M2: Explain the processes and technologies involved in producing a radio broadcast

 

Digital Cartwall. 

What is a digital cartwall?

A Cart Wall is an immediate audio player in the form of a square 'wall.' Each square is assigned a sound (of your choosing). You get to pick the colour and how it's labelled. When you click the square with your mouse, the audio begins playing immediately.

A Cart Wall is suitable for the second studio computer since it is played over a separate audio channel on the mixer. Alternatively, certain cart walls are included as part of a radio automation package and are routed to a different channel on the mixer through the software's second output. This is done so that it may be operated independently.

Most cart wall systems allow you to create a variety of 'walls' and save them under different names (eg: Breakfast 1, Drive, Weekend).

While all cart walls make it simple to begin playing audio, stopping varies depending on the technology. Some systems need you to use a stop key on the side; others require you to click on the square a second time to halt playing — some will stop immediately, while others will fade away.

The cart wall is highly handy for music intros, music stings, humorous sound effects, music beds that play over the announcer's speech, and any other case that requires quick audio.

What is a playlist?

A playlist is a collection of music that will be played. These songs might be chosen depending on their popularity. The songs may fall within a certain format, such as Urban.

Radio stations have a core playlist from which they select tunes. For example, during the Christmas season, BBC radio 4playlist may include one hundred festive tunes.

When the holidays are over, the station will return to its more extensive core roster of up to 4000 songs.

A radio station has a "tight playlist" if it has a tiny number of songs in its primary playlist, for example, a couple of hundreds.

What is digital playout system?

A contemporary radio station's playout system is its beating heart. It is (often) a computer system that is used to record, store, and play all audio content for your radio station.

Radio stations all across the world are adopting new technology, and automated playout systems are the backbone of practically every station, from hospital and community to local, regional, and national. Stations can broadcast without people in the studio by using a computer automation system. With the relatively low cost of hard drives these days, it’s economical for stations to store literally hundreds of hours of material (play-list tracks, interviews, documentaries etc.) on a computer programmed to broadcast the material when the station isn’t staffed.

Automated playout systems are making presenters' lives simpler; no more searching through record collections for the tunes they require and having to re-arrange all those LPs and CDs. The playout technology also lowers the cost of employee wage bills because less on-air staff is necessary during unsociable hours. This can also be a disadvantage in that young fresh presenters are unable to gain on-air experience because the show is now controlled by automation.