Are you interested in getting on the airwaves without the commitment of an on-going program? Maybe you want to produce something off-topic from your regularly scheduled program? Perhaps you just want to help out where you can? Look no further! We have volunteer opportunities on the program schedule just for you!
Radiozines and AudioPilots are one-off pieces of programming or even limited series. As opposed to the regularly scheduled programs that come with certain responsibilities.
AudioPilots encompass DJ sets, radio theater, comedy, sonic art, poetry, and all things music, arts, and culture! AudioPilots can range from 1 hour to 3 hours in 30 minute increments.
Radiozines are the Public Affairs-centered alternative, where volunteers create a stand-alone episode in the talk radio format. Radiozines are often 28 minutes or 58 minutes long.
AudioPilots and Radiozines are a great way to test the airwaves and/or help fill holes in the program schedule!
You can think of them as either special programming or substitution programming.
If You are New to Airwaves
To be qualified to create broadcast content, you'll need to meet the following certifications:
-Volunteer Orientation (More information Here)
-Sign the Volunteer Agreement
-Take FCC Basics: Legal Issues in Radio
-Sign the On-Air Contract
Next steps
The next step to getting on the air will vary depending on whether you plan to produce your AudioPilot/Radiozine remotely, in the KBOO Production Studios, or broadcast live.
You can sign up for the additional trainings listed below on Galaxy.
➪If you are producing your piece remotely and already know how edit audio from home, you are ready for broadcast!
Optional Training: Audio Editing with Audacity - Email Program@kboo.org to request a one-on-one training
➪If you are interested in preproducing your piece from the KBOO studios, please sign up for Introduction to Studio Production.
➪If you are interested in live broadcasting your AudioPilot/Radiozine, please sign up for Board Operator Training. (Introduction to Studio Production is a prerequisite)
Scheduling your AudioPilot/Radiozine
1.) Reach out to our program staff with the following details:
- Is the piece live or preproduced
- If live, what is your availability in the coming weeks?
- desired timeslot duration
- topic/genre
- Clean or explicit
This will help determine scheduling. The Programming team will coordinate the date/time of the broadcast with you.
2.) Provide a blurb about the episode and an episode title. It can be a sentence or multiple paragraphs! This will allow us to promote it on the website! You are also welcome to share a photo to go on the episode page. However, the photo must be copyright free.
-Pro Tips: create a graphic yourself on canva or paints! Or use a royalty free image search tool! (Be sure to provide the text that credits the creator)
-Feel free to share the episode link on social media! You can Tag KBOO to amplify your audience.
Better yet, if you are capable of making an episode page yourself, we are happy to provide you with a KBOO website account!
Submitting a Preproduced AudioPilot/Radiozine
Submit the audio file to this google form. Please note that you need to select which folder to drop your file into. One is for Clean audio, the other is for Explicit - Safeharbor content that air between 10pm and 6am.
File specifications for Preproduced AudioPilots/Radiozines:
- File Types: WAV, MP3, or FLAC
-Include a Legal ID in the opening remarks, as well as at the top of every hour for longer pieces. "K-B-O-O Portland"
- Longer Files can be broken into 1-hour chunks. This can make it easier for us to broadcast it multiple times in the future.
- File Duration for Radiozines: The program should be less than 2 minutes of the allotted timeslot.
- i.e. A 30 minute program should be a 28 minute file
- File Duration for AudioPilots: The file should be the full duration of the allotted timeslot, however the last 5 minutes should be music. This is to account for the file potentially being cut off at the end of the timeslot by the announcements at the top of the hour.
-Name the audio file accordingly:
- Broadcast Date_Broadcast Time_AudioPilot/Radiozine_Kill Date/Evergreen_Episode Name__(clean/Explicit)_Your Name
i.e. 7_28_24 10 PM AudioPilot Evergreen Hip Hop Soul Music (Explicit) - DJ Jazzy Jeff
i.e. 11_01_24 11 AM Radiozine 11_29_24 Interview with Jane Doe (Clean) - Joe Schmoe
- If you coordinated with a staff person in advance, they should let you know the broadcast date, However an AudioPilot/Radiozine can always be scheduled after submission too. In that case, label the date as the date of submission.
- The Episode Name can be whatever you like! This just helps us identify the file easier
- "Evergreen" means that the audio contains no mentions of dates, current/upcoming events, timely references etc. So it can be played again in the future.
- i.e. A music set that contains back announcing with no timely references.
- If the file contains timely references, please note a kill date. This will allow us to potentially broadcast the episode multiple times before it becomes outdated.
- i.e. A piece that includes a timely interview about an upcoming event
Producing a Live AudioPilot/Radiozine
If it's your first time on the air, we'll make sure that there is a staff person in the building to help you out if anything goes awry.
Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions!
For AudioPilot, contact program@kboo.org
For Radiozine, contact publicaffairs@kboo.org
