Contributing 101

Thanks to the press love we’ve gotten in such esteemed sites as All Access, Radio Daily News, SDRadio.net, Radio-Info and others, we’re seeing a lot of new traffic stopping by, and we thank you.

Some of you, no doubt, are thinking about firing up the ol’ radios and sending in IDs of your own to share. Before you do, please keep in some guidelines in mind.

How To Contribute
Here’s the thing: it’s not only what the legal ID sounds like, but also the context in which it’s presented. With that in mind, here’s what I look for in an ID tape:

• Legal IDs should come from actual off-air airchecks. We won’t post production pieces out of the automation or broadcasts off a webstream.
• The actual legal ID of the stations, even if it’s a mumbled mess buried in the :50 stopset.
• At least 10 seconds of programming on both sides of the ID (not including dead air around the ID). Because context is so important, we will no longer post IDs without surrounding programming.
• If it’s in a jingle, the whole jingle (including jock talk, SFX, etc), plus the 10 sec. of programming on either side.
• If it’s done in a jock talk break, the entire break (or approximately 30 sec. of it if it’s terribly long), plus the 10 sec. of programming on either side.
• On high quality cassette, CD, or high quality MP3 (at least 128 kpbs/44 khz). We very strongly prefer stereo files to mono.
• We suggest just rolling tape for a few minutes to catch the ID.
• Please provide the month and year the recording was made. IDs without month and year won’t be posted.
• E-mail ID audio to [email protected]. While e-mail is the preferred method of submission, FTP or a snail mail address is available. E-mail me for the scoop.
• For the lawyers (and yes, it’s an issue): We encourage submissions to tophour.com and tophour.net under the above conditions. Tophour management reserves the right to select what materials will be used on-site. There is no financial compensation for contributions. All submissions retain original copyright by the radio stations who produced the broadcast(s) and their ownership. Files will be removed upon written request by station ownership. All submissions become the property of tophour.net and tophour.com.

Yes, they are pretty stringent, but pretty easy to follow guidelines. It’s all about making the site the best it can possibly be. If you have questions or comments, you’re more than welcome to click the “Comment” link below or to e-mail me or Lou. (We hate on the spam, remove the dashes to actually get the notes to us.)