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New to being a station manager, need help with iheartradio

W

WXLV

Hi All,
So a couple of months ago I was hired as the radio station manager at a community college. I was hired because the building is moving in the direction of a digital media lab, so my expertise is in art and audio production and I have very little radio experience. The station was kind of left in disarray when I came in and I am slowly trying to update and fix everything. The computer that encodes and streams is ancient, crashes all the time, and barely functions when it isn't crashing. I have a new computer that I want to replace it with but I can't begin to know what programs I need to install on it. I know we stream to iheartradio but I have no idea how and no one here seems to either. I think the old station manager left on bad terms and no one here seems to have any support for the station so I am just at a loss as to what to do. I know I'm not giving much information here but I'm just at a place where I don't really know anything and any help would be much appreciated.
 
WXLV said:
Hi All,
So a couple of months ago I was hired as the radio station manager at a community college. I was hired because the building is moving in the direction of a digital media lab, so my expertise is in art and audio production and I have very little radio experience. The station was kind of left in disarray when I came in and I am slowly trying to update and fix everything. The computer that encodes and streams is ancient, crashes all the time, and barely functions when it isn't crashing. I have a new computer that I want to replace it with but I can't begin to know what programs I need to install on it. I know we stream to iheartradio but I have no idea how and no one here seems to either. I think the old station manager left on bad terms and no one here seems to have any support for the station so I am just at a loss as to what to do. I know I'm not giving much information here but I'm just at a place where I don't really know anything and any help would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

First off, did you use to work for WXLV Winston-Salem? I am asking about the username.

Second, what kind of station is this and where?
 
No, haha, actually the station I work at now is called WXLV. Located in Pennsylvania. We stream exclusively on iheartradio, we sold our FM license years ago. Way before I started working here. The station is mostly for educational purposes. It is a resource for the students here at the community college to get real-life experience on a station that actually broadcasts. The facilities are for the most part really nice. I've put a lot of work into updating the system and streamlining everything, which I'm fairly proud of because I came into this knowing little to nothing about radio. Students run all the shows. So we have everything from an EDM show, to classic rock, to obscure studio cuts of songs. When there isn't a student run show we play an automated playlist of a variety of songs that I'm working beefing up a bit. The issue I'm mostly having is I want to replace the computer responsible for encoding and streaming. But it is an absolute fossil of a computer that no one here knows where it came from because the school has never bought a Lenovo. It seems like the software it uses is opticodec-pc by orban. But I have no clue if that is true.
 
WXLV was the former 90.3 in Schnecksville, PA right? Sold to 4 Rivers, now running "Word FM." Used to be a decent metal station in the 80s and 90s if I recall correctly.

Do you know anyone connected with WDIY? They started from scratch about 25 years ago and have come a long way since then. One of their managers might be able to point you in the right direction with regard to streaming infrastructure and station management in general.

Hopefully you have some support from the college budget-wise. I know how tough it can be to navigate the political waters if the station isn't already a priority with the administration. Good luck!
 
Yeah, that's absolutely right about the 90.3. I actually have zero contacts in the radio scene. Like I said I have no experience and was brought in to run the digital media lab and the radio station seems like an afterthought. It's a resource all the professors are excited to have but no one seems to want to put the effort in to maintain it or help me. The IT guys have been pretty helpful but they don't have any experience with radio either. I think the previous station manager kind of did his own thing without telling anyone so now that I'm here I have no clue and no one does either. I will definitely look into WDIY. That would be awesome if they could lend some advice. I do think the school has given me a decent budget but most of it is supposed to go to building up the audio production studio and digital arts lab that is all in the same building.
 
IHeart is slowly switching all of its app stations to a new streaming platform and software, Revma by name, and I'm not sure what their tech support is like. I would look into SecureNet Systems.net. All of their clients are High School, College, and Independent Broadcasters. You get an app all your own, and I'm sure they can help you say buh-bye to IHeart and be able to guide you in steps how to set it all up and maintain things :)
 
Thank you! I will definitely look into Securenet. I am also in contact with the guy who runs the radio at a local state school and he is helping a lot. Thank you all!
 
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