I have been listening to cassettes of shows Tracy and I have done recently to throw together a best-of show for Labor Day. In the listening back, I have discovered three things.
1 - I hate my voice.
2 - My laugh is awful, pathetic, and makes me want to vomit.
3 - If you record on one cassette about a hundred times, the sound quality is putrid.
Some of the stuff we've done has been mildly amusing, but unfortunately due to the great audio quality, it sounds like we're broadcasting from a lo-fidelity time warp.
How can this problem be fixed? Easily! Buy more audio-cassettes and don't reuse them. My previous employer has cassette copies of almost every show he's done in the past fifteen years. So, I asked the fine corporation of Cumulus to purchase a box of a hundred cassettes for us. A seemingly standard request, with a cost of around $50 to $75.
That was around a month ago. Since then I have found out that the station requires DJs to buy their own cassettes for airchecks - which is lame, but not awful as they don't need to keep more than a few days at a time. However, since we only currently have the four that Tracy found lying around the station, we currently have no ability to keep anything we do for longer than a week. When you factor in the lack of studio time that is often a problem (leaving us to record over things we wanted to keep), you can see why I might get frustrated.
So, the conclusion? Our show is worth less than $100 more to the station. I guess that means I got almost every last penny out of them during contract talks... but if that's the case, there ain't many pennies lying around.
Just when I finish complaining about how little love I get at work, Duane, our engineer, comes through. Duane scratches together 3 weeks of minidiscs for us, allowing us to now record our show in a digital format and archive it for at least a little while. What does that mean for you, the home reader? Almost nothing.
Well, almost. Now, with the track indexing of minidiscs, it will be much easier to pull "best of" segments. Also, it will be much easier to post audio from the show to prove to everyone that I am actually gainfully employed. Like, starting tomorrow.
I've been trying to upgrade the photo gallery, because the new version allows for catergorizing of audio, but I've run into quite the buzzsaw trying to fight it off. We'll see.
But, thank you, Duane. It seems that, much like in the armed forces, you're not doing it for your boss or the company, but instead for your fellow worker. We must stick together to get things done, because if it were attempted through the proper channels it never would get done. It's almost like we're not on the same team.
P.S. I also put some google ads on the front page to see if that might turn out okay. I presume no one cares now, but that's not why they're there. With a little bit of luck, this whole radio thing might become successful, drawing listeners to the site and hopefully I can make a few bucks off them. Literally, a few bucks.
P.P.S. I also just added a Google search on my site that allows you to search the site or the entire web from my page. A revolutionary feature? No. Cool other gadget? Yes.
I had hoped to have set up the new audio file organizer by now, but it looks like I'll have to wait until later in the week. However, I promised some audio, and that I give unto you.
The audio quality is awful (see earlier post about how we were recording the show on cassette), but the story is mildly amusing. Big laughs? Not really. Mild amusement? Hopefully. Enjoy.
All Hail the Cat Lady
For those of you new to the game, the other voice is Tracy, my co-host.
I'm still working out the kinks, but it looks like I can post audio to the picture gallery now. While this may seem a little counter-intuitive, it works out well as an organizational structure for storing the audio files I generate at work. This way, I can post them with a little comment and not have to delve into the HTML all that much. Plus, you can rate them or comment on them as well as browse or search them. Good times.
My first test is an okay bit that happened when a credit card solicitor called us up at the station and we just talked to them for a little. Tell me if you get it to work, how easy you find the interface, etc.
Then audio is located here.
The album is located here.
Much will change in the next week or so, but I wanted to see what you all thought.
