Please post any feedback about AD Radio in this topic!

Thanks,

Mike

Right on. Finally a friggin' radio station worth listening to.

Will I be able to download your broadcasts and listen to them on my iPod? I am most interested in hearing what you broadcast, as I love this site. Unfortunately, my schedule does not allow me to post as much (and will not allow me to listen to live broadcasts as often) as I would like.

Definitely.

We'll have a podcast that you should eventually be able to subscribe to straight out of the iTunes music store. I can't submit our feed yet because.... well... we don't have any audio yet.

You can find out more about the podcast here:

http://radio.americasdebate.net/?podcast_information

...and you can subscribe directly to the feed here:

http://radio.americasdebate.net/rss.xml

We're going to have downloadable MP3s as well, so you can transfer the shows manually if you wish, too.

Mike

This is going to be interesting.

You're going to call, right cyan?

It's free, you know.

Mike

Wow it took a long time to get here, but congrats mike on actually achiving it... now if you can just get that rebate site to work...

Wild horses won't keep me away. I can't wait!

Mike, is there a chance that AD Radio will support SIP?

Mike probably already knows, but for the rest of us:

What the heck is SIP?

Slim, SIP is an Internet communications standard. It is used for all kinds of communications, most often Voice Over IP or instant messaging. Basically, it is a fancy term for a standard way of connecting Internet phone networks (like vonage) to traditional telephone networks (called PSTN--public switched telephone networks).

Heh... got that?

Crash, we're using Skype for our phones. They're a peer-to-peer network, and they don't utilize SIP. From what I understand, there aren't any plans for Skype to use SIP.

Calling with most VoIP should be free if you call the toll free, but if you have unlimited minutes, it would save us money if you called the 912 number. You can also call using Skype (phone through your computer) for free, and that comes with the added bonus of a much, much, much more high quality call than the phone system could ever deliver.

Crash, I know you like the technical stuff. We run two instances at once on a dedicated computer I built that handles our phones, and the bumper/break music for AD Radio. Here's a demo of our call handling system that I wrote in VB6 (ugh). I run two instances of skype under separate XP credentials. The app I wrote, SympleSkype, monitors incoming calls. When a call is detected, it waits a moment, and answers automatically. When you hang up, it automatically answers the next call in the order they were received. The only bad part is that if you call and both lines are full, it will ring and ring and ring for two minutes. If a line doesn't free up in two minutes, the call is disconnected. Anyway, here's the demo video: http://radio.americasdebate.net/dev/Demo.avi

Mike

I was wondering if you guys are gonna conduct interviews with perhaps professors or historians or other noted "experts" on hot political topics or issues ?

We would like to, yes! Got anyone in mind (who would give us the time of day)?

Perhaps Larry King .. I say get in contact with your local college political professor, maybe he will give u the time of day =))

The way I always see it done is it seems that the person basically gets a free ad for a book or blog or whatever they have they want advertised.

So you just put a link and picture of the book or whatever alongside the link to the audio of the interview.

I think it would be fun...
We could all think up questions as a group kind of thing...and then Mike and/or Jaime pick the best ones and then ask 'em for us

I called.

Perhaps, the next time I'll give you more than ten words.

Woohoo! Got it!

18 hours exactly now and I'm starting to get a bit nervous. Maybe it's the coffee, though.

I should probably get some sleep! Hehe!

Mike

Do you have a 3 second delay built into your broadcast or is it live like Sat radio?

It's live. We don't have any sort of functional delay or anything like that.

There is a delay between the time our equipment pushes the audio to the broadcast server, and when that broadcast server delivers the audio to the actual listeners. The delay is about 30 seconds, so if you call, the audio you hear on the phone will be about 30 seconds ahead of what is coming out of your speakers. The nice thing is that you can listen to the last 30 seconds of your call after you hang up.

I assume you are asking to see if we're going to block profanity...
Mild profanity will probably be okay, but come in swearing like an off-the-record politician , and we'll probably have to cut you off.

We've got a warning that we'll play before the show starts, and after we take breaks (we plan on a 3-4 minute break every half hour). It basically says that if you are offended by subjects of an adult nature or by profanity, you should not listen.



So, who plans on listening? Anyone?


Mike

I've been meaning to call in Mike. Honestly, I have.

I won't be home until after 8PM tonight but maybe I can get a prediction call in before the show starts...

..if I can figure out this Skype thing and get it set up in under 1/2 an hour...

Just call the toll free.

888-DEBATE-5

8 might be too late-- I have to reconfigure the equipment to pull voicemail from phone system for the broadcast. By that time, the final configuration will be in place, and I won't be able to edit it.

Mike

Microphone on my computer's MB just gave up the ghost
Guess I'll have to just listen
Good Luck tonite you guys

No phone?

888.DEBATE.5 (888.332.2835)

-or-

912.342.2345

You'd better believe I'll be listening!

Live if I can (though I'd be at work so that depends on whether I have dead time).

I'll download it if I can't manage the live broadcast, the regularly scheduled broadcast to begin next week fit perfectly with my schedule, so expect my full attention.

As usual I will be fast asleep 5 in the morning here in Holland.

But you know what I will set my alarmclock for it, hopefully my body wants to get up that early!

Btw: If you call to the show, do members of have to use their real names, or can they also use their nickname. Something like "Hi my name is Renger aka .... Renger for all you fellow AD-ers."

I am really curious how everybody sounds.

In case I sleep through my alarmclock, good luck with the show!

You most certainly can call in and use your member name. I don't know if we'd know you any other way.

It'd be a blast if you could call in, but I understand the need to sleep and all.

Two and a half hours now...should I be getting nervous?

Wait I made a mistake I think

the show starts at 9:00 ET ..... add six hours to that .... that makes 3 in the morning here..... not 5!!! I think I can make that !!! Maybe I will even call from across the Atlantic.

(I was always bad at math, probably one of the reasons I studied history )

Yeah!

skype is free, you just need a microphone and headphones.

(And I also studied history, partially for the same reason )

We need to have this show syndicated.

Also you need to list how many call-in-lines are open.

Yeah, I'm going to try to work that out.

The problem is that I need an application that interfaces with Skype and also makes http requests.

I just might be able to add it to the phone app I wrote. If not, I know someone who loves programming in C/C++!

Mike

I could not get through. It just rang and rang and rang.......

That means the lines were all full. We’ll be back on the air next Wednesday. Hope you try again then.

And we know who that is, right?

If you didn't get a chance to check out Radio last night you really missed out on something special, it was a blast! Mike and Jaime definitely deserve a pat on the back and a few magaritas for pulling it off.

The phones were ringing off the hook and they even had one caller that wasn't a member of AD, he just found the radio station through google.

Last night's show was an amazing success and I had a blast listening to everyone's thoughts on W's speech. I think you can count on a huge number of regular listeners and you can can definitely count on me being one of them.

I had mentioned in the chat-room last night that I think this should definitely be more than a once a week show, so hopefully as time goes on we'll get to see that. In any case, I'm looking very forward to next week's show. Hopefully, I'll be a little less nervous when I call in next time.

Last night's show was fantastic! Jaime and Mike sounded very professional, and all of the callers did well. It was really nice to hear some of your voices.

I'm curious to know if each show is going to be themed, and will you be announcing the themes ahead of time?

Had a BLAST last night. it was a real kick to hear the voices of some of the callers, some of who sounded NOTHING like i thought--especially Crashforit. Doc also.

Excellent work from the 2 Hosts and I am looking forward to the future shows.

Maybe I can remember what points I wanted to make after the "caller, you're on the air"

Within 2 years it will be AD Satellite TV and their own cable channel.

Thanks Cube, Stefan, Cyan, and Christopher! It makes me very happy that you enjoyed the show.


I thought that was just the coolest thing in the world! He had found us while searching for something like 2006 state of the union simulcast, and we were in the top ten. I'm planning on doing my own little promotion blitz for AD Radio, getting the podcast and some links out there.

I'm also going to take your suggestion from yesterday (and actually Joe's suggestion from 2 weeks ago that I forgot to implement), to make sure there are prominent links to the other features at AD-- the forum, the chat, the donate page, etc.


The frequency of the show depends entirely on the popularity of the show. If we consistently max out our listener count, and the phones continue to ring like they did last night, then we will add another day or even days. Also, if we max out our listener count again next week, I will have it bumped up to 50 for the show on the Wed., Feb 15th.


We're not too sure. We really want it to be open lines. We want to let the callers decide where the show goes. We really don't want the show to be about our opinions (as unavoidable as that is), and instead be about your opinions.

If there are major events in the news, I'm sure those will end up being the topic anyway.


Man, wouldn't that be the best...? It would be the news network "for normal people, by normal people." The slogan could be "Amateur talent, professional production," and we could pick all of the on-air talent and writers (if there was any interest ) from members here at AD!

Thanks again for the nice comments, and of course, for listening, calling, leaving messages, and participating at .

Mike

I'd like to add my thanks to everyone who tuned into the show. As Mike said, our server was packed nearly the entire night. Better yet, so were the phone lines. It was incredible being able to speak with so many of you.

The warm reception we received from is very encouraging. I am already looking forward to next Wednesday (and I can't recall the last time I looked forward to the middle of any week ).

Thanks again to everyone who helped make the debut of America's Debate Radio better than anything I could have ever possibly imagined. You guys rock. Let's do it again next week.

Now for a cultural reference.....

On Wensday night at 9 eastren..... let's rock-n-roll!

I thought the first broadcast went extremely well. Congratulations to Jaime, Mike, and everyone who participated! I'm really looking forward to the next one.

Don't forget to factor in listeners like me who can't catch the live show for whatever reason (maybe a job clash, or just creaky technology - not just global time differences) that download or stream the MP3 afterwards without signing up for the podcast.

I listened to the show yesterday afternoon (mid-morning your EST) and it was really good.

In fact, I have to say that, having listened to phone-in based talk radio in the USA while on vacation there, it is really refreshing to hear and explore what callers think.

I listened to Limbaugh, Hannity et al a lot while I was last over there on vacation three years ago, and I thought that the general disentchantment with the political process, long touted in the USA, had at least something to do with the sheer amount of steam and froth being generated by this type of political coverage. It seemed to have infected the whole news agenda, not just on Fox News, but ordinary network bulletins too.

So it was REALLY good to hear sober, good humoured and temperate political debate going on.

This is the norm on UK political phone-ins - we could even do with a bit of the fire and brimstone approach to liven things up - so I can say that good presenters for this type of thing require real skill to make it work. You have to probe callers' right right, so that they talk more about their thinking. Not enough probing, and it's just a series of very short soundbites. Too much, and people get defensive and start arguing.

It's a fine line, and on the evidence of show 1, it's one that both Jaime and Mike find easy to walk. Well done both of you. (For what it's worth, I thought Jaime was a natural, and I think Mike was too when he was able to spend more time on air and not worrying about the technical bugs. Did you both do lots of prep work for the presenting side, or did you just wing it? Either way, well done both!)



Maybe so. Certainly, I think that radio might just catch a mood towards more thoughtful and insightful talk radio that the shouting matches America has got used to. I could quite easily imagine that it will snowball pretty quickly, and wouldn't be remotely surprised if this calendar year it doesn't get syndicated nationally by someone like Clear Channel. (Make sure you retain absolute editorial control if anyone approaches you in such a way.)

Off the back of that, I reckon a TV show could easily follow, with the same sort of format as the radio show.

And then, ultimately, maybe a whole channel. Maybe you could run it along similar lines to this site. Anyone can make a short documentary film on a particular issue, in accordance with rules - the equivalent of a debate topic opener - and then there could be a national or international phone-in to debate the topics raised. Different time slots could be different forums - mornings could be for domestic policy, casual conversation over lunch, afternoons & early evening for international policy/ war on terror, evenings for news & current events, etc. on the telly, in other words. Cool, or what?

Perhaps you should institute a rule than many real radio stations use to avoid listener boredom. They don't allow callers to call in more than once every 30 days so that the audience gets a chance to hear some new voices.

Just a suggestion. Of course, you have to have enough calls incoming in the first place....

I'd like to throw my lot in with those who thought the premiere of ADRadio was FREAKIN SWEET. Now we all know that Wertz is actually the leprachaun from the Lucky Charms commercials, and that Ay-Em-Lord sounds like he's about 18.

Seriously, it was great. Mike and Jaime, now that I am done recording my CD I can get to work on some bumps for you - and Mike, I think you have some stuff that ought to be shared with the world on AD Radio!

Damn, I just finished listening to the downloaded show, and it was great! Congrats, Mike and Jaime!

Sorry I wasn't able to make it, but I should make it to the next one....and Mr P tells me he will call in too.

I finally got to hear the program in full on yesterday and I'd like to congratulate Mike, Jaime and everyone involved on a job well done.

This definitely has legs, the calls were quite a bit more substantial than normal talk-radio and for a first run the level of professionalism was incredible.

I'll try and listen on Wed. and possibly call in if I think I have anything worth saying.

The connection is the dorm in second-rate as always so I'll try and find a good place where a cell-phone call won't draw negative attention.

There has been a bunch of changes to the AD Radio Website.

I added links back to the AD.com pages. I updated the news. I made changes to the Call-in Numbers page, the FAQ, and the Credits page. Jaime has updated the Archive with the first show's description, the caller list, and the music list. The audio, of course, is available there too.

I have added a few new pages. One is the Link to Us page, where you can get buttons and text links for AD Radio. Another is a Studio Tour page, where you can see the equipment and the "studio" that we use for AD Radio. The last page is an Equipment Fundraiser page, where you can contribute to help us improve AD Radio.

Turnea was the first person to contribute. Somehow, he found that page while I was in the middle of making it, and donated before I was even finished. Thanks Turnea!

Mike

This accomplishment is a true testament to what a person who spends far too much time on the net can achieve!

Thanks for letting me know my constant surfing has its uses.

Another successful night of

We heard a few new voices and once again nobody finds me convincing...

You guys are hurting my self esteem...

Hurt your self esteem? Are you kidding? You were practically the star of the show. It took a lot of will power not to completely loose it when the terrorist pizza party got rolling. My stomach muscles still hurt from laughing so much.

Feeling left out? Check out last night's show in the Radio Archives and join us next week for the fun.

Hey guys, fantastic job! And I mean that to everybody who participated.

Keep it up, who knows what the future has for the next show???? Any hints?