-know about radio production

-can build kick-ass websites

-want to broadcast on the internet

-have some genius ideas

-know about the legal aspects of radio, performers rights etc.

-have lots of handy audio kit hanging around

 

then Sheffield Internet Radio needs you! Get in touch with [email protected] for more information about how to participate - it's starting now so get in touch!

 

Excellent idea, this could be a show case for all types of music from Sheffield bands/DJs.

[miniminch 10]

you dont need a shock jock do you for a late night spot