UsingWordPresstosetupaninternetradiostation

RichardSchererWordCamp Brisbane28October2018

Goingtobetalkingabout:

• Whywebcast?• Creatingcontent• Usingotherpeople’smaterial• Gettingyourstreamontheinternet• PresentingcontentusingWordPress• Gettingpeopletolisten(andgivingthemareasontodoso)

MybackgroundwithWordPress:

• Mediacareerbeganasnewspaperjournalist

• Createdfirstwebpagesinearly1990s

• HaveusedWordPressformorethan12years,mostlyfornon-profits

AboutLivingArtsCanberra

• PartnerandIhadmorethan10yearsasvolunteersatanFMcommunityradiostation

• LivingArtsCanberralaunchedinJulythisyear

• EssentiallyaWordPresssitewithawebstreamattached

• Weusewebcastingtopromotewebsitecontent,ratherthantheotherwayaround

Ourrationale

• Toprovidethelocalarts,musicandcommunitysectorwithanoutlettheydonototherwisehave

• Atthisstage,wemainlywebcastinterviewsinterspersedwithmusic

• Musicisessential,butincidentaltothemainpurposeofthesite

Someterminology

• Podcastingison-demandaudio,whereuserscanselectcontent andthetimeofdelivery

• Webcastingisacontinuousstream,andusershavenocontroloverthesequence

• Periscopeandotherlive‘broadcasting’viasocialmediaisakintopop-upwebcasting

• Wedobothwebcastingand‘podcasting’

Whywebcasting?

• Butchallengeisthentomakeitaseasyaspossibleforpeopletolisten

Broadcasting WebcastingComplexACMAlicencingprocess NowebcastinglicencerequiredLimitedfrequenciesavailable NolimittonumberofstreamsRequiresexpensivetransmitterandotherinfrastructure

Needsonly reliableinternetconnection

Significantelectricitycosts NegligiblepowerrequirementsCoveragerestrictedtolicencedarea TheoreticallyworldwidecoverageListenerstatisticsdifficultandexpensive

Accuratestreamusagereadilyavailable

Receiversubiquitous (especiallyincars)

Requiresmobileinternetconnection

Changingnatureofmusicusage• Onaverage,peoplelistentomusicfornearly18hoursaweek• Carsarethemostpopularlisteninglocation• 86percentofuslistentomusicthroughonlinestreaming• 57percentof16-24yearolds useapaidaudiostreamingservice• Nearlyhalfofalltimespentlistingtoon-demandmusicisonYouTube

• LocalgenrestendtobethemostpopularSource:InternationalFederationofPhonographic Industry:https://www.ifpi.org/news/IFPI-releases-2018-music-consumer-insight-report)

WeuseWordPressto:• Provideaself-serviceeventcalendar(All-In-OneCalendarplugin)

• Displayprogramschedules

• StreamviaanHTML5playerforthestream(WonderplugAudioPlayer)

• Createplaylistsofcurrentandarchivedinterviewsaspodcasts

Creatingcontent• Ifyoucancreateapodcast,youcancreateprogramssuitableforwebcasting

• Atitsmostbasic,youneedagoodmicrophone,audioeditingsoftware,andawaytoencodeyouraudio

• Inreality,youwillneedtohavemusicinadigitisedform(andmayhavetoconvertitto.mp3)

• Peopleexpectaradiostationtobeonair24/7,butthatdoesn’tmeanyouneednew contentfor24hoursaday

RecordingviaSkype

Liveorpre-record?• Thereisasubstantialtimecommitmenteitherway

• Liveinterviewingsavesalotofeditingtimeandcansoundmoreimmediate

• Pre-recordscangivemorepolishedresult,betterfornervousinterviewees

• Mosthostedserviceshavetheoptionofan‘autoDJ’service

• Youstillneedtouploadandretaincontrolofthecontent.

Encoding

• YourstreamneedstobeencodedforastreamingprotocolsuchasShoutcast orIcecast

• Freeencodersareavailable,suchastheNullsoft SHOUTcastsourceadd-ontoWinamp

• Youcanuse anaudiostreamingprovider,orhostyourownShoutcast/Icecast server

• Youneedtodecideonbitratesamplingrateandmonoorstereo- weuse64bitstereoat44100kHztobalancequalityandcost

Musiclicences• Youmusthaveappropriatelicencestoplaymost3rd partymaterial• Thisincludesmostcommerciallyavailablerecordedmusic• APRA/AMCOScoversrightsofmusiccreators• PPCAcoversrightsofartistsandrecordingcompanies• Feesvary,especiallybetweenindividualandcommercialwebcasting• YoumaynotbecoveredforcopyrightoutsideAustralia• Therecanbeseriousfinesforunauthoriseduseofcopyrightmusic

Licensedmusic- somethingsyoucanandcan’tdo• Youshouldtakestepstoavoidstreamripping

• Youmaynotbeallowedtoissuedetailedplaylistsinadvance

• Don’thavecopyrightmusiconhighrotation

• Trytokeeparecordofwhatwasplayedwhen– youmaybeaskedforit

Abriefdiversion:classiceditorvsGutenbergwithaudioplaylists

Presentingyourcontenttolisteners• ThisisthebitthatyourWordPresssitecandowell

• Vitalthatyoursiteisresponsivetocapturemobileaudience

• Makeyourstreamingplayerprominentforbothdesktopandmobile

• Putprogramguideonwebsiteandpublishittosubscribers

Goingtothenextlevel:playlists

Presentingyourcontenttolisteners

• Byallmeansusesocialmediatoremindpeoplewhat’son

• Ifpossible,displaycurrentandrecenttrackandartistnames(mayneedtousehttp://ratherthanhttps://)

• ManycarshaveBluetoothinput– encouragepeopletolistenthroughtheirmobiles

• Anoldtabletorphonecanbealow-costinternetradioreceiver

Oryoucanuseoneofthese…

Otherthingstothinkabout

• Hideyourstream’sURLbehindanHTML5player

• Unlikebroadcasting,livewebcastinghaslatencywhichcanvarybylocation,soavoidtimesignalsandprecisetimecalls

• Knowyourautomationsystemandhowitprioritisesplaylists

Referencesandlinks

• https://www.ifpi.org/news/IFPI-releases-2018-music-consumer-insight-report

• http://apraamcos.com.au/music-customers/licence-types/

• https://www.ppca.com.au

• https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/7/17832320/twitter-periscope-ios-audio-only-broadcasts-podcasting-feature

Pleaselistenandgiveusyourfeedback

https://www.livingartscanberra.com.au

admin@writingwithlight.com.au

@richards27

Thankyou