Author Topic: Notice to Listeners: Upcoming Testing Will Interrupt BBM Radio  (Read 7066 times)

Offline Phillip Dampier

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In order to provide for live broadcast opportunities and to deliver the State of the Community address to our residents, we will be testing a new relay station link to BBM Radio.  During these tests, regular programming will be temporarily interrupted and replaced with test announcements, music, and spoken word programming which may have no connection with our regular programming, but has been included to test the reliability and sound quality of the relay station.  I will post announced times of test broadcasts here to try and alert listeners of an upcoming test. Most of these tests will last less than one hour, and several will last only for several minutes.

I appreciate your patience and understanding, as it will allow us to broadcast longer form programming without commercial interruption.

As 2007 progresses, we will be exploring alternatives to Live 365 delivery of our programming.  It is my desire to eliminate as many of the commercial announcements as possible in our programming.
You're a part of our family - BetterMost, Wyoming

Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: Notice to Listeners: Upcoming Testing Will Interrupt BBM Radio
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2007, 10:11:29 pm »
Testing will begin tonight for extended periods.

During testing periods, the normal programming will cease and existing streaming listeners will find their stream sessions interrupted.  Users who reconnect during the test will hear the test programming.  When the test broadcasts end, the stream will again drop, and users who reconnect will hear the normal programming service once again.

These tests are conducted for the following purposes:

1) To test different bitrates of programming streams that can be supported without stream interruptions.  Programming on the current station is at 64kbps, which makes it suitable for all broadband connections, but dial-up listeners will not be able to maintain the stream.

The test streams will occur at different bitrates, from 8kbps up to 128kbps.  We are using a series of relays to get the stream to the end listener as follows:

Stream originates from my system in Rochester, NY --> Stream relay station on BetterMost server in Dallas --> Stream reaches Live365 in California --> Stream is retransmitted to our listeners.

The program content will vary but may consist of any/all of the following:

a) A tuning/interval signal - a unique repeating short tune or musical piece designed to aid tuning and provide an identification of the signal heard without waiting for an ID, this signal can also be used to help tune a transmitter and run reception tests.

b) Musical programming - An assortment of musical pieces or musical programming primarily designed to test the quality and fidelity of the stream.

c) Talk programming - Random talk programming designed mostly to test the quality and fidelity of the stream as well as the stream's ability to stay online for extended periods.  I will likely test with BBC programming and possibly some talk shows I have on hand.

d) Test tones, etc., - Done to test levels, frequency response, etc.

None of the test programming will likely relate to BetterMost or Brokeback Mountain, so don't be concerned if you start hearing a news program or something else.  It's just for testing.

During testing, you may hear extended periods of silence, your stream may drop in between test segments, and volume levels may fluctuate.  If you wish to reply with a reception report of how well the stream sounded in your area, feel free to do so, reporting your location, whether the stream stayed online and consistent (or if rebuffering occured or other audio dropouts happened), etc.

I will try and give advance warning here of test periods.  This testing will allow BBM Radio to begin live and extended length recorded programming without commercial interruption.

You're a part of our family - BetterMost, Wyoming

Offline SFEnnisSF

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Re: Notice to Listeners: Upcoming Testing Will Interrupt BBM Radio
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2007, 11:37:05 pm »
Testing Testing 1-2-3  :D

Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: Notice to Listeners: Upcoming Testing Will Interrupt BBM Radio
« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2007, 02:03:45 am »
Tonight's first test went reasonably well, although Live 365 dumps listeners whenever the program stream is interrupted.  The good news is that the stream performed well over the course of an hour with only two minor glitches.  The bad news is that I have to do some tinkering to placate Live 365 about the fact we didn't pass playlist information to them, which gets us temporarily de-listed from the station directory.

Ultimately the relay system we're establishing will let us run live and pre-recorded long programming without ads, the opportunity to configure an second service either commercial-free or running different programming, and an even better sounding stream.

Upcoming tests should run shorter than this evening.
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Offline SFEnnisSF

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Re: Notice to Listeners: Upcoming Testing Will Interrupt BBM Radio
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2007, 11:29:10 am »
Are ya'all taking notes?  There's a test on this later...  :D  :laugh:

Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: Notice to Listeners: Upcoming Testing Will Interrupt BBM Radio
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2007, 09:03:47 pm »
There will probably be another test tonight around 10:30-11pm EDT.  This time I will be playing music.  Any requests?
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Offline SFEnnisSF

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Re: Notice to Listeners: Upcoming Testing Will Interrupt BBM Radio
« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2007, 11:07:56 pm »
Play that repetetive dance song again.  I was diggin that. I'm wierd, I know.

Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: Notice to Listeners: Upcoming Testing Will Interrupt BBM Radio
« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2007, 11:38:28 pm »
Play that repetetive dance song again.  I was diggin that. I'm wierd, I know.

I am not sure what you were referring to.
You're a part of our family - BetterMost, Wyoming

injest

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Re: Notice to Listeners: Upcoming Testing Will Interrupt BBM Radio
« Reply #8 on: March 13, 2007, 11:40:26 pm »
Play that repetetive dance song again.  I was diggin that. I'm wierd, I know.

Hey! me too!! let's be weird together!  ;)

play something soft, Phillip...I am gonna try to listen

Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: Notice to Listeners: Upcoming Testing Will Interrupt BBM Radio
« Reply #9 on: March 14, 2007, 01:23:40 am »
Tonight's test worked perfectly, including the link ups to radio network programming and even the addition of the local weather for here in BetterMost.  I'm confident I have worked out the remaining issues, so no further long form tests will be needed.
You're a part of our family - BetterMost, Wyoming