Somewhere between writing a horror novel, mailing signed books, and getting ready to talk about all of it on the news, I appear to have reported for duty aboard the Enterprise. I have a turquoise computer, a working radio studio, and a stack of Star Trek tapes. Apparently, that is how you get promoted around here.
There has been quite a bit happening with Midnight Radio. The good kind. The kind that makes you stop, look around, and think, Well, damn. We’re really doing this.
My home and my people
Whitney Hodgin at High Plains Public Radio sent me an email titled “Good news!” I appreciate a subject line that gets straight to the point.
Our November 5 Childress Public Library benefit has been selected for HPPR’s Events of the Week. It will be featured on Tuesday, November 3, and Wednesday, November 4, at 6:29 a.m., 8:29 a.m., and 5:29 p.m. Central each day.
Six announcements. That is six chances for somebody to hear about our library and decide to come visit.
Whitney included a coverage map. When I opened it, I saw my home and my people. That was a good feeling.
I love that writing a book has given me a way to serve the place I call home, support our libraries, and stand beside fellow veterans and their families. I’m grateful to the people helping make that possible.
You can listen to HPPR online and find the library event listing here.
Coming to a page near you
The Greenbelt Intrepid’s article comes out October 30. Thank you to Elizabeth Tanner and publisher Roger Estlack for helping tell this story. Roger, who also publishes The Clarendon Enterprise, has agreed to run the press release as well.
The Pampa News, Abernathy Advocate, and Lynn County News have also agreed to run coverage. I don’t have those publication dates yet. There is possible coverage in The Quanah Tribune-Chief, depending on available space.
Bill in Vernon has his review copy, too. I’ll share any news from that when there is something definite to pass along.
This Thursday, October 29, at 4 p.m., I’m scheduled to record an interview with Mya Clark for Four More Pages at KAMR, Amarillo’s Local 4 News. That is our recording appointment, so don’t set your television alarm for four o’clock on my account. I’ll share the interview link when it becomes available.
I get to talk about books with people who want to talk about books. This job has some very nice benefits.
I seem to have built Alex Knight’s studio
This is the part Linda and I had been saving for a post.
I previously owned an online radio station that listeners could find on iHeartRadio. Now we’re developing cutting-edge broadcasting software for that kind of station. I have no current plans to launch a new station or relaunch the old one. Right now, the project is the software.
Why?
Because we’re nerds.
In Midnight Radio, Alex Knight hosts a radio broadcast. In my house, I now have an actual working broadcast studio inspired by that world.
It started as a picture. Wood trim, worn metal, cassette decks, warm meters, and controls that looked like they belonged under your hands. Then the picture became software I could install on my broadcast computer and connect to my RØDECaster Pro.
I’ve been testing the song queue, the two decks, fades, recording, and bringing my voice over the music. The little cassette reels turn when their songs play. One of them needed lining up. Naturally, I noticed. You cannot send a man into the final frontier with a crooked cassette.
The website connection is working in my tests, too. The player appears when the broadcast starts and disappears when it ends. We’re still fine tuning the software, and the connection between two DJs needs its real-world test.
Then I loaded a folder of songs without checking what was in it.
Material Girl.
Of course it was. That song follows me. Apparently, it has now learned how to install software.
“A radio broadcast in a book and a real broadcast that was written in a book and brought into reality!”
That was my reaction. A studio I imagined for a novel had become software I could sit down and operate. That is the part that stopped me.
We’re also developing the tools to play recorded programs and let other DJs connect for live shows. Those are capabilities we want the software to have, rather than an announcement of a station launch.
Scotty, meet the Raspberry Pi
The next idea is a separate station system that can schedule recorded programs, music, commercials, jingles, and station IDs.
We looked at online servers. Then I remembered I already own Raspberry Pis. Several of them. It is pleasant when the equipment department turns out to be a shelf in your own house.
The one in the photographs is a Raspberry Pi 2, in a turquoise and gold case with a fan on top. We still need to check its setup and test what it can handle. At the moment, it is our starting hardware, not a completed radio station.
Two priorities are already clear: keep recurring costs low and make the software handle the music reports. If you have ever run a station, you know how much paperwork can hide behind a song.
We want accurate logs of what actually aired, including the songs inside recorded shows, with exports in the format the licensing provider needs. We’ve also been exploring how a station using these tools could fund its music licensing through sponsorships, commercials, and voluntary support. Those are business ideas for a possible future use, not a launch plan.
If I ever return to running a station, I’d want people to feel welcome. You know who’s on tonight. You recognize the regulars. You come for a song and stay because you’re enjoying the company.
For now, we get to explore what the software can do. Curiosity is a perfectly good reason to build something.
The trouble with Pi
I sent Linda photographs of the little computer. She spotted the Star Trek tapes beneath it. One “Beam me up, Scotty” later, we were on the bridge demanding more power and trying to fire the server bill out of a torpedo tube.
So, naturally, we made a comic.
I started with a story. Now there are books in the mail, people helping our library, interviews to prepare for, and a turquoise computer waiting for its next assignment.
My wife compared me to Peter Pan tonight.
“Peter Pan was a story for children,” I told her, borrowing Christopher Reeve’s line from Superman’s rooftop conversation with Lois Lane.
What I was thinking was, I’m not Peter Pan. I’m Jim Fucking Kirk!
Now, Scotty, about that software.
Creating is fun. Getting to share it with you is even better.
“May your blog live long and prosper.”
— Spock, probably
