We try. Really, we do.
Give
me a minute to explain.
Most large radio stations today don't
even LISTEN to their own product. Their own “sound” and, their
own “issues” when they happen. We DO.
For the past few
days, there's been quite a few interruptions in our streaming service
AND in the service we provide to Lowell and Eastern Kent County.
Unlike some stations, however, we: take responsibility and
acknowledge issues, and: We fix them as soon as humanly possible.
In this technologically-driven world, there are many links in
a chain. Back when WION began streaming, as owner, I decided I
wanted to stream REAL AM STEREO which we always have. We have never
had a source for your online listening other than a genuine AM stereo
tuner in my office where I'm writing this. The sound leaves that
tuner, stops along the way at my recording console, and on to the
sound card which encodes the audio to send to you via Live 365 dot
com and via a link to Lowell. We chose a live link to Lowell over
“industry standard” encoding and decoding because the 'net that
we get in Lowell from Fiber service is less than reliable, and our
OWN streaming provides a more steady service.
Now that
you've seen “behind the curtain” of what we do to bring you
streaming, the REASON has always been that AM radio is under the gun
by many of you, the consumer who don't believe it can sound GREAT.
So, if that's you, go to our stream, put on the headphones, your
airpods, or whatever you need to have a good quality earpiece and
just LISTEN. It's REAL AM RADIO. EVERY AM station is capable of
sounding like this, but the big owners are lazy, and they put “talk”
radio on their AM's, they hit one button for “voice” on their
audio processing, and the result is a muddy mix of crappy talk and
endless commercials if you listen to I-heart. Sometimes as much as
10 in a row! (or more.)
We don't do that. We process our
AM for the very BEST sound allowed by the FCC, 10khz wide, (FM is
15khz by the way) and, many people can't tell the difference if not
told!It's a really nice, w-i-d-e sound, that is pleasant to the ear,
and never gives you ear fatigue. We want you to listen as long as
possible to enjoy WION and to tell others about us.
Getting
back to the recent interruptions, a “perfect storm” of issues
happened. First of all, Microsoft pushed some windows updates. A
very large one, and some others....this takes our Lowell link AND our
stream offline when it happens. The larger “server” that
handles all this also had patches pushed overnight, and our
(volunteer) Streaming and Internet Manager, Scott had to restart an
offsite server on Saturday morning, meaning that Lowell was “off
the air” from sometime Saturday early until mid afternoon.
Our
own streaming system that pushes the signal TOI the server also had
multiple Windows patches pending, and took forever to update. Again,
interruptions took place. On top of that, some of the updates played
havoc with our special sound card used to encode the audio for both
our streaming and for Lowell. Today, Monday the 14th,
more issues developed and Scott was able to both “update” some
and “roll back” some of the patches to restart the sound card
which encodes our great AM stereo audio.
The NEXT part of
the “perfect storm” of issues was, our main AM stereo receiver
has developed some intermittent issues, but...luckily, in many parts
of WION, we have redundancy. Our streaming receiver is one of those
places, and we're streaming beautiful AM stereo again from our backup
receiver. It's as smooth as ever and as nice sounding as you have
come to know.
My main point of all this is, It upsets me, as
owner and operator of WION as much or MORE than it does you when
there is an issue. It's going to happen in any business that runs
24/7, and certainly RADIO is one of those industries. BUT, unlike
many bigger stations, we actually monitor our product and fix things
as quickly as we can. The larger chain-owned radio stations are too
busy consolidating, firing staff, and controlling things from
hundreds of miles away to KNOW when something at the local level
needs attention. We, on the other hand, for 22 years have given you
OUR VERY BEST even when things don't go exactly as designed.
Now,
on the “downside” of this, we're also doing this with a mainly
volunteer support staff of the BEST engineers in the biz...who do
work with WION because they LOVE this station, how it sounds, and the
fact we STILL EXIST in “small town America.” I'd like to state
for the record that this is NOT EASY. As owner, I've literally LIVED
with this station for 22 years. It's not a 9 to 5. It's a “whenever
WION needs burping” we do it. Like a young kid in a family.
Whether it's bad storms, power outages, or the day to day grind of
convincing a “Facebook Society” that LOCAL media can do
advertising BETTER than a computer at FaceMonster “picking” who
sees your post..and remember, POSTS ARE NOT ADVERTISEMENTS. IF YOU
DON'T PAY AN ONLINE SITE, they DON'T GUARANTEE AN AUDIENCE!! Plenty
of times, even our city events, chamber events, DDA events, and YOUR
organizational events get served-up DAYS after they happen to our
small staff.
So, to keep LOCAL RADIO going, we work hard on
the technology, and the many links in the chain for both our local
signals, and our streaming.....and if YOU want to keep it more
interesting, get off your duffs if you are part of an organization
and SEND US a press release at least a couple weeks ahead of time so
we can take pride in talking it up “ On the radio!” If you've
got time to post on Facebook you've got time to send the SAME
information to our “contact” page at www.i1430.com.
There is NO excuse for not telling your local radio station about
your (autumn and) regular events. We're not searching you down. We
have LIVES and we don't LIVE on Facebook, nor is it possible for any
human being unless they sit home 24/7 on the web to follow ALL the
pages that think they are better than the next one in telling you
what's happening in your community. It's time YOU WAKE UP and use
the ONE locally owned media that this county still has! We can only
care if YOU DO....
So, get on it! Send us info for your fall
events. Listen LOCALLY whether it's on Lowell's 100.3, FM 92-7 or
our very long-distance AM 1430 in your daytime travels.....or
online.......and help us keep the CONTENT of your local
station.....LOCAL. I can't guarantee NOT taking political ads as we
get nearer November. For years I've avoided all that I legally can,
but Politician's money this year will spend as well as Main Street's
money will.....
Want to avoid that? Encourage more local
businesses to join us as sponsors. We work harder for our clients
than the computers at Facebok-do.
AND.....we'll always explain
to you any issues that happen with our signals or our stream. Talk
about “Transparency!”.........what station do you know that will
be THAT HONEST with you, besides us......at WION!
