Today is the second anniversary of when I put out the call for helpers. I discovered that today as I was copying the old “News” into the blog.
As the number of stations that were streaming grew and grew, it became apparent that one person can’t test everything that needs to be tested.
If you have some spare time and want to help, there are a number of ways you can help – a lot depends on your interests and what you want to do. To become a volunteer, you need to be registered (the server sends you a random password to make sure I can contact you if I have a question about something you tested – there is no mailing list or “club”).
Then click on the Volunteer link – it just makes sure you understand that volunteer means you aren’t going to be paid :), and some basic information.
If you’re logged in as a volunteer, a few extra pages are available to you.
If you’re mostly a music listener, the Station Check list may be for you – it shows the oldest stations that stream that have not been tested recently. A “test” for a music station is basically 3 things:
- Is the streaming working?
- Is the player playing the right station?
- Has the music category changed since it was added to the directory?
Note that I don’t have time to argue about nuances of music formats – “wrong” category would be something like a Country station now playing HipHop or a Classic Music station airing Sports Talk. Differences like Oldies, Classic Rock, and Variety/Mix are fuzzy to begin with and I am not a radio genre consultant.
If you’re a News/Talk junkie like me, the Program Checker is where you may find enjoyment. It’s really important to understand that purpose of checking the Program is to make sure the correct host is on the air, not just that the stream makes a noise. Station schedules are very unreliable. To be sure means either knowing the voice of the host, or waiting until they say their name or the name of the show.
One frustrating issue – and I have trouble saying this without scaring people away – is that the objective is not to make the to-do list go away. There have been about a half dozen “volunteers” so far who jump in with both feet the first day, and start clicking every “It worked!” button as fast as they can. That completely defeats the point of testing and damages the accuracy of the directory – so I end up scheduling everything to be tested again. I Do Watch what you do closely for the first few days as a volunteer until I’m sure you “get it”.
If you’re a random kind of person and like to discover new things, just click on the Random Station button. If it works, click on It Worked, and that’s one less thing that needs to be tested. If you stumble on something you like, just listen to it. Life is not just all about testing :)
And Thank You to all of the people who have helped – now and in the past. The directory is better and more accurate because of what you’ve done.