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New Master Control - Buy CD, Album Covers, Requests &
More
 It's
been quite a few months here at the studios in beautiful
Urbana, Maryland. Our master control computer here
(yes, the picture on the right) in the JOHNfm Studios went
on the flake about 30-45 days ago. When Windows XP
Service Pack 3 initially tried to install, the hard drive
crashed. We were able to get things back online and
backed up - then it happened again. Around this time,
we also started experiencing spikes in CPU. Keep in
mind, the same computer has been running JOHNfm since the
inception, so we couldn't imagine what it could be.
WHAT THE HECK! After looking for things like viruses, bad network cards and
problems with the control program we use, and consulting the
program support community we came up with
nothing. So, we bought a new hard drive, upped the ram
to 2GB and did a fresh install of XP. We then
installed master control again - and guess what - same
problems. Now we were TOTALLY at a loss. Plus,
for some reason, the database didn't save correctly and we
lost all of our album art.
VISTA
TO THE RESCUE: As a
last resort, we installed (GASP) Windows Vista to the studio
computer. We've now been running for almost a week and
knock wood, things have gone back to normal. Our best
guess is something in SP3 of XP didn't like our computer or
the control program. The good news is the frequent
outages and glitches you might have been experiencing seem
solved.
BUY CD:
With that under our belt, we're starting to get back to the
business of running a radio station. We're working
feverishly to restore all the album covers and data, and
we're proud to say, for the first time since JOHNfm went
online, the BUY CD function actually works from the JOHNfm
Player! So if you hear something, you can buy it right
away! Cool!
REQUESTS: Requests
are also working. When you request something, Master
Control checks your request against recently played items.
As long as it fits the criteria, it gets thrown into the
queue. Usually that means no more than 2-3 songs
before you hear your request! We also added the Top 5
Requests to the right column of each page so you can see
what listeners are into.
CHECKLIST: Now, the
checklist of remaining stuff is as follows... record new
JOHNfm Liners, maybe a few new Top Of The Hour ID's and fix
the weather bed that still says "Classic Hits" from the
original incarnation of the station.
Thanks for
sticking with us.
JOHN
Posted: May 28, 2008
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Requests Are Fixed - No Seriously... They Are!
Looks like the folks at AudioRealm have been doing some
tinkering and that messed with our online request system.
The issue has been resolved and requests are up and working
again!
Posted: February 3, 2008
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New Stream Host - Buffering Issues Are Gone
For about the last week, we have had severe issues with the
station buffering, so frankly put, JOHN had enough - and
switched stream host providers. The result is a
cleaner steam with no buffering (thank god). Apologies
to all of you who may have given up on us because things
just weren't reliable. Hopefully you will give JOHN a
second chance.
.........................................................................................
A New Year On JOHNfm
Thanks for hanging with us thru our SANTAfm phase which
lasted thru the last day of December. We're glad to be
Rockin' again!
.........................................................................................
Take JOHN on the Road With You!
 In
other news, we have bumped our broadcasts from mp3PRO to
straight up mp3 for compatibility reasons with all players
and more specifically mobile devices. Did you know you
can take JOHNfm with you? If your mobile device is
capable of receiving streaming audio, simple plug in the url
http://live.johnfm.com:6012 and fire away! For
PocketPC or Windows Smartphone users, you can grab any of a
number of apps that will allow you to stream mp3 - including
the freeware
GSPlayer
and the very slick
Resco Pocket Radio.
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Now Broadcasting 50 Streams Via mp3
Due
to popular demand, we have upgraded our streaming
capabilities and are able to offer up to 50 simultaneous
connections in 64kbps mp3 audio.
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