101FM March 2016 Newsletter

2016
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March
Newsletter
101FM Newsletter March 2016 ©
The Presidents’ Page
Amazing! Already we’re in the 3rd month of the year!
It looks like 2016 is not only going to be a happy one; it’s also shaping up to be a very,
very busy one. Just as one example, we have over 30 Outside Broadcasts (O.B.’s)
booked with our Sponsors so far this year! Now, that’s impressive!
The last time I wrote, it was back in December and I was wishing you a great Festive
Christmas Season, and hoping you and your families got a chance to re-charge the old
batteries. Catching up with a few Members recently, it seem like many did! Join with me
also in welcoming all new members to the Station, glad to have you on the Team!
Looking forward into 2016, we will see all the usual beaut events happening along with
some great surprises.
The 2016 Easter Raffle is going along nicely and all indications so far are that it’s going
to be a very successful fundraiser, so thankyou in advance! Also a big thank you to
Gray for organising a great Mother’s Day Competition.
At this point we say both farewell & best wishes for the future to Julie who has chosen
to live in an exotic overseas location – Tasmania! Thanks for your loyalty and service
to 101FM !
To all of the unnamed Volunteers, Presenters, Receptionists & Office Administration
staff who have contributed to the ongoing success of 101FM, a deep and heartfelt
thank-you for all of your dedicated work, both seen & heard and also unseen & silent.
The Station just keeps getting better and better because of your individual efforts!
Kind regards,
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I must thank our sponsors
I must thank our sponsors
101 FM Newsletter March 2016 ©
I must thank our sponsors
Bendigo Bank
Bethania Mowers
Browns Plains Real Estate
Drew's Sign it
DND Roofing
Farmrite Mowers Springwood
Greenbank RSL
Karaoke Company
Keith 4 Wheels
Koala Printing Springwood
Logan Rec. Club
Richardson and Wrench
Porky’s Gym
Rick Byrne Lawyers
Logan Chamber of Commerce
Logan City Council
Logan Central Medical Centre
Logan Reporter
McDonald’s Logan Central, Marsden, Beenleigh & Holmview
Motorama Mitsubishi Springwood
My Home and the River
Overflow Logan Central
Re-Love Oxley Antiques & Collectables
Retire Australia
Salvation Army Family Stores
Sirromet Winery
Southern Cross Care
Stuart Macfarlane Optometrist
Stars Dance Club
Thai Orchid
Tribe of Judah Care Services
Trinder Park Aged Care
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Twin Towns
Tech
Talking
Sefton Madsen
Senior Vice President
Technical Manager
Recently I attended the 50 year reunion of the PMG (Postmaster-General's Department) Trainee Technicians who started back in ‘66.
My first lecture was on Sound with the opening question being asked “What is Sound?” A few different answers were given, but in the end the
answer was “What you can hear”. Radio's job is to broadcast sound to a wide audience - so it’s an appropriate place to talk about sound.
Therefore, how we handle sound is of critical importance.
“Sound” is described in terms of frequency and volume. Humans with exceptional hearing can hear sound ranging in frequency from about
20Hz to 20,000 Hertz. Most of us fall short of this mark and particularly as we age, or are subjected to high sound levels during our lifetime.
Bear in mind, our ability to hear a given frequency also depends on the volume of that sound.
Most of the information included in sound is contained in the range from about 300Hz to about 3,000Hz. (3Kz) The higher frequencies give the
voice its particular characteristics so we can recognise, for example, the Speaker. A landline telephone uses the range from 300Hz to 3.4Khz for
voice communications and we can mostly recognise the Speaker. The more upper frequencies included in the signal the better the sound quality.
AM radio extends up to 8Khz. This is very good for voice, but is not ideal for music. Hence AM radio is used predominantly for “Talk Radio”.
FM Stations have an upper frequency of 15Khz which gives good quality audio, but still not as good as music on a CD or a new LP (played on a
good quality sound system.) At 101FM we use a combination of CDs and mp3 digital recordings with the occasional use of LP records.
CDs have a theoretical upper frequency limit of 22.05Khz which is well above most people's hearing. LP records can reproduce sound from 20Hz
to 20Khz, subject to the condition of the record and stylus. MP3 recordings’ response depends on the Bit Rate but generally 128Kb per second,
which is the minimum suitable for broadcasting, cuts off at about 19,000Hz. Subjectively, most people would find very little difference in quality
between a CDs and FM on normal radio.
Many books have been written and many people spend a lifetime studying the subject of Sound, but generally we endeavour to give the best
sound possible to the audience within the constraints of the technology we’re using.
Finally we must always remember that no method of reproducing sound is as good as a live performance. As always, if you have any technical
matters that you would like to know more about, or assist the Technical Team in any way, for example Outside Broadcasts, please
contact me and I’d be only too happy to chat with you and share some information!
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101FM Newsletter March 2016 ©
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March 2016 * 101 FM Newsletter ©
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Time for Reflection
When you're ‘On Air’, the most important person in your life is your listener.
There are 4 main reasons for people to listen to radio:
Companionship Access to information Relaxation Entertainment
Our aim is to convince the listeners we are talking to them – not reading to them! That’s the
way to build a personal relationship with your listeners. Whatever your program content,
listeners should be able to hear your enthusiasm, every time you open the mic.
All your On-Air work requires preparation, including interviews. When you are a Radio Presenter, part of your life should be devoted to preparation for your next show. Commit your
thoughts to paper, not memory!
Remember the 5 P’s of Presentation: Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance!
Be prepared for those ‘unforeseen’ events. A couple of seconds of ‘dead air’ can seem like
a minute; a gap of 10 seconds feels like an eternity. It creates anxiety for the presenter and
frustration for the listener. If this happens to you, BE PREPARED at a second’s notice to
correct the situation.
Always have an alternative USB, CD or announcements on WaveCart ready to play.
Ask yourself these questions: Would I like to listen to an hour of my own program?
Do I “waffle on” too much? Is my voice too flat? Too domineering? Do I sound enthusiastic
- or boring and dull? Tune in and listen to other radio station presenters - how do they present their programs…why are they different?
Confidence. It’s essential for effective communication – remember, if it’s worth saying –
it’s worth saying well!
It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
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Terry
Station Manager - Terry (TJ) Blacker
Community Broadcasting Association of Australia
by Sefton Madsen : Senior Vice President / Technical Manager 101FM
My reasons for attending the CBAA Conference as 101FM’s representative in November 2015 were as follows:* To meet other station people who are doing similar things that we are doing.
* Meet suppliers and see demonstrations of their equipment so I have an idea of what equipment is out there to benefit the station.
* Find out more about how other stations operate and overcome the problems we are facing.
* Find out what we can get to benefit our station.
* Find out if attending future conferences would be of benefit to our station.
On all the above points I found the conference exceeded my hopes and expectations.
The following is a discussion on the sessions I attended during the conference. Contact with other delegates and comments in the meetings
also helped understand other stations in the sector.
Digitising Radio.
At the moment Australia is using an upgraded version of the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) standard, called DAB+, to broadcast digital radio. Digital Broadcasting has only been rolled out in the metropolitan centres. In these centres all the DAB+ stations including the commercial
and community stations share the transmitters.
The cost of these transmitters and the technology means that all the stations must share the same sites. This works where you have multiple
stations on the same coverage area competing for the audience. The costs of this transmitter are so high that the Community Station could only use the facilities with the help from government funding.
We will need to be vocal in expressing our concerns regarding the roll out of the DAB+. From my point of view it seems that the technology is
forcing changes on us, rather than our requirements driving the technology. We may need to form a committee or a group at the station to
watch over developments in this area and mobilise members if and when required to defend our position. Other stations in the area may also
wish to join with us on this issue.
Community Broadcasting in 2035.
This session explored what could be happening over the next 20 years. I didn't get too much out of this session except to say that the future is
very uncertain (as it always will be), but the normal need that humans have for community and for connectivity will still be there. We need to
keep that in mind, and not be too caught up in the technologies, but always keep our human needs in mind.
Community Radio may become more of an on-line presence and so the means of connecting with the people may change - but the basic
needs of people do not.
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Distributing Our Content Nationally
I attended this session to not so much find out about distributing our content nationally but more to find out if we could take advantage of content
that is available. At the moment we generate our programs ourselves but we should be able to take advantage of content that has been produced
for use around the country. The content is distributed live via the Community Radio Network at specific times. If we wanted to take any of the programs we would need to install the satellite dish and receiver. The costs of these are not very high. Once this infrastructure was installed, we
could also take the National Radio News and/or the programs from the CRN. In the longer term, it may be possible for some of our shows that are
special to our station could be distributed nationally. These could be special interviews or other items that are of special interest. By doing this we
can promote our station to a wider audience, lift the station’s profile and possibly earn income for the station.
CBF: A New Model
The Community Broadcasting Foundation has been in existence for over 30 years. During that time it has become quite large and complex. A
review of its structure and operation has been under way over the last 18 months. These sessions at the conference were designed for stations to
provide feedback on the proposed changes. At 101FM we’ve had very limited experience with the CBF. We have however, obtained two successful grants over the last 3 years under the old structure
101FM hasn’t relied on the CBF for funding to survive but have only requested it to provide much needed extra or replacement equipment. Therefore it’s difficult for us to comment on the new versus the old model.
Some members at these sessions held quite strong views on the operation of the CBF and it seems some of the discussions have been quite acrimonious. Our Grants Officer, Alister Robertson, will be reviewing this new CBF model and providing some feedback to the CBF Structure and Governance Review.
General Observations.
We at 101FM are one of the better self-funded radio stations. We are able to stand on our own two feet without needing to be bailed out by external organisations.
We share many of the same problems as other stations such as attracting younger members, lack of depth in our technical expertise and the normal problems of continuity when we rely on volunteers.
There are some major challenges ahead; in particular the move to DAB+ could mean we lose our independence of government funding. We will
need to work with the CBAA and other stations if we are going to chart our way through these difficulties ahead. We cannot do this alone.
Attending the CBAA conference adds great value to the station. We are in the situation of “not knowing what we don't know”. The CBAA conference helps us not only know more things and meet many of the key players but also find out about the forces that are changing our industry. Because of this I feel it is essential that 101FM continues to send delegates to the CBAA Conference but also become engaged during the rest of the
year with this body.
Outside of the conference I would recommend that members make contact with other stations when they are travelling. We can learn so much
from those contacts. We all have a vested interest in the Community Broadcasting sector being strong and healthy in Australia.
We should not cringe from being called a Community Radio Station. The branding as being a Community Radio Station can be quite a valuable strategy which shows that we are connected to the local community. With other groups becoming more centralised we can really distinguish
ourselves and show that we are different, live and local.
101FM Newsletter March 2016 ©
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101FM Newsletter March 2016 ©
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101FM in the Community!
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Newsletter Art & Concept Editor
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101FM Newsletter March 2016 ©