KZFR Gazette - Winter 2011

 The Gazette is KZFR's in-house newsletter for informing programmers and volunteers about developments at the station.  This has historically been sent out by email, but we're beginning to post these on the web also.

Notes From your GM

StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. The StoryCorps Mobile Recording Booth will be in Chico and Oroville from February 10th through March 19th. In Chico (2/10-3/5) the Booth will be parked at City Plaza and in Oroville (3/7-3/19) in Muni Lot A downtown. This is a big deal for us and we are proud to welcome the project to our area. More info at kzfr.org.

Programming: please identify the station more often. Gone are the days when the FM dial had just a few stations. We are on the air in a very crowded, very loud, and much fractured FM dial. No one knows what they are listening to unless you tell them. Long sets of music without a station id are counterproductive. How about an ID every 10-12 minutes? Simple quick id's won't even seem like an interruption, yet will accomplish a lot. Try it.

Those doing talk shows have a similar obligation to identify the station and "reset" your interview or subject very 8 minutes or so. Something like: "It's the 'Point Is' on 90.1 KZFR, I'm Sue, we're on the phone with Mr. XX talking about XX. Mr. XX what about...?" Simple, effective and it covers everything. It's also a tool to gain new listeners. What if someone tunes in during the middle of a long conversation, they need to know what you're talking about in order to stick around.

Upcoming Events

Cafe R&B at ARC: Feb 12th
Maria Muldaur at The Palms: 3/5
Direct listeners to buy Blues Bash tickets directly from the KZFR Website!

Tentative dates for Spring Membership Drive: 3/28-4/8

Bocce Ball: 5/15

Please volunteer to help at these events.

Thanks for your continuing dedication and passion for Community Radio at KZFR. We couldn't do it without you.
-- Rick Anderson

Operations Coordinator

Automation, the antithesis of Community Radio, right? Well, maybe not entirely. Over the end-of-the-year holidays, we experimented with automating some timeslots to allow programmers involved to be free to enjoy the holidays. By using pre-recorded content we were able to broadcast without programmer assistance. The pre-recorded content was not all produced outside of KZFR. Underwriting statements, station IDS and even regular KZFR programs were all pre-recorded and played back on the computer. Except for no one here to answer the phone, it was business as usual.

If your program style can support it, I urge you to have "one in the can" for those times when you just can't make it in to do your show... it's much easier than trying to find a sub on short notice. Either Mojohito or I can show you how easy it is to do.
-- John Dubois

Community Radio in the Digital Age

As personal computers and internet-enabled mobile phones become commonplace, the ways listeners find attractive content is changing rapidly. Alongside radio, listeners can choose from music downloads, podcasts, and of course internet streaming. In fact, new listeners often don't use radio as a primary source for music and information! At the same time, people access websites not just for basic information, but to interact with one another and their favorite celebrities. However have no fear, as KZFR is at the cutting edge of new internet technologies - we can find new and innovative ways to share our grassroots community message with more new listeners!

The recently redesigned website at KZFR.org has received critical acclaim among the industry: KZFR has one of the very best community radio station websites on the internet today! Each programmer has a custom profile page, where you can update your bio, photo, and show description. Each programmer has a blog for their program, allowing you to publish show notes and receive comments from listeners. Any visitor may register and post community events. The site is polished and ready to go - what it needs is your support! Please login to your KZFR.org account, update your profile, and make a blog post. Please mention the website on the air, and encourage listeners to visit. We have a great website - and we can use it to build community!

KZFR is also active in popular social networking communities Twitter and Facebook. Please visit the KZFR Facebook page to add notes and interact with listeners. We are recruiting Twitterers! If you would like to post station-related tweets to the KZFR Twitter account, please contact Technical Director Mojohito to gain access.

Our internal communications technology is strong also: KZFR is using a robust new service for email which includes calendering, document sharing, voice chat and many more features. These features are available to any KZFR programmer; contact Mojohito to have an account set up.

One of the major technical initiatives for KZFR is to diversify our content streams. In addition to our 90.1 FM broadcast frequency, KZFR simultaneously broadcasts a real-time internet stream, accessible via the website; this stream was recently upgraded to have a higher quality and more listening slots. Please mention this on the air and direct listeners to the stream. Projects in the work now are to enable internet archiving of individual programs, as well as podcasts of popular current affairs programming. Future plans are to prepare a training program for internet broadcasting, producing podcasts, and publishing on-demand audio content via the web. Using the internet, KZFR can have more than 24 hours in a broadcast day!

Using these developing technologies, KZFR can strengthen and increase our listenership, but it takes the cooperation and support of everyone at KZFR to foster adoption of these innovative new tools. If you ever have questions or comments, please get in touch with Technical Director Mojohito at mojohito@kzfr.org or 530-895-0706 x105

References:
KZFR Programmers Page: http://www.kzfr.org/programmers
KZFR on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kzfrchico
KZFR on Twitter: http://twitter.com/kzfr
Contact Mojohito, KZFR Technical Director:mojohito@kzfr.org 530-895-0706 x105