Preperation begins for OB Marathon at 2CCR
Spring is coming soon, and in The Hills, we celebrate with the Orange Blossom Festival – it’s an annual festival encompassing over forty events over a two week period.
2CCR FM is the local broadcaster for this area, so it’s our duty to broadcast as much of this as we can. With the festival official community opening on the 12th September, we have only a month to get our act together. Luckily, our first meeting was last night.
I’m hoping to broadcast at least five or so of these events, mainly the outdoor fetes and markets they are holding. The general nature of these outdoor fetes means there is no phone line available, meaning we can pot any POTS codecs away (not that we ever owned a pair!). I’m hoping for Audio-over-IP all the way, man! (Using open-source software, such as IceCast)
I won’t go into the details of our meeting right now – I’ll reveal bits and pieces as the days go on.
However, here’s a few key things which I hope to work on for the festival to ensure we really reach out to our community, and make the most of it:
- Full OBs – not just live crosses The presenters, music, etc. should all come live from the venue to capture the full spirit of the event
- Heaps of people I don’t want a half-heated attempt from anyone; we need swarms of our people dresses up in the polo shirt mingling with the crowds of onlookers
- Heaps of Interviews Quick chats on-air with members of the public, as well as longer interviews with interesting people
- Particular focus on membership and sponsorship We need to make sure we talk with interested people to sign them up as members; the same goes for potential sponsors – it needs to be viable
- Heaps of brochures No one should walk past us without getting one of our fancy glossy brochures
It’s going to be a long journey to get the results I dream of, but I know we can make it. The key to making this work, in my opinion, is to make sure we involve as many people as possible from the start. When the meeting was called, I made sure I called heaps of people to confirm they could come (never rely on a mass email for anything!). That is a start, but that needs to keep happening throughout this whole thing.
Wish us luck! (And if you want to help, email me!)