Another way to reduce noise using Audacity

I think this works - tell me how it works for you:

If  you have bothersome low-level background noise in your audio, try this:  Choose Amplify from the pulldown menu, and amplify by about -15 dB.  Choose Leveller from the pulldown menu, and set it to Light and to Noise Threshold of -20 dB.  Click OK.  After the processing finishes, choose Amplify again and click OK to raise the level by the suggested amount.  The softer noises that were deleted during the Leveller processing don't come back up. 

Personal histories of CBC Radio Broadcasters - audio

If you're wondering how your favourite CBC broadcasters got their start, listen to interviews in this series from CIUT community radio - available on SoundCloud.  https://soundcloud.com/kevincaners/sets/broadcasting-canada

Why Quality matters in media production

Why Quality matters in media production

22 Nov 2013

In the latest addition to his series of explanatory videos, Dr David Wood tackles the topic Quality Headroom, using a popular childrens' party game to explain why it's important.

http://www.go-eurovision.com/cms/render/live/en/sites/ebu/contents/news/2013/11/why-quality-matters-in-media-pro.html#.UpLmZh9xWVY.facebook

Free online converter for online file formats - UNAVAILABLE NOW

 APPARENTLY GOOGLE HAS BEEN AFTER THESE FOLKS AND THEIR SITE IS CURRENTLY NOT WORKING.

This sophisticated free online clip converter lets you put in the url of the clip you are interested in and convert it to mp3. It works with YouTube and quite a few other kinds of sites.  It lets you make a lot of choices including where to start and end the conversion from a longer video, what meta-data you'd like to put in id3 tag - you can even choose your mp3 bitrate - for most radio station purposes, choose 192kbps. http://www.clipconverter.cc/

File conversion and other functions for free

 Free "Studio Manager" software

 http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/free-dvd-video-software.htm#.UmrJyBAs18E

With this free software you can:
- convert video and audio files between different formats as well as iPod, PSP, iPhone, BlackBerry and all other popular mobile phones and devices;
- burn and rip DVDs and audio CDs;
- upload and download YouTube videos and music to your computer, iPod, PSP, iPhone or BlackBerry;
- perform basic editing of audio and video files;
- record videos and make snapshots;
- create 3D videos and images.

Thanx to Marko for finding this.

Getting Audio from YouTube - New Info

 http://www.vidtomp3.com/
Thanks to Marko for sharing this web page for ripping audio from YouTube (by permission only, of course). This is good to know because the Download Helper plug-in for Firefox that I used to recommend has been disabled. - Frieda

Worst Interview Ever - do not emulate!

Sarah Buchanan shared this as her example of "worst interview ever."  http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/is-this-the-most-embarrassing-interview-fox-news-has-ever-do

Portable Recorders - examples

This is a page from the B&H store in New York, which has some of the better prices (US dollars) for audio field recorders.  You can see a lot of choices of what new recorders are available these days.  http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Recorders-Duplicators/ci/12164/N/4294550650

CJSF General Manager Magnus Thyvold talks about CJSF's role and what it offers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LSWydq4EN-A#at=246

Writing Headlines for Groundwire Canadian Campus-Community Radio News

Here's a nice Google doc on How to Write Headlines for Groundwire*

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uEvsaEucsyJXe1P8IhkZuIO1vJSUy9N98gYsdtgULAQ/edit

*Groundwire, you may recall, is the bi-weekly national half-hour radio news program of the National Campus and Community Radio Association.  You can listen to past Groundwire episodes here:

http://groundwire.ncra.ca/

Use of excerpts of copyright material on radio - Fair Dealing

There is a fairly comprehensive article about Fair Dealing on Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_dealing_in_Canadian_copyright_law

This section is especially useful:

Sections 29, 29.1 or 29.2 of the Copyright Act of Canada create the fair dealing exception to copyright:

Research, private study, etc.

s.29 Fair dealing for the purpose of research, private study, education, parody or satire does not infringe copyright.

Criticism or review

s.29.1 Fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review does not infringe copyright if the following are mentioned:

(a) the source; and

(b) if given in the source, the name of the

(i) author, in the case of a work,

(ii) performer, in the case of a performer’s performance,

(iii) maker, in the case of a sound recording, or

(iv) broadcaster, in the case of a communication signal.

News reporting

s.29.2 Fair dealing for the purpose of news reporting does not infringe copyright if the following are mentioned:

(a) the source; and

(b) if given in the source, the name of the

(i) author, in the case of a work,

(ii) performer, in the case of a performer’s performance,

(iii) maker, in the case of a sound recording, or

(iv) broadcaster, in the case of a communication signal.^[12]

To qualify under the fair dealing exception, the dealing must be for a listed purpose and the dealing must be fair.^[13]

Question about "locally produced content"

Email discussion clarifies meaning of locally produced content.

Spoken Word CJSF Frieda Werden (sent by frieda.werden@gmail.com)	12:46 PM (35 minutes ago)
to NCRA

At the Gabriola regional conference last weekend, Zoe from CJMP commented about the CRTC term Locally Produced Content (of which, you may remember, the new licenses require 15% locally produced spoken word).  She says, if I understand correctly, that it doesn't mean just content that is actually produced in and for your radio station, but can include content from other sources that is selected for your station.  However, she says it doesn't include running Democracy Now, which she describes as "a package."  What I'd like to know is where independently distributed weekly programs, like WINGS (which I produce), fall in this regulation.  Are they "local content" if dropped into a locally curated show, but not local content if they have their own free-standing time slot?

--

Shelley Robinson via sfu.ca	1:08 PM (13 minutes ago)
to ncramembers, cjsfpa

Frieda,

The CRTC definition of "locally-produced" is "exclusively by or for". For
instance CJLY-FM had (has?) the show Japanese Musiquest that was
originally produced in Nelson, later Banff and then from Japan. Because it
was produced *for* the station, it (or at least the spoken word element of
it, if logged) counts as locally-produced. At least one other station
syndicated the show but it wouldn't count as local for them.

My understanding is that WINGS (and GroundWire) are *intended* for
multiple stations (ie. not exclusively by or for any one station) so don't
count as locally-produced.

The question of local curation is like the sub-category of reggae, a bit
tricky. I do that kind of show at CHUO-FM and when I last asked Michael
Craig from the CRTC about it, he said it would depend on the context. I
know no one likes that answer as it's not definitive....

Karen and I occasionally play WINGS as half of our one-hour show (and play
GW whenever it's available.) I would not count those minutes as
locally-produced. However, I do think we could make the argument that some
of our other shows were locally-produced despite using audio from other
places. For instance, last show we talked about the Resonating
Reconciliation project. We used audio from the Vancouver Red Jam Slam, an
interview from another time at a different station and had our own related
discussion live in studio.

Still, in line with trying to always build a buffer when dealing with
regulations, generally I would suggest the station should aim for a few
extra hours of locally-produced spoken word a week, so that should you
ever get audited, there's some wiggle room.

Hope this helps.

When an interview goes bad

Even the most successful interviewers can have a bad one.  This Jian Ghomeshi interview with Billy Bob Thornton is a classic case:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJWS6qyy7bw

Radio Term of the Day: "Hot off the top"

"Hot off the top" means that right at the very beginning of your show you should put something that will hook the listener into staying tuned in.  Often it's a short, exciting clip from somewhere farther into the program.

Rules for Media during Provincial Election

Hello,

In preparation for the 40^th Provincial General Election,  http://www.elections.bc.ca/docs/2013-election-calendar.pdf ,  it is important that media organizations are aware of their obligations under British Columbia’s Election Act.

Please review Elections BC’s Media Obligations under the Election Act (862 (12/11)).  http://www.elections.bc.ca/docs/guidebooks/862.pdf   This guide explains the sections of the Act that apply to the media.  In particular, it clarifies the Act’s provisions about election advertising and opinion polls.

Should you have further questions, please contact Greg Macdonald by phone at 250-952-6164 or email at Greg.Macdonald@elections.bc.ca.

Thank you,

Don Main

Communications Manager

Elections BC

Phone: 250-387-1709

Cell: 778-678-0181

Toll-free: 1-800-661-8683 / TTY 1-888-456-5448

Fax: 250-387-3578

Location: Suite 100 - 1112 Fort Street, Victoria

Email: Don.Main@elections.bc.ca

Website: elections.bc.ca

Free Interviewing webinar May 8-9

Join the Reynolds Institute for a free webinar on interviewing!

The interview is the journalist’s most fundamental and essential tool. It is how you gain information, ensure accuracy, hold people accountable, archive history, bear witness, and reflect community and so much more.  Yet interviewing is a skill more assumed than taught, studied or practiced. In this interactive two-part webinar, Pulitzer Prize winner Jacqui Banaszynski will explore the core purposes, techniques and ethics of the interview process.
She will reveal different interview approaches that work best in different situations and that apply to any genre of journalism.  On Day 2, she will focus on interviews that produce not just information, but true stories, rich with character, scene and detail. Reporters, editors, journalism students and professors will find this practical training useful for their work.
Date of the webinar: May 8-9, 2013.    

For more information, visit http://businessjournalism.org/2012/09/06/getting-the-goods-interviews-that-work-online-may-8-9/

Radio Content about Birth Control and Sexually Transmitted Diseases

On 10 January 2013 15:18, CFBX Radio <radio8music@yahoo.com> wrote: Hi folks, looking for some clarity on the CRTC regulations regarding broadcast of material related to birth control and STDs. The CRTC regulations I have say: The following items are prohibited from being mentioned on air: - any program about the subject of birth control or venereal disease, unless that program is presented in a manner appropriate to the medium of broadcasting. This is very vague. Does anyone have specifics on what this regulation means? Freya Zaltz, Legal Advisor to the National Campus and Community Radio Association, replied:

I haven't been able to find much in the past that sheds light on this.  I think it's a very outdated policy that the CRTC just hasn't taken steps to update in recent years.  This is what I think the CRTC currently expects with respect to this type of programming:

(a) consider your intended audience and your potential audience when determining the content of the program and whether it's justifiable and appropriate;

(b) during daytime hours, limit sexually explicit content to material that's presented in an informative and educational manner, and to only what's required in order to present the material accurately and responsibly (i.e. not sensational or gratuitously graphic);

(c) at all times of day but particularly during daytime hours, provide warnings before and during the program so that listeners are aware of the subject matter of the program (just a simple statement that the program contains sexual content is sufficient so listeners can decide if it's appropriate to keep listening); and

(d) avoid unbalanced programming that condemns people for certain behaviour, tells listeners how they ought to behave, or illustrates sexism or homophobia or other forms of discrimination;

(e) focus on providing an informed and balanced analysis and discussion of options and resources.

Some may disagree with this, but I think it's what the CRTC would expect if they had to investigate complaints from listeners.

Here's a link to a page set up by public radio freelancers in the US, about how to set up a small recording studio.  It's been recently updated, to include things like USB mics.

http://transom.org/?p=23904