First Broadcast Test: SUCCESSFUL!!!

I began the setup on the studio computer.  I started to transfer music, download encoders that I needed, did this, and did that.  I was getting excited.  I had already begun some of the final steps.  Setting up the studio computer is a major one.  I had barely began transferring the music when I got impatient.

I quickly signed up for a free hosting stream server (I am not going to use it for real, I just wanted to do a test run)  After I set the server up I wanted to test it out.  I had very little music on the computer but I didn't care.  I started the server privately and started broadcasting.

The test run which I am calling a beta test was successful!  I heard the audio from a different computer in a different room.  The audio on the test run was the entire Makaveli album.

I decided I am going to let it run the rest of the night to see how my internet connection holds up.  Not only that, it will be a good test for my new studio computer.

Excited.

Setting Up Computer For Broadcast

Tonight I get the new computer I bought for the radio station. So this evening I am going to be setting it up.  I have to install my on air automation software.  I am debating on weather or not I want the computer to house the station music or to keep it on my external hard drive.  I guess that is a decision I will make when the time comes. 

I also have other things going on. For weeks I have had issues with the station logo.  I am still unhappy with it despite several people taking shots at trying to give me one I like.  I appreciate it, I just want it to look good.  So now, I have yet another person looking at it and trying to get me one I actually like.  I dunno, I just need it ASAP.  The logo and the site header are the main things I am missing from the station site.  I cannot launch the station page without either of them.  Hopefully tomorrow I will have the new logo.

I am really looking forward to launching the station web page even though the official station launch is not until June 23rd.

THIS IS HAPPENING!

Time Running Out

Today I am taking care of some of the smaller aspects of the station and I am beginning to worry because in 25 days, the launch day will be here.  I still have so much to do.

I made a to-do and am crossing off things on the to-do list daily.  I cannot wait.  I have decided I am going to launch the web page early.  That way, I can begin promotion of the site and the stations existence.  Then on launch day, people will know to tune in.

I am excited to see people's reaction to how good it looks.  I only say that because I am proud of creating it myself.  Surely it could look a hell of a lot better but being how I have very little experience in web design, I think it is pretty damn good.  I am shooting for a June 2nd site launch.  I still have to tie up a few loose ends.

Rest In Peace

This morning I awoke to the news that a friend of mine passed away last night.  I was saddened by the loss.  He was well liked by a lot of people and a very good programmer.

Fairly recently he had reached out to me to talk about the station I was building.  I have been endlessly promoting the funding Indiegogo campaign on Facebook.  He had messaged me to talk about it and said things like "You are living the dream, at some point everyone wants to leave corp radio behind and start their own station and you are actually doing it."  He gave me praise and wished me well.

That was the last time I spoke to him.  You know it is crazy... here it is 11:24am and his last Facebook post was at 8:59pm

This has inspired me even further.  Life is short.  This station has been a long-time dream of mine and now I am even more determined to pull it off.

THIS IS HAPPENING!

New Logo

New logo, I do not know how I feel about this one yet.  Perhaps it will grow on me.  Whatever I choose, a logo decision needs to be made soon because I am in need to design the station t-shirts soon.

I opened this logo in paint and changed the background to white and I like it a lot better!

Change Of Frequency

This morning I made the decision that using the 102.7 frequency isn't going to work out.

Probably the main reason is because saying on air 102.9 is easier to say since it has one less syllable than 102.7

Not only that, there was also conflict with 3rd party streaming applications such as TuneIn.  For me, locally there already is a station that uses the 102.7 frequency.  As it would have it, it would be a conflict to those 3rd party streaming apps since that station is already on the frequency.

Besides that, I think deep down it gave me an excuse to change it.  I think the change is better in every way possible.  It sounds better, its easier to say, and just fits.

Back To The Drawing Board?

During the course of the past few days I feel like I have done a lot of work on this project that may be in vain.  I am unhappy with the web page, unhappy with the logo, and now... I am questioning changing 102.7 The Blast to 102.9 The Blast.  102.9 has one less syllable in it making it a little easier to say.  Another thing, there may be a conflict with one of the local radio stations.  A local radio station already uses the 102.7 frequency.  This may create a conflict with 3rd party streaming apps such as TuneIn.

Changing the frequency may be something I may have to do.  Whatever I choose, it has to be soon because I want to begin finalizing some of the details of the project very soon.  

The Radio Stations First Event???

After speaking to a few friends of mine about the station financial situation, several of them suggested putting together a show.  I have always been hesitant in promoting shows because I have known many people who have been burned trying to raise money with shows.

So I was cautious, I would up finding 3 well known Hip Hop artist who told me that they would perform for free because of the help I have given them in the past.  Then I found a venue that is upscale, in a good location, and willing to let me have the show at their place for no cost.  Wow, almost seems like fate.  Maybe a 102.7 The Blast show will be in the works in the future.

Hmmmmmm

Disrespect

Today I made a connection with a group of people who make a well known Hip Hop podcast.  I approached them with the possibility of them broadcasting their podcast as a show on the radio station.

I did not expect a response to be honest however the one I got was not what I was expecting.

Think of it like this, if you were the host of a popular podcast on the up and up and a radio station approached you to expand your operation for no cost, most people would be excited.  Wouldn't they?  The response I got was pretty much met with an egotistical rant about how they are too good for my station.

"We are already well established, why would we want to waste our time with a no name Internet station?"

Really?  Really?  To be honest I don't need them and if they think this station is doomed to fail I will gladly prove them wrong.  To be honest I just wanted additional voices on the station besides myself.  Needless to say my respect for these clowns is now non-existent.  I will not oust them, that would just promote their show (which isn't all that great and horribly produced).

People like this do not deserve the success (if any) that comes to them.  I simple no without the disrespect would have been equally efficient.  That's okay though, these kinds of people motivate me.

Smartphone App

I haven't updated this in a few days.  I have been busy. 

I knew I wanted to have smartphone apps for the station, that was a given.  However until today I had only known whom I could hire to make me an Android version.  I was going to have to research on how to acquire an Apple app.

Today I have discovered a company who will make an Apple and an Android app at a very good rate with only a 24 hour turnaround.  After all cost I estimate it should be around $500.  Sounds like a lot but that is a steal.  App development can run thousands of dollars.

It is definite that the site needs to be complete before I even think about a smartphone app.  I am not jumping the gun here, I just happened to stumble across this company purely by accident.

Busy Busy Busy

I haven't been making as many updates to the progression blog as usual.  I have been crazy busy. My main objective at the moment is building the radio stations web page.  That has been wheat has been occupying my time as of lately.

I have also began reaching out to different foundations/organizations/ and personal web pages of artist directly related to the genre in hopes that I can associate the station with their cause.  I offered to place their logo on my station page. 

Another bit of interesting news is that I finally scored my first on air interview on the station.  It has been confirmed that I will be interviewing Spinderella from Salt-N-Pepa.  She is the first of many whom I plan to interview on the station launch day.

Busy busy busy. 

Major Potential Development

Been trying to hold back from blogging every detail about the status of  the station.  Today the idea was to take it easy since it is the weekend.  I took my kids to my parents house for a visit and I couldn't stop thinking about different aspects of  the station.  I couldn't hold it in any longer, I broke out my laptop.  I wound up working all day.

Oh well.  I have never had an issue with being ambitious.

Today I officially named the radio station. I had to come up with something since KHHA doesn't really roll off the tongue very easily.  Once I thought of a name I came up with a logo.

Introducing.... 102.7 The Blast KHHA

I realized revealing the logo also reveals t he stations official web page.  That's okay, it is not live at the moment. However, www.KeepingHipHopAlive.com is epic!

Next order of business (that I can reveal at least) is to work on the web page development.  This is going to be busy next few days.

This evening I felt I had accomplished a lot during the course of a normal Saturday.  I then got a phone call from someone interested in the project.  WOW!  I so wish I could tell you all what the conversation was about but I will soon.  It was all talk for now but if it gets finalized it could change everything!  Needless to say, if that happens it will be huge!  I can't wait to tell everyone.  That is, if it happens.

Slowly Chipping Away

Before I went live with this project I made the mistake of thinking my radio friends could help me promote the project.  It became more than obvious that I wasn't thinking clearly.  That had to be the worst assumption in  the entire world.  My radio friends can't help me promote the project because it would be a conflict of interest.  Having a radio DJ promote another unrelated radio station wouldn't be good and is likely to get them in trouble.  Oh well.  

I have reached a point of the project where I am not going to be reveal every single detail that I am working on.  During the course of trying to get the word out there I read a comment on Facebook that read...

I have been wanting to program a station like this for yrs! I have found that ownership groups have NO clue how huge this would be...no matter what facts I present. I have a name, imaging, promotions etc ready to go! I have a HUGE passion for Classic Hip Hop and know that terrestrial radio is missing the boat.

I saw this coming from a mile away.  This is a concept that is nothing new, yet no one has ever made it a reality.  I knew someone was going to eventually come along and try to get the idea in their head that they wanna do the same thing I am trying to.  Having said that, I am going to be discreet with certain details.

Since all that it still does not take away the fact that I still have work to do.  Since my last post I have purchased a web page domain, the rights to use the call letters KHHA, and now a station logo.

All this progression is adding up.  

Assumptions, Interactions, And The Birth Of KHHA

Over the course of my career I have helped out a lot of people.  The majority of that help came in the form of me helping promote the people I was helping by writing articles about them. (Mostly rappers)

In case you did not know, I am also a journalist with the San Antonio Express News [Online].

I did not want to annoy my Facebook friends and Twitter followers with constant promotion about the project so I began individually messaging people.  In my messages I was not asking for money.  (No one likes to be hit up for cash, especially by a friend)  All I was simply asking for was for them to repost the link to the project.  That's all.

Some of whom I hit up were saying things like "I got you!"  Or "Anything for you homie"  I really appreciated that those people were willing to help me out in return.  Then there were people who were dodging me.  People were dodging me like they owed me child support.  Made me realize just how many of those people actually appreciated my help and how many of those who took advantage of it.  I will not forget this.  Maybe I was a tad foolish in assuming that everyone would be on board to help me out in return.

Moving on I began to get a few people who contributed some money to the project so I was happy.  This is only the beginning.  I do not know where I will be at come the end of the fundraising campaign.

Now that I had a little cash I decided I was going to make everything official.  I was going to purchase my call letters, and that is exactly what I did!

ANNOUNCING THE BIRTH OF K.H.H.A 

K=KEEPING H=HIP H=HOP A=ALIVE  

I am stoked.  As I said before, this IS happening.

A Good Deal?

I ran around this morning, trying to get my mind off the project temporarily.  Little did I know, a stroke of luck would find me.

I randomly got a phone call from an acquaintance of mine who owned a piece of equipment that I have been dying to get my hands on.  This just so happened to be pure coincidence, but his timing was near perfect.  He told me he wanted to sell his Mackie HUI soundboard.  This is an older discontinued piece of equipment but has always been a board I have always liked.

This guy was a good guy but he was always too busy to use any of the equipment he owned.  I honestly never understood why he bought all of it.  The board was practically brand new.  He even has the plastic on the top portion of it where it shows the audio levels.  This thing is MINT!  I am definitely interested.  This would make a great edition to the studio.

Station Twitter gaining Popularity

@HipHopOldies is growing.  In fact it is growing a hell of a lot faster than I thought it would.  It has only existed for a few days and already I am well over 130 followers.  I am even being retweeted by rappers and musicians.  Here are a few.

Media Connections

So its been a few hours since the project has gone live.  I admit, this morning I never thought the project would take the enormous turn that it did this afternoon.  As long as the project got done and launched publicly, it really doesn't matter what site host the funding.  Luckily, I had already done the majority of the legwork so coping it to IndieGoGo was not difficult.

Now, it is time to use my media connections to promote this thing.  

Here is a quick quick history lesson.  Back in August 2011 I received international recognition.  I created the world's first artificial intelligent radio DJ.  (Google it)  I was on MSNBC, Fox News, all NBC affiliates, plus much more sites and blogs from all around the world.

This project gave me a massive amount of new readers, and an enormous amount of new media connections.  I also caught a lot of hate/love from radio personalities from all around the world as well.  (That story is for another time)

In the days leading up to the launch I compiled a list of my media contacts that I was going to hit up with a news advisory about the funding of this project.  This evening I have to put the finishing touches on the advisory and I will be sending it when I am finished.  Hopefully, tomorrow it will make the rounds in the media and on the blogs.

Project Is Now Live Day 1

So I finally launched the project and made this blog public.  There is no going back now.

THIS IS HAPPENING!!

Almost instantly I was flooded with text, emails, and phone calls about it.  The responses were very optimistic and positive.  I knew that this is an idea that people would love.  

Hip Hop is something that is bigger than all of us.  It will simply never die, even if every song from here on out is complete garbage, Hip Hop will always live in the golden age!  I still have a ton of things to do but I first wanted to say thank you to everyone who is supporting this radio station.  I will continue to update this blog accordingly. 

Back To Work

This entire day has been nothing but ups and downs.  I am going to be optimistic that this whole Kickstarter brew-ha-ha was a blessing in disguise.

I searched the internet for alternatives and found one called IndieGoGo.  After looking it over, I actually liked this site better than the previous one.

The decision is made, I am going to roll with IndieGoGo.

Back to work.  Like I had said before... THIS IS HAPPENING!

Here is the link to the project: Click HERE!

Declined Yet Again

Well, it appears my project has taken a major blow.  Kickstarter declined my project yet again.  It was brought to my attention that the music issue was not the only reason as to why it was declined.  According to Kickstarter....

"your project does not meet the Kickstarter Project Guidelines (http://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines), which prohibit fundraising for general business or startup expenses." 

What the hell?  Isn't assisting in funding startup expenses what they do?  Why am I just learning about this now?  I had gone through the guidelines and never saw that.   I rushed to the site to look over the guidelines again and there it was.  I had completely missed it.  What the hell?  I am detail-orientated.  How did this small yet huge guideline fall through the cracks?

Needless to say the Kickstarter aspect of the project is over.  I am not going to look at what I accomplished with it as a waste of time.  Now I do not know what I am going to do at the moment.   

I very well could make this blog public and allow the waiting public who have been interested in what the project is to access this blog.  However that could ultimately lead to someone stealing my idea.

This..... cannot..... be..... the..... end.

Amazing

This morning I woke up not knowing what would become of this day.  Around 11AM I was out and about when I got notification that Kickstarter had replied to my submission.  YES!

I opened the email and to my surprise, they declined it! Apparently they declined it cause I used certain licensed music in the video for the presentation.

Kickstarter does not allow anything licensed to be used in any Kickstarter presentation on any level.  This is how the the people at Kickstarter watch their own backside from being sued.  I can understand that.  However I was livid.  I have already put an enormous amount of time and energy into this project.  Not being accepted by Kickstarter would be a huge blow that would take quite a bit of time to recover from.  I knew that I was taking a risk by using it but did it anyways since I felt it was miniscule.  I was already planning on purchasing licensing rights from ASCAP today.  Yes, today.  Purchasing those rights would secure safety that my station would not be sued if I played licensed music.  So it is a very important piece to the puzzle.  I messed up by submitting the project a day before I purchased those rights.  Had I waited, I could have presented the licensing rights along with the project.  (Still may have been declined but I do not know)


The news of the project being declined almost ruined my entire day.  As I said, I was livid.  I was mad at them, and I was also mad at myself for taking that risk.  My anger grew more and more until my displeasure at being declined was all I could think about.

Then.... something amazing happened.

On my way home I had stopped at a gas station to put in some gas for my car.  The moment I walked in I heard something that changed everything.  It lifted my mood, gave me faith, and provided me with confidence.  It was a sign!

Inside the store, the radio was on a local radio station called Magic 105.3.  No more than two seconds of walking inside the store I heard the DJ on the air began to speak. It just so happens, Magic has a station positioning statement that says...

"Magic 105.3, giving you the very best of the 80's, 90's, and today!"

When I heard the DJ say that, I stopped in my tracks.  I was aware that Magic used that slogan as a station position statement, but I haven't heard it in several years since I am not a Magic listener.  To me, this was a sign that everything is going to be alright.  This was simply going to be a temporary snag in the creative process of making this station come to life.  

My bad mood was gone, my confidence was restored, and suddenly my day went back to normal.

As soon as I got home I immediately submitted an appeal for reconsideration.  In  this situation, they give you 500 characters to explain why your project needed to be reconsidered.  I told them in my appeal that I would edit the video and take out the music even though I had purchased the ASCAP rights this morning.  I assumed they would not care I had the legal rights to use the song that I played in my Kickstarter presentation video. 

Now, I wait yet again.

T-Shirt Design

I've worked in the radio industry for a very long time and it has always surprised me just how much fans enjoy getting t-shirts from their favorite radio station.

Not only do the  fans enjoy them, they serve as walking billboards.  So designing station shirts is something that definitely needs to be done.  Back in 2006, I was apart of a radio station that had a cleaver shirt design.  People fell in love with it and asked for one every where we had gone.  It simply said....

"You Looked Better On MySpace" 

I know I know, but remember, this was 2006.  "MySpace" at that time was still very popular.  It had the "MySpace" phrase on the front of the shirt and the station logo on the back of it.  Simple, but very effective.  People loved them and went crazy to get a hold of them.

Now I am not going to use the same phrase as before but I am thinking of using the same concept.  A simple phrase on the front, and the station logo on the back.  I made some concept photos but at the moment they seem a tad plain.  I will have to re-address the station t-shirt design at a later date.  In the meantime, here is what I came up with.

I will be accepting phrase suggestions.  The idea is to have roughly 10 different designs to be distributed to fans and backers.

Project Status: Submitted For Review

I must have looked over the entire project about a million times over the course of the day.  I wanted to make sure it was perfect.  After all the work, compiling the presentation, logistics, brainstorming, blog, Twitter, etc, I have finally submitted the project to kickstarter for review.

Submitting for the project to be reviewed by kickstarter is the 2nd to last step you need to do before being able to have a project go live on the site.  Once it is approved, you are ready to go.  Now, I have to play the waiting game once again. Still lots to do.

Call Letter Dilemma

My favorite radio station in the entire world probably has to be KDAY in Los Angeles.  They have a similar station to what I am trying to create.  Similar, but not anywhere near the same.

K-D-A-Y is their station call letters.  All radio stations have them.  It serves as a station identification.  All stations are required to identify themselves in the form of a station ID that has to be played at least once every hour.  For example, at the top of every hour KDAY will play a piece of audio saying something on the lines of "K-D-A-Y Los Angeles."  They are required to say their call letters and where their broadcasting tower is located in every hour.  There is no getting around it, it's the law.

Needless to say, call letters are pretty important.  Granted an online station like mine is not required to have them but that is another story for another time.  My station will have official call letters to make it easier to identify the station and make it easier to find the stream on streaming apps such as the Tune In radio app.

The first set of call letters that came to mind was K-O-S-A.  The idea was to have the calls represent the phrase "Keeping Old School Alive".  I thought it was great, and catchy!

I looked up the letters on the FCC web page and I saw that no station in existence is using those letters.  So it is in fact do-able. A few days had passed and I was convinced that I was going to purchase the rights to use K-O-S-A for the station.  In my mind, it was pretty much a done deal.

Then I began to think.  What about K-H-H-A?  (Keeping Hip Hop Alive)

All of a sudden my two conflicting call letters were in a type of quarterback controversy so to speak. 

I like them both but now I am swinging towards changing it to KHHA.

I was frustrated cause I have far too much to do than to re-address details I had already gone over once already.  Oh well.  It was what it was.  So now I have to decide on what call letters I plan to use.... again.

Major Inspiration!!!

I just read an article about a fellow kickstarter project that raised over 7 million dollars!

The success of that particular project is not typical, but wow does it serve as some major inspiration.

It was clear that I second guessed my project rewards earlier in the evening for a reason.  I had some doubt of the layout of what I was rewarding my backers and seeing this article was a sure sign that I needed to completely restructure it.

FINALLY!!!

Today was a good day.  My bank has finally been verified.  I have finally finished setting up my account with Amazon Payments.  Once I did that I also finished setting up my Kickstarter account.  Wow, that seemed like it took forever.  With all that finally finished, I can officially submit the project to kickstarter when I am ready to do so.

During the course of  the day here and there I made some touch-ups on the overall presentation.  I am still hesitant and am thinking I need to completely redo the rewards portion of the project.  I will sleep on it and decide tomorrow if I want to change it.

Today I also began looking into on-air automation software.  I was playing with one called SAM BROADCASTER.  This thing is hella nice.  It has everything I need.  I am seriously considering rolling with this one when the time is right.  I am posting a screenshot. 

Twitter & Thoughts Of The Station Launch

I took a moment to think about what it will be like on the day the station launches.  I already know I am going to have a bunch of artist on the air with me.  Being a radio DJ, I have an enormous amount of resources so it will not be hard to book the artist to come on the air with me.  I just have to hold off on booking the artist because everything is still on hold.  I still need call letters, I still need funding, I still need everything.  I very well cannot hit someone up and say something on the lines of "Hey, I would like to book you for my radio station for an on air interview, I just don't know the name of it yet."  Having said that, I was getting way ahead of myself.  However the idea that I want old school rappers on the air with me on launch day to speak to me on the air is something that is definitely going to happen.

Moving on...

I created a Twitter account so I could put a widget on this blog to make it look a little nicer.  It was looking a tad plane.  I honestly had way too much to do to pay much attention to it.  However today I had some time to kill.  To pass the time I started tweeting from the Twitter account I created @HipHopOldies.  I very well couldn't blurt out what the project was cause at the moment, it isn't live on kickstarter.com yet.  So I just randomly started tweeting random knowledge about old school Hip Hop and Hip Hop culture. 

I somehow gained a follower.  Weird.  I had the web address to this blog on the Twitter account even though I had changed this blog to a private setting.  I kept tweeting.  I started to get more and more followers.  Wow!  Then... Shock G of Digital Underground started following me.  Then Raekwon of the Wu-Tang Clan started following me.  I kept getting more and more followers.  This was crazy!

In the span of half a day I gained 84 followers.  I was impressed.  Perhaps I cannot neglect the Twitter as much as I had originally planned.