Broadcastify Questions and Answers

[blantonl]

I'd like to use this thread to answer questions that the community has about Broadcastify and the upcoming transition. If you aren't aware of what I'm talking about, please see this announcement.

Coming soon, Broadcastify.com

I would ask everyone to let myself and the broadcast administration team answer the questions. Additionally, please keep all posts in this thread related to a question and answer discussion only. We are going to stay away from debating policy and procedure for now.

Feel free to ask away.... once we get a common set of questions and answers in the thread I'll summarize them in this post.

Thanks!

Current Q&A Summary

How is Broadcastify actually pronounced?

Pronounced: "Broadcast-a-fy"

How will the live audio forums work related to feeds (admin, listener, streaming etc)?

As for the forums - we don't have plans to roll out discussion forums on Broadcastify, but we'll continue to have the forums on RadioReference for topics all related to Live Audio Broadcasting. Support for listeners and broadcasters will be done on a one on one basis and through a knowledge-base.

Will the broadcasting software remain the same?

Yes. No action will need to be taken by feed providers - the transition will happen automatically.

"Unlimited continuous listening times". Does that just mean that the feeds will not time out after a certain time or is there a limit to how long they can listen?

Those who are in their Web browsers and not Broadcastify premium subscribers will be limited to 2 hours of continuous listening time before they will be required to reload the page. All other clients (mobile, etc) will remain unlimited. Broadcastify Premium subscribers will have unlimited continuous listening via all mediums.

Additionally, listening to feeds on Broadcastify will always remain free to everyone.

Will current feed providers have to manually transition over?

No action will need to be taken by feed providers - the transition will happen automatically.

Will feed providers receive a free premium subscription on Broadcastify.com?

Yes. Feed providers will always receive a free premium subscription on Broadcastify.com, however free premium subscriptions on RadioReference.com are being discontinued for feed providers.

Will feed providers receive a free premium subscription on RadioReference?

No. RadioReference and Broadcastify will function as two entirely separate entities after the transition, therefore we are discontinuing free premium subscriptions on RadioReference.com for live audio feed provider.

However, we will grant all active feed providers a free 90 day premium subscription on RadioReference.com when the transition occurs on Oct 15th.

Will all current RR accounts (including non-premium and non-feed providers) automatically transfer over to Broadcastify, no re-registration required?

We will only transition accounts that have active premium subscriptions on 10/15, and accounts belonging to feed providers. Those users will be able to immediately login to the site. Everyone else will need to reregister.

We're taking this approach because we don't want to transition 620,000 user accounts to a new service where the users potentially doesn't want to have an account created for them on that service. However, we need to honor premium subscriptions and get feed provider's accounts moved over, thus our approach outlined above.

Will all live feed links (including the audio servers) automatically redirect to Broadcastify for a certain period of time, until the software and app developers can get up to speed and change everything over from RR to Broadcastify, and feed providers can change any links they have on websites? How long do you anticipate the redirects will remaining valid for?

All live audio links, players, APIs, etc currently in place will either continue to function normally, or automatically redirect to Broadcastify. I would anticipate that to remain in place through the end of the year.

Will there be any change as far as the integration of the Live Audio on RR? Specifically, the Live Audio tab on the main navbar (along with sublinks to Top Feeds, Official Feeds, Alerts, etc), and especially the Live Audio tabs on the state/county pages. Will we still have the "one stop shopping" we have now when visiting a county page, where we can see the frequencies and see what live streams are available for each county?

All live audio integration on RadioReference.com will be removed and transitioned to Broadcastify.com. That includes the menus, nav bar, live audio pages etc.

However, we will include a link on RadioReference to each county and state page on Broadcastify to allow RadioReference users to navigate directly to audio feeds from the respective county and state pages in the RadioReference database.

Will there be any promotion of RR on Broadcastify, such as if you're looking at a list of audio feeds for ABC County, will there be a link back to that county's database page on RR for those who are interested in local listening?

There will be a lot of cross promotion between the two services, especially in the early phases of the launch.

What, if anything, is going to happen to the My Favorite Audio Feeds section of RR Home? Will RR premium members still be able to have their favorites feeds on their RR home page after the change?

This page will go away. We will most likely migrate current favorite page settings to Broadcastify's new favorite feeds page that we plan on implementing on Broadcastify.

[richtidd]

Questions from a feed provider :
I am a premium subscriber here on RR. I know that I will be granted free premium subscription on broadcastify until my Premium on RR runs out, but then is the Broadcastify premium subscription something that I HAVE to renew seperately from my RR subscription, or is it the same. What I mean is, if I am a Premium subsciber on RR does that mean that I am also granted free premium on Broadcastify.
If I wanted to continue my Premium subscription on RR, but not on broadcastify (if broadcastify subscription is seperately from my RR subscription), could I do that?
So in short, after my intial free subscription on broadcastify expires am I forced to renew it, or can I just continue to be an RR premium subscriber.
Are there even going to be premium RR subscriptions anymore?
If the premium price for RR goes up you will probably lose my business.
I can't justify paying $84 for broadcastify and still paying for RR.
If I can continue to be a premium subscriber to RR only...GREAT.

Answer from Lindsay:
You will have to renew your Broadcastify subscription separately. RadioReference premium subscriptions are completely separate from Broadcastify premium subscriptions.

While the $6.95/month cost looks expensive, it actually provides much greater flexibility to subscribers because it is a monthly cost, and a LOT of subscribers who are just looking for audio archives don't renew. We're saving them money since they don't have to commit to a $15 or $30 subscription. Those that do renew for audio access are typically very heavy users of the audio platform and review the archives all the time for incidents etc. There are also thousands of listeners daily that literally park their computers on streams 24 hours a day. That is primarily the target market for the premium subscription on Broadcastify.

[bbrown77]

Any plans to allow weather radio feeds?

[blantonl]

Originally Posted by bbrown77

Any plans to allow weather radio feeds?

At this point in time, my answer would be "not now." Wunderground.com provides a platform for weather radio feeds and we've always directed folks who want to provide a weather radio feed to them. Thanks!

Edit: just to add, you can see Wunderground's feed listing for weather radios here:

http://www.wunderground.com/wxradio/index.html

[bbrown77]

Originally Posted by blantonl

At this point in time, my answer would be "not now." Wunderground.com provides a platform for weather radio feeds and we've always directed folks who want to provide a weather radio feed to them. Thanks!

Edit: just to add, you can see Wunderground's feed listing for weather radios here:

Wunder Radio Directory | Weather Underground

Yes, I provided a feed there too, just not real impressed with their platform. Thanks for answering though.

[mjbjr]

Whats the difference in official feed and regular feed?

[Destin362]

Will the Broadcastify live audio feeds still be acessable in the ScannerLive program from RR? ...

ScannerLive For Windows PCs Now Available!

ScannerLive

[kendrik578]

Originally Posted by mjbjr

Whats the difference in official feed and regular feed?

An "official" feed is a feed provided by an actual agency that has asked to have their feed marked as such. A regular feed is a feed you or I provide.

[mjbjr]

Thanks.

[blantonl]

Originally Posted by Destin362

Will the Broadcastify live audio feeds still be acessable in the ScannerLive program from RR? ...

ScannerLive For Windows PCs Now Available!

ScannerLive

Yes, all the feeds will be accessible from Scanner Live when the transition occurs. Great application BTW, I use it often!

[Bellingham_Scanner]

After reading all the Broadcastify threads with all the complaining and threats to stop providing feeds due to new costs, I am confused.

Here is my question:

Will I have to pay anything to provide my feed to Broadcastify?

[richtidd]

Originally Posted by Bellingham_Scanner

After reading all the Broadcastify threads with all the complaining and threats to stop providing feeds due to new costs, I am confused.

Here is my question:

Will I have to pay anything to provide my feed to Broadcastify?

NO. Please see above.

[LYNJ_OEM3298]

Currently for a Premium audio feed under the Premium tag Archive Options. Current premium providers have the option to select and if necessary (as directed by Audio Administrator) adjust audio archiving trim time. As you know the trim audio feature will removes any dead air time from the audio feed archives.
With what I have read in the initial posting about the "Broadcastify" this trim option will now only be available to "Official Feeds"? Or will premium feed still have this feature?

Thank You,

Ken N

[blantonl]

Originally Posted by Jersey_Ken

Currently for a Premium audio feed under the Premium tag Archive Options. Current premium providers have the option to select and if necessary (as directed by Audio Administrator) adjust audio archiving trim time. As you know the trim audio feature will removes any dead air time from the audio feed archives.
With what I have read in the initial posting about the "Broadcastify" this trim option will now only be available to "Official Feeds"? Or will premium feed still have this feature?

Thank You,

Ken N

We aren't going to have any premium feed broadcaster offering on Broadcastify. All providers will broadcast for free. Right now we're only going to make audio trimming available to official feeds. The reason is the processing power required to offer it to 3000+ feeds is enormous - even to the point that it out weighs the cost savings and benefits we would see by storing reduced size MP3 files.

So the answer is, at launch, we're not going to have audio trimming widely available.

[nyemt774]

Lindsay...I know you've already answered a question about scannerlive, but I have one more. I use Scannerlive on my PC. It receives uninterrupted feeds right now. According to your presser, without a premium subscription, Windows would have to be reset every 2 hrs on each feed. Will that happen with Scannerlive after the switchover???

Thanks!!!
Scott Allen

[blantonl]

Originally Posted by nyemt774

Lindsay...I know you've already answered a question about scannerlive, but I have one more. I use Scannerlive on my PC. It receives uninterrupted feeds right now. According to your presser, without a premium subscription, Windows would have to be reset every 2 hrs on each feed. Will that happen with Scannerlive after the switchover???

Thanks!!!
Scott Allen

That will not happen with Scanner Live.

The only location that will happen will be when using the Web pop-up flash player. Also, it's not resetting windows, it is just having to refresh the window and reconnect. And... we probably won't implement that restriction until a bit after the transition over to Broadcastify.

[blantonl]

I've removed some previous posts because some are moving into the realm of debating policy decisions. Please stick to the spirit of the thread, which is to answer questions from providers and listeners about the upcoming transition.

[avsfan33]

Why can't the feed provider's account on broadcastify be link to their account on RR?

This is not a question about policy decisions. Myself and many others want to know why it can't be done.

But then again you prob will just delete this post just like my other one with a similar question.

[blantonl]

Originally Posted by avsfan33

Why can't the feed provider's account on broadcastify be link to their account on RR?

The reason is because Broadcastify and RadioReference will be run as two entirely separate businesses and entities.

[wyomingmedic]

I have read this several times, and I'm still not getting it I guess.

As a feed provider, I currently get some premium membership to RR. I don't really know the benefits of a premium membership, but good deal anyway.

Once the transition happens with Broadcastify, my RR premium membership will only have 90 days left at which time it will be cancelled unless I pay for the premium membership.

I will then get a membership to Broadcastify which will give me some random benefits, but is worth $6.95 a month.

I won't have to change my feed equipment or software. The transition will happen automagically.

Listeners will still be able to listen to my feed, but it will be through the broadcastify website. Do they have to pay?

If any of the above is incorrect, please educate me


More questions however. As far as my listeners are concerned, how will they find my feed? Can they come to RR and there will be a link, or do I have to re-train them?

What are the benefits to a Broadcastify membership? I read that I can listen to archives (Don't know who would do that anyway)? What is drawing listeners in to pay $80 a year? If they can hear the feeds for free, what is the benefit?

Thanks,
Brad