[Rfu-barnraising] Re: {leti} Re: the automation question

[Andrew Ó Baoill]

I appreciate your suggestion. However, there are numerous reasons  
that WRFU has not yet decided to do this.

First, WRFU will truly be a bare-bones station. We actually don't  
have the cash to run our basic service, let alone to commit ourselves  
to the additional copyright fees associated with streaming. WRFU and  
the IMC only have limited bandwidth available, so streaming would be  
a heavy load, or require rental of additional bandwidth.

Second, some of us have concerns about the impact that streaming has  
on the nature of a community radio station. Since WRFU is an  
autonomous consensus-based operation, it is important that we examine  
this issue and come to agreement among ourselves before moves are  
made on this issue.

Third, about those concerns. Jon Bekken, in an essay in Seizing the  
Airwaves, mentions in passing the impact that increased power (and  
therefore range) has on the role that a community station plays,  
using our local WEFT as an example. Not all the concerns raised there  
follow through to internet streams, but many do. With all due  
respect, WRFU is a station for Urbana, not for the next town over. As  
far as I am concerned, we are concerned, primarily, with providing  
space for self-expression by members of our community. Some see  
community radio as more concerned with providing content to  
listeners, and in this case streaming to the world can be seen as a  
benefit. For those who want a station to be firmly anchored in its  
community - either in terms of content produced, or in being a space  
in which all listeners can aspire to becoming an active participant,  
streaming becomes more problematic. For some more detailed, if still  
preliminary, thoughts on issues raised by these technologies you can  
see my recent post:
http://funferal.org/mt-archive/001098.html
or an earlier article, concerned more particularly with digital radio  
in Europe:
http://www.tuppenceworth.ie/ArtsEnt/radiodab.html

Fourth, running a webstream for the special event that is the  
barnraising, may differ, and is something we can examine at WRFU's  
meeting this Tuesday. Of course, while it could be a useful publicity  
element of the barnraising, it could also undermine the station's  
ongoing policy, should it adopt one.

Andrew

On 27 DFómh 2005, at 15:49, Andy Gunn wrote:

> i _highly_ recommend that you stream your signal over the  
> internet.  if you don't, you are cutting out a potentially huge  
> audience.  your signal is only 100 watts, so people in even the  
> next town over may not be able to hear you.  with a stream - they  
> will have the option of tuning in at least when they are by a  
> computer with an ethernet connection.
>
> i really think the fees are minimal - a few hundred dollars a  
> year.  i know many stations that stream without any legal troubles  
> whatsoever, and some of them don't pay the fees at all.
>
> it will be a relatively simple task to set up a streaming encoder  
> during the barnraising - we will have techs running all over the  
> place who will want things to do.  i would ask that at bare  
> minimum, we set up a computer to stream the launch of the station -  
> we can publicize it on our sites and tell people to tune in via  
> email.  if you want to turn it off after the barnraising, that is  
> up to you.
>
> -a
>
>
> On Wed, 26 Oct 2005, andrew baoill wrote:
>
>
>> We've left streaming to one side for the moment, for both practical
>> reasons, and because some of us have broader philosophical concerns
>> about the issue.
>>
>> While the donation is welcome, can we wait until after the
>> barnraising to engage with this issue? I would like to give the topic
>> the attention it deserves, but there are so many other things at the
>> moment I don't think we have time to take on additional issues.
>>
>> Andrew
>>
>> On 26 DFómh 2005, at 14:32, Sascha Meinrath wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> The Acorn Active Media Foundation is planning to donate use of one
>>> of our servers for streaming (and integrating this into the CUWiN
>>> wireless network). We have some parameters we're operating under
>>> but would also love help setting this up to your specs.  We've just
>>> finished building the system and making sure it takes the server
>>> software we're loading onto it.  We'll probably follow something
>>> along the lines of:
>>>
>>> http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialAudioStreaming.html
>>>
>>> But if there are techies on the list who would like to be involved
>>> with this effort (especially during the craziness of the
>>> barnraising), drop me a line.
>>>
>>> In solidarity,
>>>
>>> --Sascha
>>>
>>> Andrew Ó Baoill wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> You would take an output from the console and feed it to an input
>>>> on  the soundcard if you wanted to record the station (or other
>>>> console  output) onto the computer, or to create a webstream, etc.
>>>> Andrew
>>>>
>
> --
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> |  Andy Gunn - Technical and Training Organizer  |
> | Prometheus Radio Project - prometheusradio.org |
> |    andy at prometheusradio.org   215-727-9620     |
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> | Come to our next radio station Barnraising and community wireless |
> | congregation!  November 11 to 13, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.     |
> | Prometheus Radio Project * UC Independent Media Center * WRFU-LP  |
> | Check http://www.prometheusradio.org/urbana/ for more details!    |
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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--
Andrew Ó Baoill
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Inst. of Communications Research, U. of Illinois
Communications / Participatory media / Political action
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andrew at funferal.org / baoillo at uiuc.edu
aim: funferal at mac.com
+353-87-241-7003 / +1-(217) 384-3142
http://funferal.org / Galway, Ireland / Urbana, IL, USA