AES New York 2013
Archiving and Restoration Track Event T23
Sunday, October 20, 2:30 pm — 4:00 pm (Room 1E09)
Tutorial: T23 - WFMU's Adventures in 24/7 Archiving: Using On-Demand Programs and Crowd-Sourced Metadata to Grow a Radio Audience
Presenters:Ken Freedman, WFMU - Jersey City, NJ, USA
Tom Miller, New York University - New York, NY, USA; Curatorial Consulting - Brooklyn, NY, USA
Abstract:
WFMU, the most renowned freeform radio station in America, has archived itself more than 24 hours a day for ten years. Unlike any other radio station, WFMU keeps all its audio archives available to the public at all times. This is made possible by direct licenses from over 2000 record labels and artists. While many radio stations face the challenge of digitizing their physical libraries, WFMU has never attempted to do that, opting instead to build an internal digital library as well as the Free Music Archive, an interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads. Ken Freedman, WFMU Station Manager/Program Director, and sound/media anthropologist Tom Miller discuss these innovations, issues, and technical challenges including crowd-sourced metadata, trans-coding projects, and coordinating various streaming and archiving formats.
