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A few weeks ago, The Invisible Man announced on `Map Is Not Territory`
on KSFR Santa Fe --- UT Wednesdays 0400-0700 --- that his show would
no longer be archived for two weeks at Radio Free America. Other KSFR
shows, KUNM and many others had been relying on RFA for this. Now I`ve
looked into this further: (gh)
https://nfcb.org/radio-free-america-announces-shutdown/
Radio Free America Announces Shutdown
August 14, 2020
Longtime community radio resource Radio Free America this week
announced it would cease operations on Aug. 15.
A statement to stations read, in part:
As we’ve continued to navigate the complexities of serving the mission
of nonprofit organizations – while at the same time operating as a for
profit company – over time, it’s become clear that our “free service”
model could not be sustainable without a very high listener adoption
rate. Our hope was that station-based audience growth would combine
with the platform synergies of content from over 150 stations to drive
on-demand traffic to the level we needed for sponsorship and other
continued investment in the company. Recently, we proposed to pivot to
a two-phased approach to maintain viability by 1) putting forth a
“monthly contribution” model based on a station’s ability to pay and
2) drafting plans to transition to a nonprofit organization. The
ultimate intention was to ask stations to share in the real costs of
making terrestrial content available to their listeners in a digital,
archived format as well as to allow for funding possibilities not
typically available to for-profit companies. It is now apparent that
this plan for continued viability is unfortunately coming at the wrong
time. After careful consideration and much deliberation, Radio Free
America has simply run out of options. We no longer have investor
backing to adequately fund the company and do not anticipate a
sizeable enough commitment from stations to continue our operation
going forward.
Stations with questions may send an email to
[email protected].
https://nfcb.org/3-alternatives-to-radio-free-america-after-closure/
4 Alternatives to Radio Free America After Closure
August 17, 2020
On Aug. 13, Radio Free America announced its shutdown. The programming
archive service had been operating for nearly five years at virtually
no cost to community radio stations. Its departure leaves many
stations without an online catalog of past programs.
Stations are now scrambling for a new archiving system. There are a
few alternatives in the wake of RFA’s end. [see original for
linx]
StreamGuys provides a variety of streaming services to stations,
including RFA-style archiving. The company is well regarded by
stations, many of which use SG for streaming. Discounts are available
for NFCB member stations.
Creek offers a range of streaming services for stations and other
tools tailored for your programming, including playlists and
websites.
On Aug. 14, news broke that popular community radio resources
Spinitron and Radio Rethink are in discussions regarding a potential
solution for stream archiving. Keep an eye on Spinitron and Radio
Rethink for the latest.
Manual solutions are far less convenient, but if you’re looking for
the lowest cost, sites like Mixcloud allow a DJ or potentially a
station to manually upload content. Such is imperfect, but it may
serve your immediate needs until your station can figure out its next
step.
Unlike RFA, your station may now have some expenses associated with
archiving. If this is not something viable for you, the station may
consider messaging that focuses on the exclusivity of live
programming; and the experience of community radio live during the
pandemic.
In addition, your station may consider pivoting resources to
online-exclusive content such as digital-first podcasts and impress
the value of broadcast listenership among audiences.
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