Welcome to the world of Radio

Click to replay the audio Continue to the menu

Turn your speakers on

Close your eyes

Clean out your earsEnjoy the experience

The playlist

Instrumental postsInstrumental post - Listening Test

Setting your speaker levelsIntroduction to Commercial Radio Broadcasting

Vocal PostingVocal Posting – Listening TestGoing off the airCredits

Audio LevelsIt’s important that the sound on your computer be adjusted to a level that is comfortable and a little louder than normal. You are going to listen for finer detail than you normally would.

For these reasons, it is suggested you complete the audio setup on the next page before attempting any listening exercise.

Return to menu Forward

Click on the speaker icon to play a test audio sample.

Return to menu

Commercial Radio Broadcasting

Commercial Broadcasting has two fields: Television and Radio

We will focus on radio in this activity and learn about television in another activity.

Return to menu Forward

Commercial Radio Broadcasting

Return to menu Forward

Radio has three distinct ways of getting to you:

F.M. or Frequency ModulationA.M. or Amplitude Modulation SDARS or Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service

(Sirius or XM Satellite Radio)

The United States, Canada and Mexico have over 44,312 licensed F.M. radio stations, 26,046 A.M. stations and 23,446 television stations.

As you can see by the large numbers above radio stations outnumber television stations, in fact, by three times.

The government agency responsible for regulating radio stations is the Federal Communications Commission or FCC. You can lookup your favorite station at the FCCs website http://www.fcc.gov

Commercial Radio Broadcasting

Return to menu

Vocal Posting

Return to menu

A skill any Air Personality must have is the ability to listen critically to music and hear something called a Vocal Post.

A Vocal Post is a point in the music where the instrumental passage has voices with it. This can be someone singing or talking. Any of these vocal sounds are considered a Vocal Post.

Sometimes the vocal post is late in the music, and sometimes it is early. The point depends on the music.

Vocal Posting – Listening Test

Return to menu Check your answer

Listen to the following song and see if you can hear the Vocal Post. You will have three points to choose from.

Click the speaker to play the sound

Was the Vocal Post at point A ?

Was the Vocal Post at point B ?

Was the Vocal Post at point C ?

Something That We Doby Clint BlackFrom the Album Ultimate Clint BlackLabel: RLG/BMG HeritageCopyright: (P) 2003 BMG Music

The correct answer is A

At 15 seconds into the song we hear Clint Black start his vocals of “I remember well the day we wed…”

Return to menu

Vocal Posting – Listening Test

When you go off the airWhen a broadcasting station goes off the air at the end of

their broadcast day or forever, the station is required to identify itself. Before going off the air the station must include the following according to the FCC:

§ 73.1201 Station Identification. (b) Content. (1) Official station identification shall consist of the station's call letters immediately followed by the community or communities specified in its license as the station's location; Provided, That the name of the licensee, the station's frequency, the station's channel number, as stated on the station's license, and/or the station's network affiliation may be inserted between the call letters and station location. DTV stations, or DAB Stations, choosing to include the station's channel number in the station identification must use the station's major channel number and may distinguish multicast program streams. For example, a DTV station with major channel number 26 may use 26.1 to identify an HDTV program service and 26.2 to identify an SDTV program service. A radio station operating in DAB hybrid mode or extended hybrid mode shall identify its digital signal, including any free multicast audio programming streams,in a manner that appropriately alerts its audience to the fact that it is listening to a digital audio broadcast. No other insertion between the station's call letters and the community or communities specified in its license is permissible

Return to menu Click to replay WRSU sign-on audio clip

Creditshttp://www.radioyears.com/http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?state=&call=&arn=&city=&chan=&cha2=69&serv=&type=0&facid=&list=1&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&

size=9http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?state=&call=&arn=&city=&freq=530&fre2=1700&type=0&facid=&class=&list=1&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&

EW=W&size=9http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?state=&call=&city=&arn=&serv=&vac=&freq=0.0&fre2=107.9&facid=&class=&dkt=&list=1&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&

EW=W&size=9http://www.kgou.org/http://www.wbls.com/http://hot97.com/http://www.q107.com/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/http://www.xm.com//http://www.sirius.com/http://www.npr.org/http://wmbr.mit.edu/http://www.uspto.gov/go/kids/soundex/74309951.mp3http://www.pavekmuseum.org/wpbclastday.mp3

Return to menu

Click to replay WPBC sign-off audio clip