09/05/2023
URGENT - OLDIES PARADISE AND EASY ROCK PARADISE – STREAMING PROBLEMS
As you may be aware, we have had streaming problems on both services over the past couple of months.
Unfortunately, despite looking at the problems from all angles there does not appear to be an easy fix which does not include significant cost issues for both stations.
Oldies Paradise has been running for over 10 years now and Easy Rock Paradise for around 8 years. In the lifespans of typical Internet Radio Stations lives, these are very long lives. Not only that, but, in terms of listenership both stations have performed extremely well over the years.
However, underneath all of this there has been a continuous problem in that there are zero resources (I run everything single handed from the Music to the Computers and I.T. on to the Streaming side of thing for both stations). It is a 24 hour, 365 days a year operation and there are no breaks and no cover. On holidays, I have ended up remote controlling the stations from thousands of miles away, when I should be getting a much needed break.
Now, the problem is, I am 70 years old later this Summer. This is a time of your life when most people think about attacking their “Bucket Lists” and doing something different. In parallel with that, the human body and brain is not as good at handling the stress and the challenges as it was and it is screaming out for a slower pace of life!
In addition to this, I pay for everything and neither station has ever taken advertising or asked for donations from listeners. By running our own servers and doing everything in house, survival has been achieved over the lives of both stations. BUT, there is no money in the pot for additional costs. Plus, I do not want to take money off listeners as I can not guarantee the stations will continue and people expect if they give money it will be rewarded with the stations staying on air.
So, this matter needs thinking about!
In the short term, as a last attempt to stop the skipping and jumping on the streams, the previous 3 streams for each station (a 128k stereo stream, a 320k High Quality Stream and a 64k AAC Low Bandwidth stream will be replaced by a single 128k Stereo Stream. Doing this seems to help the problem (fingers crossed). However, it has brought complaints from listeners who have lost their favoured stream.
I apologise for this, but it is the only answer without spending significant extra money every month (which I don’t have).
Hopefully, all listeners will seamlessly switch across to the main 128k Stereo stream. This is the one already carried on TuneIn and the Web Page Audio Player. Switches of streams often lose listeners and if that is the case and the audience takes a serious reduction, this will have to be weighed into my thinking about the future. That thinking also includes, potential significant changes in the station outputs that would reduce my workload.
Thanks for your support over the years. Hopefully, the reduction to one stream per station will solve the current problem, if not and the streaming problems continue, then I have no answer. I have no money to throw at the problem or the time to devote massive chunks of my time on an endless search to find the cause!
Mark Stafford
Station Manager
Oldies Paradise and Easy Rock Paradise
