DJ Garybaldy - The Only sound you need

Back in March 1987 I started doing DJ work at a Youth club. A fellow DJ suggested I write letters to record companies to try and get a few freebie white label mixes. So I put pen to paper and wrote to at least 4 record labels NOT expecting to hear anything back but I did. I started getting records sent from the mailing list guy at PWL records called PitStop (Steve Pitstop) All I had to do was guage the audience reaction and fill in a form. Kylie Minogue always went down well... The Postie would bring at least 5/6 records a week at one point if we weren't in he would hide them in the coal shed. My Dad started getting annoyed at being woken up by the Postie when it was records for me... By 1990 I had ACCUMULATED a great collection of White Label Promo Only 12" mixes. I had to get help every week taking boxes and carrier bags to the Youth Centre thats how big & heavy my record collection was getting.

I love HeidiSQL as a database editing tool, It also allows me to do maintenance on my databases should the worst happen. MariaDB should automatically install Heidi SQL alongside the database engine Its taken me a few years to feel confident around editing MySQL databases but now I find it really easy to do. I have two instances of SQL servers on this PC I have Oracle MySQL 5.5.9 on Port 3306 and MariaDB 10.5.8 on Port 3007. MariaDB databases shouldn't require much housework once installed I rarely touch my databases but on the odd occasion I have to give them a quick repair. I can easily log onto to sort it with HeidiSQL and its easy to keep on top of your MySQL Server. I knew next to nothing about how to maintain an SQL server 12 years ago but I learned by reading tutorials on the Internet. HeidiSQL makes my life so much simpler I'm not having to rebuild my databases regularly like I was back

There has been a major update for Shoutcast DNAS Server Changes from 2.5.5 build 733 to 2.6.1 build 777: (30 jan 2022) Added SSL support for https streams (Linux only) Added support for 32-char GUID-style authhash (legacy 20-char authhash still supported) Added official & documented support for streambackupurl Added additional parameters for more detailed statistics in Radiomanager Changed all directory links to point to directory.shoutcast.com Changed internal links for old rmo to new radiomanager Fixed bitrate reporting accuracy issues Fixed intro/fallback dropping issue caused by an extra byte bug Fixed peak listeners reporting accuracy issue Improved: Always send public ip & port to YP to better accomodate ip changes Improved: flex-break support & pause handling for ad-breaks Improved: increase the overall timeout for YP requests Improved: Send aac & mp3 format version info to YP Improved info messagi

For about a week now I've been trying to get to the bottom of Audio GREMLINS on Windows 10 I was trying to record stuff with Audacity the second I hit record the audio would stutter or drag. I tried with other recording software and encountered the same problem. I have to say this problem stumped me slightly at first. As the issue was happening on seperate computers (8GB 16GB 32GB) I had to start narrowing down suspects. Then I wondered if it was the audio drivers but updating them made no difference. I'd even gone as far as reinstalling Windows 10 on one computer. Then I decided to take a look at the Virtual Audio Cables, I uninstalled them, Rebooted and tried again with other VAC software. BINGO! thats where the problem was with the virtual audio driver. Breakaway One Pipeline has worked OK for the past few years but alas since the latest feature update on Windows 10 its bro

I've recently retested a couple of pieces of PAID for stand alone encoding software. I tested Radiocaster ($59) and SAM Cast ($200) RadioCaster was easy enough to setup and configure I had a stream setup within 3 minutes. Feb 24th 2022: As RadioCaster is coded by a Russian developer I am asking people (NICELY) to BOYCOTT software from DJ Soft What's happening in Ukraine is quite frankly appalling by anyones standards The demo of Radio Caster comes with an annoying BLEEP over the stream every 15 minutes. Since I first tested RadioCaster its always buffered after 10/15 minutes of streaming I don't know if its a codec issue but something isn't right with RC The buffering has happened on different computers and ISP connections over the space of 5/6 years. SAM Cast has real issues trying to populate Now Playing metadata. SAM Cast encoders have a nasty habit

A user on a forum was looking to get the now playing information into SAM Cast so his listeners knew what he was playing. I tried and tried and failed in the past to get now playing metadata into the streams from SAMCast formerly Simplecast. There are users who claim to have title streaming working but when I follow their instructions it still doesn't want to work. This was a post by a user on the Spacial Audio Forums Having paid for Sam Cast I was determined to make title streaming work I now realise that it won't The File Poller application still didn't read or update metadata from a file The user on the forums stated that he's tried everything he can think of including trying to use Serial Ports. SamCast title encoding won't work. I tried installing it on the same PC as RadioDJ as well as a serial cable from the Radio DJ PC to the SamCast PC The stand alone encoders I promote read text files to stream the now playing metadata from soft

After 7 and a half years with my RadioDJ database I've decided to rebuild my song library from scratch. My SQL database hasn't crashed its just I felt like doing a rebuild. I've spent a lot of time staring at tracks manager over the past couple of days. Knowing the categories my music was previously catalogued under has made life a lot easier. You can setup and create multiple subcategories and genres. Top Tip: Whenever you make a change to any of your songs you need to take a backup this will preserve your changes. This is where RadioDJ excels compared to other expensive radio automation software Other software doesn't come with a way to backup your database data IF you manage to get your database backed up in other radio software you may just find it doesn't backup all your table data. Whereas the RadioDJ database setup tool backs up your entire database and ALL your table data.

One of the BIGGEST bug bears I have about SAM Broadcaster Pro is that when something goes wrong it goes BADLY WRONG. When SAM goes Boom & Bust you have to prat around uninstalling and reinstalling the software just to get it to function. Almost ready to go LIVE again SAM Broadcaster reinstalled Database rolling and adding music files & Jingles AGAIN I witnessed SAM Broadcaster do a disappering act many a time in my 10+ years of using the software. Because SAM Broadcaster Pro doesn't come with a database backup tool you have rebuild your song database and categories. Googling the error suggests a Delphi problem SAM is written in Delphi The fact it is still happening in the 2021 versions should be sounding alarm bells to anyone thinking of purchasing SAM. This little nugget was recently shared on the Spacial forums: SAM Broadcaster Pro crashed after four hours of use Just for the record the record Uptime for Radio

I recently saw a post on the Spacial Audio SAM Broadcaster Forums SAM Broadcaster Pro won't open after reboot! When I restart my computer SAM Broadcaster won’t open SAM Broadcaster going wrong is nothing new its been an issue for over 20 years. In the past I've had to uninstall and reinstall SAM Broadcaster after the program went wrong. What causes SAM Broadcaster and it’s program files/database structure to become corrupted during a reboot of the computer is anyone’s guess. This has happened on different operating systems from XP to Windows 10 Another SAM user said it turned out to be an issue with the core or GUI XML being corrupted by an improper shutdown of the software. The SAM Broadcaster database tables became corrupted after a reboot of the computer which required a reinstall of the software. I was having to reinstall SAM Broadcaster at least once a Week The problem was even worse if your PC was s

Saw this in amongst the search terms on Google analytics recently… SAM Broadcaster Product Activation Offline The Spacial Audio activation server fell over recently which in turn left users struggling to get SAM Broadcaster activated. Users having issues getting SAM Broadcaster activated are nothing new. The activation system says that SAM Broadcaster is activated on 3 PC’s When the user has deactivated the software before they went to reinstall The activation servers have been causing users grief ever since Spacial Audio changed how people have to unlock the software. Before users just needed a key code to unlock all the features in SAM Broadcaster Spacial Audio introduced Software Activations in September 2009 to cut down on the amount of pirated versions. Activation errors have meant some radio DJ's missing their regular online shows. Things like that should NEVER happen with radio playout software. It’s j

As the title of the post SAM Broadcaster Pro suffers with Memory Leaks. More so If you are running PAL = Playlist Automation Language Scripts. Memory Leaks are an inherent problem of how the PAL engine is designed If you design bad PAL scripts you get memory leaks It's easier to design a bad PAL script than to design a good one It's not like Memory Leaks were an unavoidable problem They've had years to get the code in SAM Broadcaster Pro BUG FREE give or take a few GUI changes its the same as it was 20 years ago. When I first tried running PAL scripts in 2002 SAM would regularly do a disappearing act or it would stutter and FREEZE. This is a from a user who is having issues with the latest 2021 version. [CORE] Unhandled exception (Out of memory while expanding memory stream) I stopped some of the scripts and the problem still occurred The memory leak PAL Script crashed SAM Broadcaster The PAL Scripting inter

Its nearly the end of 2021 and YET again Spacial Audio haven't done a lot with their software this year. This is the 2021 SAM Broadcaster Changelog: -v2021.6 (13 December 2021) * Fixed issue with PRO DJ Keys. * Updated several URLs to use HTTPS. * SAMReporter can now be started with /INSTANCE={instance_name} for multi-instance installations. v2021.5 (10 November 2021) * Upgraded build chain. v2021.4 (20 July 2021) * Fix read of BPM from tag and updating of BPM field in database when changed. * Updated dates and information on various windows. v2021.3 (18 June 2021) * SAM Reporter now detects best port to use. (Ports tried in this order: 80, 81, 8080, 8081, 10080) * SAM Reporter improved support for MariaDB. * Auto-updater support for secure downloads & certificate checks. v2021.2 (7 May 2021) * Updated digital signatures to SHA256. 2021.1 (25 March 2021) * Improved MariaDB detection and installation. As you ca

A user recently put in a feature request on the SAM Broadcaster Forums. I'm using Sam Broadcaster and I am getting very tired eyes from the White background of the interface. I Would appreciate a DARK MODE The interface of SAM Broadcaster Pro has always been hard on the eyes. I couldn't stare at the Interface for long periods myself without getting a headache. This where RadioDJ is better because in the 2.x.x. versions you can change the colours of the Interface. This is a theme I came up with a dark barkground with Geen and Red I don't find myself getting eye strain and can look at the RadioDJ interface for longer than I ever could SAM. The user complaining about eye strain won't be getting a dark skin for SAM Broadcaster anytime soon. Its RARE Spacial Audio introduce new features into their software. They DON'T listen to their user base. So i

I’ve been accused of lying about the problems that SAM Broadcaster suffers from. I am NOT lying or making anything up things really are as bad as it gets with SAM Broadcaster The problems documented on my Blog are just a few of the reasons as to why I think SAM Broadcaster software isn’t worth the $$$ Spacial Audio charge for it I used the program for over 10 years so I know all of it’s ANNOYING QUIRKS SAM caused me no end of stress. IF SAM was coded properly and was a reliable program then my blog posts about the Issues wouldn’t have needed to be written. The program freezing, encoders buffering, random crashing issues were part of my Imagination? SAM Broadcaster Pro/Studio are as UNSTABLE as people say they are I've tried running SAM Broadcaster on several computers and operating systems over the years. With pretty much the same results everytime we’ve gone to install and use the program. SAM crashes after 10/15 minutes often ta

I know from watching broadcasting websites that Internetradio station owners don't always have endless pots of cash. SOME Radio software subscriptions can be expensive and sometimes users get taken for a ride by the company. Users buy the software then they find the support is horrible Its among one of the reasons I ditched Spacial Audio and their lacklustre software. I could never get a sensible answer on the Forums or got called rude names by one of the moderators. This is where software such as RadioDJ is miles better than a lot of the paid for automation programs. For starters RadioDJ is 100% FREE and has a great support network on the RadioDJ Community Forums Reasons to Use RadioDJ: Once installed it's stable and works for days/weeks without needing to keep an eye on it Great Music library support add as many categories & subcategories you re

As the title of the post suggests it need not be a faff when you want to stream audio on the Internet. IT can seem daunting setting up an Streaming Encoder for the first time. Its not difficult to setup a streaming encoder all you need is a Rocket Broadcaster, Shoutcast or Icecast Server to stream your Audio to. The hardest part is configuring the soundcard and encoder options. Once thats done the world really is your Oyster. I currently use Sound Empire Caster to stream audio and its rare to have an issue. I've certainly not noticed any buffering. I know other users of Sound Empire Caster have only good things to say about it. Sound Empire Caster 1.1.5 Sound Empire Caster 1.1.6 Sound Empire Caster 1.2.7 Sound Empire Caster 1.2.8 How To Configure An Encoder After configuring the encoder you then need to configure the audio from whichever audio source you want to broadcast live.

When it comes to Internet radio the hardest thing a radio station owner can do is try and attract listeners to their stream. I found in the past when I was streaming that most listeners only tended to tune in for 1 maybe 2 songs. I would play 2 Classic 80s songs together and then I'd lose a few listeners If those listeners heard those two songs played together on mainstream 80s radio those people would think the DJ was amazing. There is no DJ on most mainstream radio stations most of its Voice tracked, Computerised & Networked from remote Studios. Sadly it seems despite Internetradio station owners promoting their stations people only want to hear what they want to HEAR. Internet radio is losing out big style to Streaming services such as Spotify Spotify wants to KILL Internet Radio as we know it! Yes its nice when you do get listeners sticking around bu

I've been into Internet radio and streaming for years now. It started out with me tuning into a LIVE365 Station in 1999. In that time I've spent a lot of time using and testing various radio automation solutions. Although my interest in Internet radio had started in 1999 it was 2002 before I had a Broadband connection. Radio automation software offerings back in 2002 were PANTS. You didn't have a great deal of choice. I tried Winamp with DSP plugins to try and stream but I ended up with large gaps of silence between songs so that wasn't ideal. Winamp would casually crash when you least wanted it to. An unstable DSP Plugin was usually to blame for that. Badly written Plugins were common back in Winamp's heyday! A lot of the DSP and General plugins from the Winamp website either wouldn't work or they would cause Winamp to freeze. You also had to change playlists manually and

This was a question posed by someone on the Spacial Audio SAM Broadcaster forums after their station manager left the radio station. How do I go about transferring our SAM Broadcaster Pro 2021.4 license from our old station manager to a new email account? AFAIK: You cannot swap someone elses registered email address for yours. Its not as simple as that. This is the KICKER! Spacial Audio will most likely tell this user that they need to purchase a whole new SAM Broadcaster licence. Which means paying out $$$ just so they can broadcast with SAM Broadcaster If this user switched their station and DJ's over to RadioDJ then they wouldn't need to pay any money. Reasons to Use RadioDJ: Once installed it's stable and works for days/weeks without needing to keep an eye on it Great Music library support add as many categories & subcategories yo

Looking at my old website on Wayback Machine its made me realise its over 10 years since I started blogging. I started my blog in 2011 to get a few things off my chest that I couldn't say on forums. Mainly about software malfunctioning and other general annoyances in the world of Online Radio. I've been into Internet radio since I first tuned into a LIVE365 Station way back in 1999. In all those years I've been shocked by just how awful MOST of the paid for radio automation playout solutions actually are. I've had no end of headaches when I've paid for radio automation software in the past. Getting support for paid for software was an absolute nightmare with some online radio software companies. Some pieces of software were easy to use and others were downright awkward/difficult to use. I never got great uptime from software such as SAM Broadcaster or Zararadio they would crash when I lea