Campcaster is an open source radio management application for use by both small and large radio stations (yes, real radio stations, not internet radio) to schedule radio shows. It provides both live studio broadcast capabilities via a desktop application called Campcaster Studio as well as remote automation via the Campcaster Web interface. Campcaster has networking components that make it easy for affiliated stations to share their content with each other, either over the Internet, or by exporting content to removable media for ground transport. This latter method is necessary in many places where there may be little or no Internet connectivity. You can create mashups with other applications using Campcaster’s XMLRPC interface, which is supported for the audio storage module and the scheduler. Campcaster runs only on Linux.
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“News Factory” software was first developed by Internews Russia in 1999 to help radio and TV stations manage many aspects of their operations, including programme production and advertising schedules. It has evolved since then and Internews estimates that it is in use by some 350 stations around Russia. Another software package, News Exchange, facilitates the online exchange of news and information among stations.
The two packages have apparently been used together to establish low-cost virtual news agencies in Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
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There is not much information on the site, but Dialup Radio claims to have been specifically designed for use by human rights activists in the deveoping world, with particular attention to security and keeping costs down. From the brief description, I think it could also be used as an alternative distribution method for radio news where stations don’t have access to the internet, but do have a telephone. They would simply call the (open source Asterisk) tepehony server and “order” news from a menu of options.
“Dialup Radio is a tool that distributes human rights and independent media via telephone. Brief radio-style audio files are uploaded and managed via the Dialup Radio website. These files are immediately available to callers who phone the project phone number. Our software automatically generates interactive voice response (IVR) menus that enable callers to naviage audio content using their telephone keypads. Dialup radio works with any telephone, and can be adopted for a variety of activist campaigns.”
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I am convinced that Frontline SMS or something similar should be part of an essential toolkit for rural radio stations within the footprint of a mobile telephone signal.
Frontline SMS is a text messaging system “conceived, designed and written firmly with the needs of the non-profit sector in mind”. Basically it is an SMS management and broadcast system that runs on a computer connected to a mobile phone with a data cable. All you need to do is insert a SIM card and you broadcast SMS messages to your listeners and classify and process messages received from them.
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