“own frequency, own time”
We want to start the New Year 2011 with a TIKradio Jingle Slam - and you are cordially invited, called, urged to contribute!
Create a TIKTAK-One-Minute-Jingle (tech specs see below) and upload it to our TIKradio Jingle Collection.
More info will follow as soon as possible…
Deadline: January 15, 2011 (okok, January 31, 2011 might be nice as well)
Format basics:
*.ogg or *.wav - 160kbps minimum - 00:01:00 duration
Content basics:
mentioning 'TIME INVENTORs KABINET' and 'timenventorskabinet.org' might be a nice idea, huh?
however, this is not necessary… pure abstract audio could be fine as well
More details see also below in the TIKradio production chapter…
Based on the idea of building wind clocks, we propose to build up an online streaming radio station, that is following the times of the wind clocks. We will determine own parameters and own time units, in which we are going to move throughout the project.
Our interest came from the fact, that within the sphere of media, time is a very important factor - whether we talk about music and it's beat, or if we talk about scheduled media broadcasts. Within TIK we will schedule a radiobroadcast according to different parameters than the usual (gregorian) date and time.
What does that mean to radio producers and to listeners? What new devices do we have to invent in order to realize a completely new time area, in that we are moving outside of the well known 24 hour clock related to a time zone, related to a country, related to a calendar?
COL-ME realizes an (online)radio station with an own time, calendar and timezone, determined by windclocks. So we can relate the timezones according to other areas, that we can define in whatever way we want - political - default - random - algorithmic - non-algorithmic - mystical - practical……
The experimental setup includes a few groups willing to produce radio shows over a defined period of time. Each group is making a defined amount of shows at defined wind clock times. As these times are unpredictable, a radio show could happen at 4 in the morning, or at 2 in the afternoon – basically any time. When the wind clock strikes, the radio show has to go on-air resp. on-line – and that in a complete live setup.
Each group is using the wind clock of another place, in order to prevent time sabotage (blowing to speed it up or to block it with something in order to slow it down or stop it completely).
In case two (or more) groups happen to have show at the same time, they have to work together and create one show (or the inter-lapping time pieces) together.
We can add different local parameters to define the wind clock time to change it every time and make the whole set up more and more complex as time goes by to create a situation, where nobody knows anymore at which time which group is supposed to make radio show. When nobody knows anymore, at which time they should do what we either create white noize, or the same (or opposite): nothing.
Both are death to capitalism as the production will be zero, or there is so much over production, that it will not be heard (= consumed) anymore. With zero listeners and zero outreach we have reached our aim - to blow meaning, time and beingness into nothingness - into one thing: the big noize.
Open question (raised by Kruno): is it really neccesary to have the windtime starting the stream?
Addtional options:
Producing TIKradio and content based shows on TIK issues (still experimental, artistic etc) that can be broadcasted by other radio stations in Europe and beyond, i.e. by the stations that are part of the radia art radio network.
Realization of building up a network of radio collectives and workshops/worklabs. Each workshop/worklab ideally produces a radio show for the radia network:
07-10. February 2011: Bratislava = Visegrad workshop I: Technical workshop for radiomakers 14-18, March 2011: Bratislava = Visegrad workshop II: Content workshop for radiomakers 16-22, May 2011: Zagreb = Radio content days and ecotime conference 3 xx-xx, July 2011: Kosovo = wind time radio scheduling 06-11, September 2011: Bratislava = radio art output 05-10, November 2011: Praha = ecotime conference 5 and exhibition
Bratislava, 07-10th of February 2011
Technical aspects of making radio. Ideas for programme:
programme
our score for final event
Updates on Timebendingclock page
Bratislava, 14-18th of March 2011
Content aspects for TIK radio. Ideas:
Zagreb, 16-22nd of May 2011
More content for TIK radio! Ideas
hr-timetable
Budapest, 25-31 July 2011
budapest-timetable
Ideas:
Europe/World, 6-11th of September 2011
firstchat
secondchat
content_artradio
Structural Concept Art Radio Event September
Timetable for the event
Classical: radio shows on topics around time, greens … (done by radio stations)
Experimental: focused more on the technology, directed by windtime
Question of licences: We generally agreed to work with open licenses. This will also be the basic agreement for all audio material and contents used within and produced for TIK radio.
PD tool - for switching in between radio stations according to windtime?
Automatization for stream recording - for videos in connection with padma this exists already. so if padma as storage would be ready for audio, we can use the same automatization tool.
We need a storage system for the radio show production - not so much for archiving of finished radioshows, more like a pool of material to use for making radio shows. Interviews with people, field recordings, sound snippers…
Pad.ma - it is not possible to import soundfiles at the moment, at least not to see the waveform and set timestamps - for the new version we might get the system connected with a wavform. the strenght of padma is, that we can collectively annotate and link to only certain areas as well as download only certain areas. if the audio upload will be achieved (hopefully around dec/january 2010/2011) we will use padma.
Drupal on Col-me website - simple file upload, with basic freetext metadata added (classical)
Archive.org - this might be best for storing the final radioshows and output
Radio shows should come in the following formats:
*.ogg, * wav - for those shows that still need postproduction for being broadcasted by stations (attention: this will be almost always the case, as stations usually need to add their own intros/outros in addition to our intro/outro)
*.ogg - for storage on padma
*.mp3 - for public storage (after transmission) at archive.org
Radio shows need at least 160kbps to match with quality standards (esp. for digital radio and for fm broadcasting - streams have usually lower q, but that's another issue)
Sure, for whatever kind of TIK webradio stream we can dream about (and do, dependig on licences etc) endless and/or irregular transmissions of any duration.
However, for all TIKradio shows opting for broadcast by existing stations (i.e. member stations of radia art radio network) we must produce formats of a duration fitting into the slots the stations can offer to us.
Many stations have standard slots of either 60 min or 30 min (attention: this does not mean automatically the same is for duration for the shows we're handing in for broadcast - see below…). From time to time, there may be options for special broadcasts (i.e. 24 hrs, 2 hrs, whatever). Yet, all active radio stations broadcasting on a regular basis will have standard units/slots their programmes are built upon.
Now as these basic units may differ, a flexible basic standard format for TIKradio shows we want to share with as many stations as possible is needed.
Proposal for basic standard duration of TIKradio show units:
30min = final transmission time
… on TIKradio's own brodcasts as well as on partner stations
- which means, attention!, again different duration units we'll have to work with in terms of the shows prepared for different purposes.
(Details: see the following chapter with the proposal for Production Units)
Example:
TIKradio's own brodcasts of 30 min. would consist of:
TIKjingle1 - TIKintro - core piece/production - TIKoutro - TIKjingle2
while
a TIKradio contribution broadcasted on radia member stations in the 30min radia unit would consist of:
STATIONjingle1/Stationintro - radiaIntrojingle - TIKintro - core piece/production - TIKoutro - radiaOutrojingle - STATIONjingle2/Stationoutro
= in duration times:
each radia show prepared for the network has exactly 28min embracing radiaIntroJingle, core piece and radiaOutrojingle. Member stations then add their individual frame, STATIONjingleA/Stationintro and/or STATIONjingleZ/Stationoutro, of exactly 2min duration. Which makes in the end exactly 30min matching with the slot.
Btw: Yes, 2 min is a f* long time in terms of radio time - and we'll have to fill this with our TIKjingles whenever we do our own webradio, and of course whenever have the chance to fill a full 30min slot etc somewhere else. But that's just another reason for producing loads of great TIKjingles (be them 1 min long or in a shorter unit that can be added up to 2 min; of course the 'gap' could be filled with one 2min jingle starting the shows, but framing the show with two 1min jingles is usually more apt in terms of audio aesthetics as well as in terms of distribitution strategies) - see more details in the chapter TIKjingles (soon).
Working with these basic units may sound difficult (and f* bureaucratic) at first - but believe me: it is not. Rather, being precise at this point makes it extremely easy to fill any kind of slots (except for smaller ones, ok - but this is really rare case. for these cases you would have to produce extra-shorties, however, even then one should rely on the basic frames and simply produce a shorter content piece.)
It will save you a lot lot lot of time (and helps avoid enervating confusion) whenever you plan to produce a) more than 1 single show and b) shows you want to see/hear broadcasted on more than 1 single radio station.
And for everything else (like windtime generated TIKradio broadcasting irregularily) we'll have TIKwebradio-streams etc anyway, right?
Thus, in the next chapter you'll find a proposal for the production units including a proposal for durations.
Based on the model sketched out above, here's the proposal for our (basic) production units including notes for the units' durations for standard TIKradio shows fitting into 30min slots.
Please note: Longer shows for bigger slots can be produced on this basis as well. See again below.
TIKradiojingles
content/style: 100% free (however, including name + url of TIK / TIKradio might be a nice idea)
duration: standard 1 min. (there might be shorter and longer ones as well - however, having a basic stock of standard jingles of 1 min. duration will be superuseful)
TIKradio intros+outros
content/style:
core part should be a voice part with following basics
- intro: a greeting/welcome, 'this is a show by TIKradio', more info at (url)
- outro: 'this was a show by TIKradio', moe info at (url), bye-bye
everything else is of course again 100% free, however
intro + outro should be as short as possible (= maximum time for the core contents, most shows will also come with their own opener/closer, i.e. introducing the artists)
intro + outro should contain 'flexible' audio, that is: audio that allows to slice a litte of or to add a little (= as it is usually more difficult to limit the core productions à la minute, esp. when guest artists are invited to produce the core part)
duration: approx. 00:01:30 both intro + outro in sum
TIKradio core contents
content/style: 100% free (of course), however: shows for radia and in general shows that will be shared with stations in different countries have to match with legal criteria (otherwise i.e. German and Austrian radio stations, incl. free radio stations, are under risk to loose their licence - more on this see below)
duration: approx. 00:26:30 (proposed basic unit for shows that are tobe shared)
proposal: cc-by-nc-sa
attention 1: unfortunately this makes it often difficult to work with German, Austrian, Swiss, French etc sound artists/composers. in case they are members of GEMA or SUISA and the like, they are not allowed/able to produce/contribute non-copyrighted material.
attention 2: this licence excludes the use of material (and be it snippets) that is copyrighted or licensed with cc-by-nc-nd (!)
Shows that want to be shared with stations in different countries have to match with legal criteria (otherwise the stations could get into serious troubles)
the broadcasting laws differ from country to country.
NO-NOs for shows to be broadcasted in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, GB, France etc:
- absolutely no audio from TV, from movies, from video productions under ©, from other radio (companies or public radio)
- no snippets and/or mash-ups from copyrighted audio from other artists, composers, musicians
- no plunderphonics using material mentioned above
- no extensive readings/quotes from books/literature/articles or other texts that are under copyright (attention, this includes also editions and translations etc from texts that are otherwise free)
- no offending material (well, what is considered as 'offending' depends on each countries, i.e. in Germany as a free radio you are not allowed to broadcast sexy sexy stuff during daytime, due to so called Jugendschutz)
As TIK gathers several radio-active people based in and/or connected to the TIK core partner institutions (OKNO in Brussels, COL-ME in Bratislava and ESC in Graz) and the TIK network, it is possible to broadcast TIK radio not only as a web radio stream, but also via several radio stations (local/regional FM and webradio) all over Europe.
Moreover, this offers further opportunties to produce and broadcast a wider range of TIK-related radio productions: TIK radio art, TIK reports, TIK chart radio, TIK live radio festivals etc etc.
TIK people who are into radio production and have their own radio shows (or are in contact with radio makers) may organise TIKr broadcasts.
I.e., in Frankfurt am Main (DE) we have the opportunity for weekly transmissions of 28 min. duration. This can take place as part of radiator x (see also: radiator x home/diary and background info at GUNST). radiator x is the international art radio show at radio x, Frankfurt's free local radio station - a full program legal radio station with fm transmission and webradio stream).
In this case, TIKr shows would be broadcasted each friday [from september 30, 2010 onwards: each thursday] from 3.30 pm to 4 p.m. as the second part of radiator x - the first part from 3 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. is always dedicated to new productions from radia art radio network.
Thus, TIKr broadcasting could start whenever we're ready to go…
Some TIK people are related to radia art radio network. This may offer TIK radio the option to produce shows for radia that will be broadcasted officially as contribution to the radia seasons.
Note: These shows should be artistic contributions and released with cc licence (this includes some no-nos, i.e. it is absolutely impossible to use contents copyrighted by third parties, mash-ups of the latter etc pp). They need to be formatted for radia brodcasts (162 kbps quality, duration: 26.6 min max to allow postproduction/adding of radia intro/outro and station info) and have to be handed in by one of the partner stations (that will also take care for the mentiond postproduction).
Bratislava (TIKr Core Node) - COL-ME
Brussels - Radio Xlair?
Frankfurt am Main - station: radio x - show: radiator x - slot: weekly (optional), Fri [from September 30th onwards: Thu] 3:30-4 pm (28 min. within this slot / extra slots tbc) - contact: ectoplasmE aka Verena (verena-insertAT-kuni-insertDOT-org)
Additionally, since summer 2010 there's an ongoing series of TBC (and thus also TIK-) related shows by GUNSTradio - for transmissions see GUNST / GUNST radio logs @ radio x.
Graz - station: Radio Helsinki?
Praha - Lucia Udvardyova?, Miloš Vojtěchovský?, Johana Švarcová?
Skopje - Kanal 103
Zagreb - Free Travelling Radio / Kruno Jošt
Prishtina - UrbanFM http://www.radiourbanfm.com/
proposed: Riga - rickx, Periskop (budapest), Kunstradio AT, Cambridge Radio 105, Canada - Inuit Radio network, check letne dielen programmes from Bratislava, what people were involved there in radio/audio art and so on…
Flyer - Call for participation
Communication
A chat over IRC channel in order to give the participating nodes and listeners a possibility to get in touch and interact live.
mailinglist: https://col-me.info:10000/virtualmin-mailman/unauthenticated/listinfo.cgi/tik-radio
As the time of radio streams will be unpredictable, people tuning in will have to be informed instantly when the stream is starting. Variety of technologies/standards is needed in order to reach as many people as possible, not restricting them to use only one channel. Possibilities:
* customly programmed bar for browser (mozilla) with text announcements
* e-mail
* RSS feed on TIK webpage
* Twitter
and generally all those fast and easily “spreadable”.