Making a decision to showcase your community radio program on the web means you need to make a few decisions.
It’s really important that whatever online platforms you decide to use, whether it’s blogging, podcasting, facebook, twitter or myspace, that they are linked back to your station’s website.
The ideal situation is to consolidate all your online platforms so they are accessible from eachother.
Podcasting vs re-streaming
The other thing to think about is the whole podcasting vs re-streaming argument.
What’s the difference you might ask?
Well, if you podcast your show online listeners can download it to their computers, ipods and MP3 devices and replay it whenever they like. The biggest issue with this is needing a podcasting licence in order to upload copyrighted music content. Basically you are making a copy of an artist’s work and supplying it for download…hmm shouldn’t we be paying royalties on that? Hence the need for an APRA licence. These licences are expensive and there is also a bunch of reporting work involved!
But if you restream (sometimes called streaming-on-demand) your show listeners can still listen on demand, but listeners can’t download a copy of the show to keep (at least in theory). Restreaming gets around the tricky issue of needing a podcasting licence from APRA to put your entire show up online. You can theoretically upload your show as it went to air, as long as your station has a streaming licence from APRA. Most stations stream online now so that’s covered.
Copyright and licensing is a minefield, so it’s always best to check with your station management about their policy on podcasting and restreaming before you try and put any audio online.
Some free tools you can use to re-stream are mix-cloud and ustream. And check this post about audio online to see how to step-by-step podcast.
FBi Radio in Sydney does a great job using creative ways to podcast music programs:
And some stations and shows that re-stream as a matter of course are:
Homebrew on PBS in Melbourne
Jumping the Gap on 2SER in Sydney
Morning Magazine on RTR in Perth
A new project is also in the pipeline to get more stations on the re-stream boat, stay tuned to the CBAA website for details on this!
NB: This information is of a general nature and is given in CMTO's capacity as a community training organisation. It should not be relied on as legal advice.