Do you know you could start a Radio or FM Station in Ghana for "Free"?

Let's cut the costs to the barest minimum.... 

This blog will give you guidance and links to resources that will help you start or manage an online FM station at virtually no cost.

This will help Journalists, DJs, Producers, Presenters and any group interested in using Open Source Tools. Remember that the expensive software you buy for programming, streaming, editing audio, creating voice overs, collaboration and so on have OSS alternatives, in most cases capable of more functionalities than the proprietary ones.

This statement captures my aim for this blog:
"All you ever needed to run an FM-radio, but never dared to ask for OSS / Free Software: studio automation, scheduling etc.''

The basic necessary elements are: (source: sourceforge.net)

• A practical way to move either already digital or digitized sound into the radio stations repertoire
  
• An audio editor to cut, mix etc. the digitized audio
  
• A database of information about the soundfiles in the repertoire
  
• A scheduler that produces a playlist according to the rules set by the clock editor
  
• A clock editor that sets the rules for the scheduler
  
• An interface for the djs / presenters in the on-air-studio
  
• Software that plays the digital audio in the sequence that the playlist prescribes - either fully unattended, or under control by the djs / presenters. It has to be able to play at least two files simultaneously, needed for radiolike crossfades at the end of one audiofile, when the next starts.
  

NB

1. A website, blogs and social media will help you to promote the online radio. Take a serious look at how to do that the “OSS way” clue: Drupal, Wordpress, google blog
2. Check with National Communications Authority, now under MOC for relevant regulation and registration.

One useful free software for starters is Airtime, used by many across the world. See https://www.sourcefabric.org/en/airtime/whosusing/
Brief on the free Airtime Open Source Software

• Airtime is an award-winning, open source radio automation software. Both Airtime and Airtime Pro let you upload audio, build and schedule shows.
  
• You can integrate Airtime with a full live playout tool like Mixxx to broadcast live.
  
• Airtime's intuitive interface lets you drag and drop shows for simple programming.
  
• Organise and collaborate with producers, DJs and programmers, wherever they are via any browser.
  
• Stream direct to Icecast or SHOUTcast, and show what's playing with widgets.
  
• Airtime provides a graph of current and past listeners
  

https://www.sourcefabric.org/en/airtime/
See more below
Free Radio FM/AM Applications
(Need something not listed here or if link is broken? Simply visit http://sourceforge.net/ and search)

Name	Description
ARAS - A Radio Automation System ARAS is an open source radio automation system. ARAS manages all radio programming	ARAS is an open source radio automation system. ARAS manages all radio programming flexibly and it can play a variety of media formats, as well as media streams over internet. It is suitable for both small and big radio stations
Airtime Open source broadcast automation software for scheduling and playout	Airtime lets you take total control of your radio station via the web with intelligent archive management, powerful search, an easy playlist builder, a simple scheduling calendar and rock-solid automated playout. Features include Smart Blocks, live assist modes, WAV, FLAC, AAC, MP3 and OGG support, fades, cues, playlists, programme calendar, Icecast, Shoutcast and Soundcloud integration
RadioOnline	No description
StreamTuner2 ♪♬# Internet radio directory browser	Streamtuner2 is an internet radio browser, listing music stations per genre. It can browse the Shoutcast directory, MyOggRadio, Live365, Xiph.org, Jamendo, InternetRadio.com, TuneIn, SurfMusic, iCast, iTunes Radio, ModArchive, YouTube. It mimics StreamTuner 0.99.99, but is an independent rewrite in Python.
JT65-HF-HB9HQX-Edition Amateur Radio software for transmission/reception of JT65 protocol.	Amateur Radio software for transmission/reception of JT65 protocol on HF bands 2m - 160m. Important note: The JT65 encoding and decoding routines, also used in WSJT
	Need something not listed here or if link is broken? Simply visit http://sourceforge.net/ and search

Other useful tools to facilitate your work

Use	Name & Link
Multitrack harddisk recorder and editor	Audacity, the GNU GPL multiplatform (linux, freebsd, windows, macos, osx) multitrack (unlimited tracks) harddiskeditor / -recorder Tsunami Audio Editor Multitrack audio editor. An audio editor optimized for recording and manipulating multiple tracks with an easy user interface. DVD audio Tools A set of tools for authoring and playback of unencrypted and uncompressed audio on DVD-Audio eSpeak: speech synthesis Text to Speech engine for English and many other languages. Compact size with clear but artificial pronunciation. Available as a command-line program with many options, a shared library for Linux, and a Windows SAPI5 version.
Realtime mp3-mixer	Emixer DBMix (Wow!!!) GDAM mixplayd
Production & on-air-studio(s)	Emixer SongCue
Players, Rippers & managers	Paloma DigitalDJ Mp3 Commander The GlobeCom Jukebox Jukebox VLC Media Cast Xtreme Media Player Internet DJ Console
Logger & scheduler	Activity Logger Quick and simple tool to help keep track of what you working on. Semantic Logger This project attempts to create a logger that stores in RDF format in the database.
	Need something not listed here or if link is broken? Simply visit http://sourceforge.net/ and search

NB URLs might change but the name of the application / software will help you search. 
If you see something interesting and it's OpenSource, talk to me about it. If it helps people and promotes freedom, I'm interested- Thanks for reading.
Pastor Prince Kpasra
kpasra@gmail.com 
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