One of the many tools at our staff’s disposal is our Audio Logger. This tool records all station content for later review, a must-have tool for any radio station. This tool helps our air staff review their performance and make improvements on their delivery, provides a resource for answering listener questions, provides confirmation of Business Sponsorship reads, and helps the tech team to troubleshoot issues with our broadcast automation, broadcast transmission, and streaming services.

There are many off the shelf solutions available for this need as well as a tremendous amount of do it yourself solutions shared among the broadcast technical community. When I started at WCQS we had a limited solution that only recorded the on-air studio host microphone. The usefulness of this was limited to the on-air host reviewing their sound but did not provide the additional benefits needed. At that time (2016) I spent several weeks researching options-both do it yourself and off the shelf. In the course of this research I stumbled upon mAirList Audio Logger several pages deep in a Google search. I installed the free demo and found it to be the best solution for our specific needs and technical setup. I reached out to them to get a quote and asked for a discount due to our non profit status. Upon response, they expressed surprise that I had even found them with most all of their clients being in Europe, and they also offered a generous discount for us.

This week we have fully reinstalled the audio logger in our new virtual environment and fully integrated it into our new studio systems we transitioned to early this year. We updated to the newest version offered (fully provided by mAirList at no cost) and improved the quality and history of recordings. In our new configuration we record both BPR News and BPR Classic program out, BPR News 107.9 and BPR Classic 88.1 over the air and BPR News & BPR Classic streaming. Each one provides specific information with specific values. We now have a 90 day history of all recordings.

  • Program out recording is the last point of distribution in our studios just before our Emergency Alert Systems. This is the best source for our air staff to use for review of their delivery, for answering listener questions, and trouble shooting issues with our broadcast automation.
  • Over the air recording provides the tech team with recordings of our actual broadcast. This is useful for verifying if our Emergency Alert System is working as well as trouble shooting issues with our broadcast chain and equipment.
  • Streaming recording provides the tech team with recordings of our streaming broadcast for trouble shooting. We also utilize the silence detection tool in mAirList to provide us with notification if our streaming service is interrupted.

Having the three different recordings is an invaluable tool for the tech team. We can quickly compare recordings and narrow down issues to specific areas of our audio chain.

A great aspect of our Audio Logger is the simplicity of the web interface for our staff. It is easy to chose the recording source and find the date and time needed. This is a great improvement on the folder of files with cryptic names our older system provided.

Audio Logger Web Interface

Audio Logger Web Interface

After reading this we expect some of our listeners might get excited at the idea of having access to this site and/or the files it produces. Sadly due to a multitude of copyright issues we cannot share this site with the general public nor can we provide the files produced. We have to use our official public digital distribution system to provide recordings to our listeners to maintain compliance with copyright regulation. We are continually making improvements to our digital distribution systems and we will have some exciting improvements in the coming months.