Locality Switch

It took many years to get to this point, but it’s now looking like Community Radio around the nation will start getting access to DAB+ transmission over the next couple of months!

While there has been no official word from the CBAA for a while (the manager of the community radio digital radio project), I’ve been hearing some mentions of digital radio from some of the metro-wide stations around here. In particular, Hope 103.2 has started saying that their new digital-only station, Inspire Digital, is expected to be launched on Sydney DAB+ radio in the next two months or so.

From what I’ve heard, the equipment is almost ready at the metro-wide stations, and now it’s just a matter of getting the connection happening between the studios and the transmission site.

(Incidentally, from today you can start listening to a ‘pilot’ of Inspire Digital via their website. I’ll tell you now: this particular station is sounding like its going to be really, really great!)

I’m particularly hoping that Community Radio will take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of more transmission capacity as a chance to be more innovative, and broadcast new and innovative content. If community stations put all they’ve got into this and do something interesting and appealing to audiences, it could really drive the sales of digital radio receivers, helping the entire Digital Radio project in Australia.

Community radio is in a very unique position to launch new services with minimal costs. There’s no management overheads, sales requirements, or shareholders to satisfy. It’s dirt cheap. Really, the hardest part is coming up with something that will be appealing, and then putting in the effort to see it happen.

If community radio dosen’t take this opportunity, then I’m afraid that commercial operators will. Last week, Austereo announced their newest digital-only station: “U2O Radio“. What’s the concept? “A Radio Station hosted by U for U”.

That’s right, ordinary people submitting programming, and then getting it played on air. It sounds a whole heap like the principal behind community radio, right? But wait, there’s more! U2O radio is an initiative of….. The Australian Government!

Austereo has the advantage over community radio here, because they have much more visibility through their national network. It’s also much more appealing to young people because they have the chance to be noticed by some of the big names in Australia’s media. The splash page of U2O radio says:

Who knows, you could be Australia’s next Hamish & Andy!

Getting your big break on radio has never been easier.

This is exciting and interesting times for Community Radio in Australia. Let’s hope that we take this as a chance to grow, expand and strengthen.

Over the past few months, my live has become increasingly busy. Not only have I started the preliminary HSC which means an increased work-load from school, but I have also been blessed with getting more paid work. Further to this, I still have the day-to-day responsibilities associated with being the Technical Manager at 2CCR, amongst other things.

All of this work has found me increasingly tired with things. It’s not that I am not enjoying the work I am doing, but the combination and amount of it is just tiresome.

To combat this tiredness of day-to-day work, I have committed some of my time to work on what I have dubbed “Free Will” projects. This concept encompasses work I choose to do, and I have control of the overall direction of project.

This isn’t a new concept. It is a concept which I borrowed from Google, who allow employees to devote 20% of their time to do whatever they choose, in what is dubbed “Innovation Time Off”. It dosen’t have to be productive, but ironically, some of the best products offered by Google have been developed in this 20% time. Gmail, Google News, and AdSense were developed in this time.

I personally haven’t chosen to devote a fixed period of time to myself for my “Free Will Projects”. Also, the end result of this time dosen’t have to be saleable or submittable for marking. In fact, the end result isn’t as important. No, it is the journey taken and the things learned which is important.

While musing over this concept during the past week, I realised that the majority of my skills related to technology were developed while working on small projects for myself.

For example, I learnt the fundamentals of PHP & MySQL while working on a project several years ago called Playground Hunt. The original concept of Playground Hunt was to develop a wiki of all the nation’s playgrounds. I developed the code all by myself (with the help of online tutorials), launched it to the web, and then shut it down six months later.

This as a business venture was a complete failure. I was thirteen at the time. Thankfully, I didn’t really loose anything (except for $20 on domain registration). In fact, I gained so much! Every project since then has used the skills I gained while developing that little website.

One of the key features of “Free Will Projects” is calling the shots yourself. There’s no point embarking on a project if someone else is making all of the decisions – this defeats the whole purpose! You might as well be spending this time doing something else.

Also, for these projects to be useful they must be somewhat enjoyable. If it’s just going to make you stressed and tired, well, that’s not worth it. Go and do something else. This isn’t to say it has to be enjoyable 100% of the time – it’s perfectly natural for certain aspects of your project to get frustrating.

Finally, the project dosen’t have to be yourself. It could be for a not-for-profit which you are involved with, it could help a friend, it could be open-sourced in the future, or it could even be sold. This dosen’t necessarily matter.

I’m undertaking a project at the moment which is for a certain Christian radio station, but I have overall control of, and is helping me learn certain things as I go. I’m not getting paid for it, the project is a bit different, making it fun, I’m calling the shots (under the general direction of management, of course) and I am also getting valuable experience as I go! It’s a win-win situation.

The key point of this concept is to learn and grow as a person, while participating in something a bit enjoyable.

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you would know that I have been at Hope 103.2 all week, on Work Experience. It’s been great. Truly, it’s probably been the best week I’ve had for several years.

I learnt heaps, especially about Axia Audio over IP systems, as well as Dalet 5.1, and all sorts of other tech goodies they have in master control. I was able to go around to each of the departments at the station, and see what their jobs entail, and help out a bit. I even got to do a cold call to try and sell sponsorship!

However, the best part wasn’t the tech. It wasn’t the marketing, sales, programming, promotions, events, creative, production, or on air teams. It was the atmosphere of the whole team at Hope 103.2, and the great vibe of everyone. I haven’t seen such a unified team in a long time (I believe the last time was LoveThat a few years back, but it was a smaller team).

I’ve met some great people at Hope 103.2, and I hope to keep in touch with them as time goes by. Perhaps I should even sign up as a volunteer? Would I have enough time in the day if I did that? Maybe. I suppose I should just be lead by God, and follow his guidance.

Anyway, thanks so much, Hope 103.2!!