Welcome to 'Transmitting to Earth'. I'm Charssun and I'll be your host. This blog and podcast is a byproduct of VoyagerRadio.com and is intended to provide the most timely information about this Internet radio station. It is also intended to be a fun and accessible electronic journal with commentary focusing on Internet radio, podcasting and webcasting issues and technologies, music, and some of my other interests. I also offer personal perspective about being an Internet radio broadcaster (and podcaster).
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Sometimes I hear a new song or I'm listening to some old music I love, and I think, man, I wish I could put this song in my webcast. A new Death in Vegas song, "Hands Around My Throat", is currently doing that to me. (link spotted on MusicDroidz's Personal Onclave). Yoli first played DiV's music for me some years ago, and I liked them but forgot all about them until now. Today I walked into KCRW to see what I could find out about getting a job there. I didn't set out to do this; I ended up at Santa Monica College because I was in the neighborhood and had to let the car cool off before messing with the radiator. So there I was, at SMC, and I figured I'd go ask for information. After all, I was here, and for a long time I'd been thinking about coming down here and getting involved with the station in some respect. In what respect exactly, I don't know--perhaps I'd start as a writer, or perhaps as an HTML coder; or maybe I'd spend my days encoding the sound files into RealAudio files. Perhaps I'd soon find myself editing audio, or editing news copy--or perhaps I'd answer the phones.
As I'm heading to KCRW's headquarters, I'm wondering how to present myself, asking myself (in my best Joe Frank [.rm] inner voice), Should I straight out ask for employment opportunities? No, my hair's a mess, and I'm not prepared to present myself to potential employers today. I mean, look at me--I look like a slob, I'm wearing baggy khakis and a gray sweater--and I don't even have a resume on me or anything. Finally, I decide to ask for volunteer opportunities. So I go in, walk down the corridor to the main office, and everyone stares at me as I enter the room. "Can I help you?" someone says, or something to that effect, and I suddenly feel nervous but manage to stammer out something about wanting to know how to volunteer for the station. I'm pointed to the Director of Volunteer Services, who gives me the information, but only after asking how I got into the studio--apparently it's supposed to be secure. And I'm thinking to myself, Oh, great, they think I've snuck in, that I'm deviant, that I'm some freak who breaks into places to get what he wants. Now I'll never get the job--they'll think I'm the type of person who does weird and irrational things all the time: trespassing secure areas, sneaking around the office at night. The type of person who will rifle through the boss' files when she's out of the office, or steal small office items one at a time: a pencil, an eraser, a stack of paper, a stapler, some paper cups from the water cooler--and as I'm reviewing my memory to recall if I did something untoward, I realize that I should be answering, that I should provide some explanation of how I got into the premises, so I tell them the truth--that I didn't trespass, or sneak past any guard--at least, not to my knowledge. I had simply walked right in. Well, I said something like that, except when I said it it sounded false, even to my own ears. But hey, it was fun being inside KCRW, walking down the same halls Joe Frank had walked; the halls where Bentley and Douridas and Harcourt have spinned their discs, where countless artists have been recorded live; where Which Way LA? and To The Point are produced, where the Bookworm interview the great contemporary writers. It's all good and I still feel good about it, and hopefully this will be the start of something wonderful. Oh, wait a minute--I still need to find a job that pays money first, before I start volunteering for anything. My girlfriend says it sounds like I'm spitting out the words "VoyagerRadio" in that new station ID [.mp3] you're hearing on my webcast, so it looks like I'll be re-recording and re-mixing that ID again. I'll have to put a windscreen on the mic next time I record. Here's my original voice recording [.mp3], prior to adding the music--kind of my own mic in track. Enjoy. You should begin hearing a new VoyagerRadio station ID in the webcast. I think it's subtle and won't bother anyone--just a reminder that you're listening to VoyagerRadio. Let me know if you like it or not. It was created using a combination of the following tools: SoundJam (for recording), Audacity (for editing), and my trusty old Blue & White G3--us 21st century digital boys can't afford those screamin' new G5s. This one almost hit too close to home: another recently deceased Internet radio station. Recent price increases at Live365 led to the demise of this station, whose owner (who is currently unemployed) couldn't afford to pay the upgraded price. I almost faced the same end, being currently unemployed, but somehow managed to keep the webcast going--at least for another few months. Don't worry, Orb fan, you haven't completely missed the Chillout craze. It's still new to some of us, too. Ralph Myerz And The Jack Herren Band's A Special EP has been added to the VoyagerRadio playlist, spread out over the course of the webcast. Enjoy! If you're wondering who/what Ralph Myerz is, read this interview (link spotted on DJ Martian's Page). Yesterday in Long Beach I picked up a few chillout CDs for .99 cents each. Can't beat that, now, can you? One was an Astralwerks compilation and other a collection called Pure Chill Out. Listen for tracks from these collections to start appearing in VoyagerRadio.
Unfortunately, there's a price to be paid for getting CDs for only .99 cents. Although some of the music on these collections are current, most of the tracks were released sometime last year. I try to keep my webcast as current as possible, but I don't have the funds to buy every new CD that hits the market, and I don't have time to download everything either (although I do when I can). Fortunately my girlfriend buys CDs--like the new Dave Gahan release, for example--so I'm able to inject Voyager with some of the latest downtempo electronica. Even so, I'm worrying that the Dave Gahan tracks I'm currently playing on Voyager may not be right for the webcast. There are no instrumental songs--after all, Gahan is the frontman for Depeche Mode--and the songs may jar my more dedicated listeners, who may have come to expect a certain sound. Perhaps I'll be able to get ahold of the Junkie XL remixes I've heard mention of, and if any are downtempo, maybe they'll be more appropriate for Voyager. In any case, please let me know if you don't like any of the music I'm playing on Voyager. After all, it's your station as well as mine. Speaking of additions to Voyager, I've been loving the last New Order release, Crystal (which, on a side note, is apparently available through the Apple Store. Everyone keeps telling me about these Crystal remixes, which are supposed to be ambient/chillout-ish, so hopefully I'll be able to spot them cheap on my next visit to the .99 cent bin. Now that the new high-speed wireless standard has been ratified, will we be seeing handheld wireless Internet radio tuners? Yesterday while wandering around I went into a Goodwill store and began rummaging through the CDs, and guess what I found? A Ralph Myerz CD, A Special EP. A few weeks ago I had mentioned in this blog that I had heard Ralph Myerz and thought it would be perfect for VoyagerRadio. (If you haven't seen their music video yet, you should.)
Isn't it wonderful when things like that happen? I can't afford to buy new CDs right now, and haven't the time to download new music--so it's a happy day when you're able to find a CD for $3 at your local Goodwill outlet ("All proceeds go toward assisting the homeless, etc."--or something like that). I just love Goodwills, Salvation Armies, libraries, and any thriftstore/shared-type of organization. Besides recycling goods and helping out the down-and-out, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better place to find the greatest deals. I once found a Camper Van Beethoven album in pristine condition at one of these stores for only 25 cents. How can you beat that? Even Half.com's prices aren't that good. So look forward to hearing some Ralph Myerz on VoyagerRadio! It's verified--it was Jane's Addiction I was hearing on the radio earlier. Jane's was one of those bands that just grabbed me, turned me on my head and spit me out when I was a still a teenager--and I loved. Not that I'm a glutton for punishment or anything, I just fell in love with their whole thing--the music, the personalities, the whole package. I was devastated when they broke up after the first two Lollapaloozas.
The past few years, however, I've felt a real disconnect from Jane's. Not that I don't still love their music; I don't think you can ever unlove what's eternally good. I just got bored with the reunites, the replays, the haven't-we-already-done-this-before cycle of shows and predictable playlists. I thought I would never tired of Jane's; I loved Porno For Pyros and followed some of the boys' other projects. But somehow--and shockingly, for myself--I got bored at that last Coachella show. Still, Perry's always an entertainer, and he knows how to put on a great show--and honestly, I wasn't feeling too good at their last Coachella show--I really wasn't. The fact is, I'm really excited to hear something new from the band. As interesting as the rehashes and tributes can get (a "String Quartet Tribute to Jane's Addiction"? How did I miss that?), I think the whole world's been dying for a whole new album for a long, long time. I may be there at Lollapalooza if I can afford it, and if the band shows up. I believe I'm listening to Jane's Addiction's latest right now on KROQ. I recognize Perry's familiar high pitch and what sounds like Dave's consistently heavy guitar riffs. Riffs? I don't even know if I should refer to any of Dave's guitarplay as a "riff"; he's such a versatile guitarist and everything he does is so fantastically different--at least, to my ears. I read somewhere that Jane's was coming out with a new album--yes, a new album, with new songs and every thing--so this must be it. It was getting old listening to the boys rehash their old numbers at every stinkin' Coachella. I've been receiving promotional music at the rate of about 2 CDs a week the past few weeks. This is wonderful; I'm getting more music than I've bought in the past few years. Looks like VoyagerRadio is starting to get noticed--I started receiving the CDs after being contacted by a few independent promoters.
The music I've been receiving is beautiful, but much of it is a bit too new-agey for my webcast: soothing ambient music by artists Randy Armstrong, Kitaro, and Agatsuma; gorgeous harp music by local artist and Renaissance woman Lisa Lynne; and contemporary ambient compilations such as Music for the Spirit 4 and Journey to the Heart 2: Music for Meditation. I even received music by original Gong Show host Chuck Barris. I had no idea Mr. Barris was making music. Well, now I do, and I'm glad to hear it--it's just not appropriate for VoyagerRadio. Truth be told, some of the music I've received was perfect for the webcast. I found some great tracks on the Classic Chillout compilation that I immediately uploaded into the VoyagerRadio playlist. The Om Yoga Mix has some groovy tracks that are borderline electronica; I could probably sandwich them in next to some electronic lounge tracks by Thievery Corp. and hope no one notices--but that would be unfair to my listeners, and do I really want to fit a square peg, or even an oval peg, into a circular hole? My listeners have come to expect a particular listening experience, and that is downtempo electronica, rather than downtempo, uh, anything. So what do I do with all this free music? I've been thinking about showcasing the music in a special "Ambient Hour", which would also put my new and unused Broadcast Scheduler to use. I've also considered starting a whole new webcast, one that is dedicated to a pure ambient and new age experience--but that would cost money, something I don't have much of. More likely, I will contact these artists and ask them permission to use their music as background for my upcoming Joe Frank-inspired radio show, which I desperately need music for. So keep sending me that ambient music--maybe I'll still make you famous, if not today, then someday. (Although you may not want to be famous with the type of crowd I'm likely to attract.) For now, I'll keep enjoying your music, which has helped me in more ways than you'll ever know. (If you wish for me to elaborate on that, please contact me.) I'm currently listening to Serart, having just received a promotional copy in the mail. It's a collaboration between System of a Down's Serj Tankian and avant-garde folk artist Arto Tunc Boyaciyan. We'll see if it's worthy of play on VoyagerRadio. :)
I have a friend who introduced me to System of a Down's music years ago, before they had really taken off; apparently, she knew some of the band members, or had a friend who knew one of the band members. Okay, if it's the latter, then there's really no connection, is there? I mean, practically anyone has a friend of a friend who knows just about anyone you can mention. They call it six degrees, don't they? Or Friendster. A word about blogging: Getting an audience for your blog seems incredibly difficult. How do bloggers, who may not be Internet marketing experts, learn how to drive traffic to their blogsites? You could buy a manual from someone who knows how to do so, but when your as broke as I am that may not be an option. You could join a webring--but really now, how effective is that? Probably not very, with so many out there. And books on blogging deter you from begging other bloggers to add a link to your blog from their blogsite. They say that's just not cool, and most blogsite owners just aren't going to do it. Which makes sense. I mean, how many links can you possibly fit on your blogsite? But still...
So what's a failing blogger to do? (Failing if you account your success by the traffic to your blog.) Just keep making awesome posts, according to Rebecca Blood, author of one of the earliest blogs, Rebecca's Pocket, and of the definitive weblog guide for blog newbies, The Weblog Handbook. In other words, build it and they will come. I'd love to believe that, but I also know that there are alot of talented bloggers out there without readers. What's the point of performing without an audience? Hey, I'm not griping, or whining, or complaining about not having any visitors. Because I do--I do have a few visitors now and then. But damn, it's tough getting regular readers. I know that through my experience in building an audience for my Internet radio station, which now (thankfully) seems to have a steadily growing listenership. And sure, anyone with enough money can buy advertising, but that's still not going to retain interest in your blog. No, Rebecca is right--you just have to keep posting, and keep those posts interesting--don't bore your readers with rants about the art of blogging. I hope I haven't let you down. If I have, I apologize. The VoyagerRadio website is unavailable at this moment due to issues with Apple's .mac service. That is why you may not be seeing any images on this webpage, which grabs images from my .mac account. You can still access VoyagerRadio at Live365, of course.
Up until this point I haven't had any problems with the .mac service; I understood Apple's need to begin charging for its webhosting/email/file storage service, even while petitioners railed against the new pricing system (although I didn't quite align myself with the anti-petitioner petitioners). I've only been worried about it's future cost. The first year was cheap for early adopters; Apple may charge double what they charged me last year. If so, it looks like I'll be bailing out of my .mac account. VoyagerRadio will be getting a new webhost, anyway--I was just hoping to keep .mac until Google's crawlers update its servers with the new web address (once I get one--the domain will still be VoyagerRadio.com). Look, I'm your Mac guy, but man, you can only afford so much. RealOne Rhapsody has added .79 cent music downloading to their service, but it looks like you still have to pay a $9.95/month subscription fee to get your kicks. So before you buy into their pitch of being "the lowest per-burn price available", realize that they're not being entirely truthful and that Apple still has them beat, pricewise. Apple, however, currently excludes Windows users from utilizing their service, and, in fact, excludes many of their own customers, who are still using previous Mac operating systems. UPDATE: Radio Gnome has just promised an 8 hour webcast tonight, so if you're just checking in, tune in and enjoy the show! Radio Gnome's "farewell" show is currently on the air, from "9pm Pacific to whenever". Farewell, but not for long--the Gnome won't be utilizing Live365's services any longer, but he will continue to webcast at Imaginary Dimensions.
Sad to see him stop the 24 hour webcast, but glad to see him keep the show going...Radio Gnome, we need more personalities like yours on the radio! Besides this blog, a narrative blog called something that happened, and various other projects, I also moderate a discussion forum: Please consider subscribing to engage in a dialogue about all things having to do with Internet radio! |
Send Us Your Music
Artists! Want to be heard on this station? Email your MP3 audio, one file at a time, to our Program Director or mail your CD promo(s) to the following address:
Harold J. JohnsonVoyagerRadio
547 Gayley Avenue #1
Los Angeles, CA 90024 Make certain to let use know whether we may use the audio in our podcast, too!
Download the Podcast
We are officially podcasters now that we have revitalized and reintroduced our downtempo show Tempo of the Down, this time around as a podcast. Now showcasing independent downtempo we've been granted permission to offer for download, Tempo of the Down is our entry into the future of Internet radio.
Head over to our new Podcast area to download the latest session!
