Our September class started on Monday the 5th and will run for the next two weeks. Dan Pope came in to chat with our new presenters about how he joined the station and his weekly programme, Under the Covers – Sundays at 3.00 pm.
Our class members are Róisín Ward Morrow, Bruno Vilares, Andy and Louise McCartney, Bobby McCormack, Development Perspectives, Christopher Praveen, Pamela Carragher, Eugene O Hanlon, Dean Wright, Luka Stopic, Gavin Hanlon, Michael Murray, John Joe Jacobs, Andrius Rikauskis and Ciara Byrne.
Marissa Lucchesi explained the features of a Magazine Show and introduced the radio vocabulary that we use daily at the station such intros, theme music, links, stings and station idents.
Alan Byrne, Station Manager explained the community development ethos of Dundalk FM where individuals and community groups can become more acquainted with their area by meeting people through the station, attending outside broadcasts and chatting to people on air. He encouraged all the presenters to fill in a Programme Proposal and record a Demo and that he would help them to have a programme in the schedule by the end of October. As members, they will be welcome to join committees and stand as a representative of over 70 colleagues and perform the duties of a Director. Dundalk FM is run by Dundalk Media Centre CLG which was set up as a not-for-profit community media resource in February 2002. It is one of the 21 Community Radio Stations in Ireland and is affiliated to Craol the Community Radio Ireland, to Amarc Europe and adheres to the Amarc Charter as its code of ethics.
When Dundalk FM hosted the Craol National Community Radio Day on June 18th 2021, President Michael D Higgins who has a reputation for advocating the social benefits of community radio commented ‘Community radio helps to strengthen ties and build awareness of common values, and challenges and a discussion of possible solutions to issues within our localities. Community radio is a vital part of the shared public space for people to meet and collaborate. It is a public good’.
During the class, our new presenters were tasked with recording a Voice Over for a Community Notice in the Production Studio with our Evening Duty Manager, Tony Duffy.
In advance of the second week, they will practice recording an audio exercise on their phone and have the opportunity to come into Main Studio to learn how to work the Sound Desks.
To commence their community Radio Broadcasting career, our presenters have the prospect of researching and pre-recording the following 50-minute programmes.
• Alphabeats – you will be given a letter of the alphabet and asked to create a show with bands or musicians or songs starting with that letter.
• Spotlight – a show based on your selection of any musician or band.
The second evening of the three-week course will focus on technical skills such as working the Sound Desk, recording to a digital recorder, editing a promo for a show, researching, compiling a running order and scripting links for a 25-minute programme.
Equipment Q & A.
1. What equipment do you need in a recording studio?
2. What audio editing software is available?
3. What are the correct recording levels?
4. What are clipping and distortion?
5. How do you use a Voice Recorder?
6. How do you send a show to the station?
7. How to make a phone call and put it through the desk?
8. How do we link back to the studio when we are doing an Outside Broadcast?
A Spotlight programme featuring Irish Music recorded during the first class will be aired on Sunday 11th September at 4.00 pm.
There will be two courses in 2023 – February and September. If you would like to find out more please email info@dundalkfm.com for details.
John Englishby, Dan Pope, Eimear O Kane, Brendan Coughlan, Cathal Cassidy, Alan Byrne, Cathal McCooey, Mary Rose Muckian, Philip O’Brien, Sean Callaghan and Padraig Quigley.
We will run a follow up on Thursday 21st May 2020.
Programming
Congratulations to Dan on the quality and style of his recent AlphaBeats V show.
Comment about recording shows on Zoom – Mary Rose.
I find that conversation can be stilted and doesn’t flow when you are talking at a laptop or tablet/phone. The way to improve this is to use headphones and a microphone so the audio is more immediate and engaging.
Equipment/Software
Padraig told us how he upgraded a laptop by installing SSD RAM.
We are applying for a grant to buy some podcast kits for presenters, in the meantime a €25.00 USB mic will bring your audio up to the level we hope that everyone will have.
320 Kpbs is the highest wav quality and is the recommended setting for when you are saving a show and sending it in.
Eimear is acquiring a laptop:)
Editing
Thank you to Philip for his explanation of how he created a promo for the Alpha Beats Show using
backing music, recording his voice directly to the DAW and the AlphaBeats whisper file.
John gave a demonstration of the Joe Jackson Spotlight show he was working on and will organise to give Mary Rose a lesson on editing.
Community Call
Some presenters are interested in joining a team of researchers, presenters and editors for our COVID-19 Radio Series. Zoom meeting to be set up.
8th June is when we will resume regular broadcasting whilst maintain social distancing. Only presenters – no guests. Until then there is a roster on who is allowed in and for what duration
David Bellew will be at the studio some evenings to allow for zoom live broadcasts to take place.
Next Week
A guide to broadcasting from home by Padraig and a Reaper edit demo with John.
In the meantime a free radio playout software you might like to try is Zara.
What is the difference in audio quality between Wav and mp3 format?
Wavs have a lossless quality are much bigger, by a factor of 10 and tend to be better quality and mp3s have a lossy quality and are sort of squashed down versions of the wav but still very good to most people ears.
Mp3s are transportable more easily over email so you have to use a different platform something like Dropbox or We transfer, what we call F. T. P. filetransfer protocol to get the wav files to your recipient.
When you copy a mp3 it will lose a generation of sound so it will lose quality every time.
Most phones record in mp4 quality. This can be converted to mp3 using an online converter where you upload the mp4 file and then download the mp3 version.
Pre Records Timings – once the complete shows adds up to 50 minutes, there is leeway to have 27/23, 26/24 or 25/25 minutes.
Next Week: We will have a demo and Q & A on Audacity (Philip and John) and Reaper (David).
Programming
Spotlight – John is recording a Joe Jackson Spotlight.
We will run a 3 hour live music show on a Friday evening for a station fundraiser in a few weeks time.
Padraig will record a promo with Brendan for the 1957 show.
Slane Concert Series – Cathal will do a test run with Pat Byrne using Zoom.
The 100 Years of Music stings will be available to download on the show webpage.
A new one hour show was mentioned by Cathal and he is looking for takers – it’s called ‘5 degrees of separation’ – one song leads to the next, to the next, to the next….
Community Call is a new 24 part series. MaryRose, Eimear, Dan and Philip have expressed an interest in helping to research, present and edit the show. Another way to do the series would be to focus on the sports clubs in town.
RTE Doc on One – Presenters ChoiceOur documentary slot is at 9.00 am on Saturday and the programme is repeated at 5.00 pm on Sunday. If you want to pick a documentary from https://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/ and send in your choice, we will add it to the schedule.
Choice
By Presenter
1
A Solemn Undertaking
Alan Byrne
2
Johnny Cashs Forgotten Tour of Ireland
Caoimhe O’Malley
3
Don’t Go Far
Paul Donnelly
4
Hidden Heroes of the Belfast Blitz
Donal Carroll
5
Women of the Revolution
Tara Mulholland
6
Prince at the Castle
Michael Murray
7
The Man from Tallahassee
John Englishby
8
Con Carey and the Twelve Apostles
John Hennessy
9
One day you’ll understand
Tony Banda
10
A Matter Of International Secrecy
Marissa Lucchesi
Notes from the Remote Broadcast Q and A Session 2
5.00 pm – 6.00 pm
30th April 2020
John Englishby, Dan Pope, Eimear O Kane, Brendan Coughlan, Michael Dowdall, Cathal Cassidy, Alan Byrne, Cathal McCooey, Philip O’Brien, David Bellew, Sean Callaghan and Padraig Quigley.
Advice on Sound Desks/PC/Laptop Microphones
Sean has upgraded to a USB mic and Brendan is using a plug in Mic.
Dan has a Zoom H1 which he could use as a mic.
John has a USB mic and Mic arm.
David has a Behringer mic connected to a mixer.
Alan is using a Zoom H2 as a mic.
Padraig has a splitter cable so that he can route the headphone from a mobile into the desk using the FX return channel.
Andy has bought some equipment and is nearly set up to record at home.
Recording Show/ links with Zoom
Sean will record the Beaten Tracks show each week with David using Zoom.
Marian and Charles will record Health and Well Being via Zoom as two 22 minute shows and email them to David.
Fadó Fadó will broadcast live with Zoom at 6.00 pm on Monday 11th May.
Audio Editing
If you want to learn Reaper – see David Bellew’s tutorial on the Dundalk FM youtube channel.
1998 – Dan will record and edit the show using Audacity.
1995 – Mary Rose will record links and David will edit the show.
1993 – Daniel Deery will do this show. John Englishby will record Daniel remotely and edit the show using Audacity.
1992 – Philip has recorded a show on Audacity and has sent it to the station by WeTransfer.
1972 – Cathal is going to prepare the script.
1971 – Eimear O’Kane will write the script and record using a Zoom recorder and send it to Padraig who will edit the show for broadcast.
1968 – Sean will record this show with David on Zoom.
1967 – David is working on this.
1951 – Brendan is working on the script. Padraig will record it with him using Zoom.
1944 – Alan has a show ready for broadcast.
If you know someone who would like to do a show, please let them know, I’d like to have 100 presenters, especially people who would like to join the station as a presenter in the future.
Shows completed so far are available to listen to anytime on our Mixcloud page.
V – Dan is working on the show and will have it ready to send in soon.
H – Philip has sent in a show for broadcast
Programming
Cathal Cassidy would like to revise the History of Cinema in Dundalk radio documentary and is interested in doing a Movies and Musicals show.
Cathal McCooey invites presenters to host a show in the Slane Concert series (2nd Saturday of the month from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm) – Eimear is interested in this. He will follow up on his idea for a programme called ‘5 Degrees of Separation’.
Ready, Steady…Go by Zoom – 3 people, one hour, 10 questions, giggles, tales, opinions, wit and humour – (Eimear/Carole/Mary will do a show).
Odds and Sods April edition didn’t go out as advertised – we will check the this out for John.
Michael Dowdall suggestions
Interviews – a friend from India living in Dundalk, a relative living in Edinburgh and a 96 year old man living in Dundalk.
a Documentary about the beginning of radio technology.
A poetry slot, a book club (talk to Eimear).
Notes from the Remote Broadcast Q and A Session 1
5.00 pm – 6.30 pm
23rd April 2020
Tracey Hanby, Alan Byrne, Cathal McCooey, Philip O’Brien, Mary Rose Muckian, Pat Byrne, David Bellew, Sean Callaghan, Marian Del Duca and Padraig Quigley. Seoirse McCann was presenting the Drive Time show and unable to attend but we kept an mp3 file for reference. We will run a follow up on Thursday 30th April 2020 at 5.00 pm.
PC/Laptop Microphones
A plug-in mic and headphones or a headset are preferable to using the built-in mic on a laptop or PC, unless you will be on air for just a short interview. The two mics below, which were purchased locally, cost €28.00 and €5.00 respectively.
They connect via a mic/headphone splitter or by a USB adapter. Gaming headsets also provide a step up in the audio quality. A digital recorder such as a Zoom or Tascam can be used as a mic. When you plug it into the laptop/PC, choose to connect as an ‘audio input’ rather than ‘file transfer’. A tripod and windscreen are also essentials to complete your audio kit.
Recording Shows
Sean will record the Beaten Tracks show each week with David using Zoom.
Marian and Charles will record Health and Well Being via Zoom as two 22 minute shows and email them to David.
1995 Mary Rose will record links on the phone (say a link, count to five silently, say the next link and so on….) and email them to David along with the list of songs.
1992 Philip
1968 Sean will record this show with David on Zoom.
1955 Pat has this completed and will send it in.
If you know someone who would like to do a show, please let them know, I’d like to have 100 presenters, especially people who would like to join the station as a presenter in the future.
Shows completed so far are available to listen to anytime on our Mixcloud page.
Examples where Zoom could be used as part of live programming
The Slane Concerts Show with Cathal in the Studio and Pat on Zoom (or in the Production Studio).
Lion’s Club – the sound quality of the pre-recorded show is very good. The show could be done live via Zoom as is the Brunch.
Joining Paddy to present on Good Morning Dundalk /Tracey.
Hosting a panel discussion on Town Talk.
Fadó Fadó is pre-recorded via Zoom.
The Brunch is broadcast live and had 2 guests from the Chamber of Commerce join them last week. One guest used a headset (approx €25 and the audio quality was very high). Some audio is better e.g. where presenters are using USB or plugin Mics.
Sound Desks
A small analogue sound desk (with 2 XLR inputs) starts around the €50.00 mark. A desk with faders (usually 4 XLR inputs) would start around €120.00.
Local stores that would source a Sound Desk, recorders, and other audio equipment are B Sharp and Audio Comm.
Audio Editing Software
Philip recorded an AlphaBeats show using Audacity which is free to download.
Pat uses Reaper (you can use the full version free, to evaluate it, the cost to buy is €60).
If you want to learn Reaper – see the tutorial on the Dundalk FM youtube channel.
Alongside a set of Headphones, a Mic, Mic Stand, and mic Windscreen, you will need some cables such as:
an XLR to connect your mic to the mixer,
a .5m or 1m RCA phono to jack lead with phono adapters to connect a laptop to the mixer,
a .5m or 1m 3.5 jack lead and adapter,
You might consider a Headphone Amplifier. This gives you the options to control the headphone level and take a feed out to an External USB Sound Card or Audio Interface which will give a better sound quality going into the streaming laptop.
Remote Broadcasting
You would need 1 x laptop to play out your music, ads, news, etc. You can download WinAmp for free. Another Free Radio Playout software used by many CR stations is Zara.
A mic, mic stand and pop shield.
An external sound card.
1 laptop which runs a small encoding programme that you download and type in the details for our server. A member of staff will run a series of tests with a presenter to ensure the audio and music levels are correct and that there is no buffering. A wired Ethernet cable connecting the router and laptop is advisable.
Broadcast Myself is an Android App (€3.09). Alan uses this app at away soccer matches to transmit the commentary and half time ads (saved as one file).
This evening’s chat was a chance for presenters who hadn’t met in person before to say hello. There was a wonderful sense of ‘we’re in this together’ which was demonstrated by being able to help colleagues with technical advice. I hope that you now have the confidence to try out the next step in remote recording and broadcasting – recording to a phone, recording on Zoom, audio editing, acquiring radio equipment and maybe someday – live remote broadcasting. For the kind words of appreciation for the support that you receive from staff, thank you.
Alan
Below you will find tutorials to help you record and edit programming from home.
How to record Links to your Smart Phone.
How to Edit a Radio Show at Home.
The first describes how to record links for a show with a Voice Recorder App, your Smart Phone, your script and a room with soft furnishings. You can then share the files to our staff. We will prepare the show for broadcast.
Recorded and edited by David Bellew with thanks to Tara Tine/ March 2020.
The real enjoyment starts when you start to edit, top and tail, fade in and out, normalise, increase and decrease the amplitude, the dynamics processing and filtering. This next tutorial will show you how to combine the links, songs and any intro, outros or stings and render it into an mp3 file.
In the next tutorial, you will learn advanced expert tips on EQ, Noise Removal and Compression using plug-ins.
Would you like to join a team of 20 new radio presenters on a FREE 4-day course starting Thursday October 25th?
There is a choice of weekly morning or afternoon sessions. Participants will be expected to take an active part in community radio broadcasting as reporters on completion of the course.
There are 10 places for migrants and 10 for local people and this project is supported by the Communities Integration Fund.
To apply send an email with your reason for applying and preference for morning or afternoon to info@dundalkfm.com.
The Course outcomes are:
Skills
Increased media literacy and technical skills
Sharing their experience with the wider community
Evaluating and presenting their new skills and knowledge to the groups they represent
Education
1. Community Radio Theory
Ethos and background of Community run and owned Radio Stations
Radio programme Documentation such as Running Orders, links
Programme Formats and Features
Health and Safety
Libel
2. Practical Radio Sound Desk Skills
Setting Microphone and Playout levels
Recording and Editing Show intros and links
Creating a promo for a show
Creating a 25 minute magazine show
Listening Exercise
Coaching on how to read out community notices, research and read out a news item
Radio Presenter Course now booking.
If you would like to find out what a radio presenter does then join our 2-day course in October.
If you like the idea of being a presenter after the course then send us a demo and programme proposal of a radio show.
They are holding the Cinema Advertising Schedule dated 7th May 1989. Advertisers that day were Murphy Jewellers, Tony McDonnell Menswear, Four Lanterns, Jetstream Travel, James Dearey and John Bereton.
Congratulations on completing the show and asking lots of questions! – looking forward to hearing you on radio shows next month. Alan
Come along to the station on Thursday April 12th at 7pm to find out how you could start recording a radio documentary for Dundalk FM. No experience necessary.
You might have heard of guerrilla film making before. That’s where a crew is given a theme for a film at short notice and given 24 hours to complete it. Well at Dundalk FM we are taking the idea onto radio and are looking for three presenters to be picked out of a hat and do a show each month. We have a prime time slot on the first Saturday of the month from 12pm to 1pm. The three presenters will know a month in advance that they will be working together but… they won’t know the theme for the show until 24 hours before hand.
To be in a with a chance to take part in a little radio craziness email alanbyrne@dundalkfm.com.
If you would like to register your interest in joining Dundalk ‘s Community radio station, then all it takes is for you to email info@dundalkfm.com with your name and phone number and we will add you to our distribution list.
We run regular information evenings and training courses as you can see in below.
Alan Byrne, Station Manager explained the community development ethos of Dundalk FM where individuals and community groups can become more acquainted with their area by meeting people through the station, attending outside broadcasts and chatting to people on air. He encouraged all the presenters to fill in a Programme Proposal and record a Demo and that he would help them to have a programme in the schedule by the end of October. As members, they will be welcome to join committees and stand as a representative of over 70 colleagues and perform the duties of a Director. Dundalk FM is run by Dundalk Media Centre CLG which was set up as a not-for-profit community media resource in February 2002. It is one of the 21 Community Radio Stations in Ireland and is affiliated to Craol the Community Radio Ireland, to Amarc Europe and adheres to the Amarc Charter as its code of ethics. 
