Net Buzz with Richard Wiggins | 18

We were fortunate in having a TV station downstairs to bail us out in this instance. Most stations had to use Real Audio or ISDN, or they couldn't get it at all. [We suffered a glitch with our alternate feed at one point] and NPR was lost again for about 10 minutes. Overall, however, I think WKAR was far more prepared to deal with the situation.

As far as Michigan Public Radio is concerned, the outage completely destroyed our traditional distribution network. Typically, we have a 15-minute satellite closed circuit news feed to our 11 stations in all parts of the state each day at 4:30. (With all AM and repeater stations, that gives us about 20 different stations that use our production services.)

Fortunately, the network president and board of directors had already decided some time ago that we would be abandoning the satellite for a network FTP server here in East Lansing. It was decided that this would be a better option for several reasons:

• First, as our Internet connection through WKAR costs us nothing, it's far more cost effective than $12,000.00 a year for satellite charges.
• Second, it provides far greater flexibility, as new audio cuts can be put on the server for download 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. This will allow us to do a far better job of covering stories, as early or late breaking stories will make it to stations in a much more timely manner.
• Third, the FTP system will allow affiliate stations to send audio files for distribution over the Internet, rather than our current method of using regular telephone lines.

The original plan was to have an FTP site encompassing all MPRN audio up and running by mid-July. Instead, we met this goal the day after the satellite went down. I guess necessity really is the mother of invention.

The first day, I spent most of my time on the phone walking station personnel through the software installation, and we were able to get four out of 11 stations on line. The rest were fed either by phone or over a borrowed ISDN line. By the next day, we were up to 6 stations, and currently we're up to 7. The only folks not getting audio over the Net are our four smallest stations.

The content we're posting on the site includes all of our usual state capitol coverage and statewide news, including 45-second long spots, 15-second sound bites, and 4- to 5-minute features. Usually, it amounts to about 10 to 12 minutes of audio per day, although I think that this may have increased with FTP, as time constraints aren't nearly as tough to deal with now. Also, we were finally able to successfully upload our first [digital audio] cut over the Net from a member station today.