Most of you know that I abandoned trying to maintain player links a few months ago, due to the end of Windows XP support, the shift toward mobile listening with dedicated apps and the general notion of getting away from this web site being my entire life<\/p>\n
But that’s not the only problem and probably not the most serious problem. Radio Stations have a habit of changing their web site domains for frivolous reasons, like a change in format – http:\/\/www.1089froggyfm.com\/ becomes http:\/\/www.thewolf1089.com\/ because the station changed branding. They also forget to renew their domains and they expire. The old domain is frequently released (almost always within a year) and picked up by some entity in asia or eastern europe that may or may not have ill intentions to visitors still using the outdated link.<\/p>\n
Part of the old Windows based verification process was to go through every station (All 15,000 or so) on a regular basis and confirm that the web site is still correct, the format of the station hasn’t changed, and possibly update player links or enter schedule information. Because this is such a huge task, prioritization is necessary – a few formats like News\/Talk get special attention since that’s the bulk of the visitor interest, and major markets are given priority over small towns in Oklahoma. Student run college and high school stations are close to ignored because they constantly change each year or more often, and NOBODY listens to them.<\/p>\n
Before I ended the volunteer program, there was a display of the average age of how long it had been since a station had been verified. Volunteers had access to a page to do this – the general approach was the volunteer flagged the station with the issue, and I would fix it, because that’s the kind of micromanager I am \ud83d\ude42 When the Average got up to over a year, I stopped displaying the statistic.<\/p>\n
Here is a month to month count of verification activity<\/p>\n
+----------------+----------------------+\r\n| verified_month | verified_month_count |\r\n+----------------+----------------------+\r\n| Never | 111 |\r\n| 2005-10 | 2 |\r\n| 2006-01 | 1 |\r\n| 2006-02 | 84 |\r\n| 2006-03 | 70 |\r\n| 2006-04 | 11 |\r\n| 2006-05 | 6 |\r\n| 2006-06 | 12 |\r\n| 2006-07 | 37 |\r\n| 2006-08 | 39 |\r\n| 2006-09 | 5 |\r\n| 2006-11 | 6 |\r\n| 2006-12 | 22 |\r\n| 2007-01 | 9 |\r\n| 2007-02 | 44 |\r\n| 2007-03 | 62 |\r\n| 2007-04 | 18 |\r\n| 2007-05 | 15 |\r\n| 2007-06 | 9 |\r\n| 2007-07 | 19 |\r\n| 2007-08 | 27 |\r\n| 2007-09 | 158 |\r\n| 2007-10 | 61 |\r\n| 2007-11 | 32 |\r\n| 2007-12 | 10 |\r\n| 2008-01 | 17 |\r\n| 2008-02 | 16 |\r\n| 2008-03 | 31 |\r\n| 2008-04 | 56 |\r\n| 2008-05 | 22 |\r\n| 2008-06 | 18 |\r\n| 2008-07 | 24 |\r\n| 2008-08 | 70 |\r\n| 2008-09 | 20 |\r\n| 2008-10 | 25 |\r\n| 2008-11 | 11 |\r\n| 2008-12 | 29 |\r\n| 2009-01 | 30 |\r\n| 2009-02 | 65 |\r\n| 2009-03 | 276 |\r\n| 2009-04 | 32 |\r\n| 2009-05 | 35 |\r\n| 2009-06 | 34 |\r\n| 2009-07 | 60 |\r\n| 2009-08 | 62 |\r\n| 2009-09 | 12 |\r\n| 2009-10 | 20 |\r\n| 2009-11 | 46 |\r\n| 2009-12 | 113 |\r\n| 2010-01 | 29 |\r\n| 2010-02 | 49 |\r\n| 2010-03 | 14 |\r\n| 2010-04 | 158 |\r\n| 2010-05 | 46 |\r\n| 2010-06 | 82 |\r\n| 2010-07 | 81 |\r\n| 2010-08 | 268 |\r\n| 2010-09 | 116 |\r\n| 2010-10 | 61 |\r\n| 2010-11 | 157 |\r\n| 2010-12 | 101 |\r\n| 2011-01 | 12 |\r\n| 2011-02 | 32 |\r\n| 2011-03 | 76 |\r\n| 2011-04 | 224 |\r\n| 2011-05 | 134 |\r\n| 2011-06 | 44 |\r\n| 2011-07 | 259 |\r\n| 2011-08 | 1750 |\r\n| 2011-10 | 31 |\r\n| 2011-11 | 13 |\r\n| 2011-12 | 1112 |\r\n| 2012-03 | 103 |\r\n| 2012-04 | 3 |\r\n| 2012-05 | 182 |\r\n| 2012-06 | 3 |\r\n| 2012-07 | 10 |\r\n| 2012-09 | 25 |\r\n| 2012-11 | 18 |\r\n| 2013-05 | 111 |\r\n| 2013-06 | 442 |\r\n| 2013-07 | 126 |\r\n| 2013-08 | 1123 |\r\n| 2013-09 | 465 |\r\n| 2013-12 | 153 |\r\n| 2014-01 | 287 |\r\n| 2014-02 | 207 |\r\n| 2014-03 | 191 |\r\n| 2014-04 | 35 |\r\n| 2014-05 | 286 |\r\n| 2014-06 | 186 |\r\n+----------------+----------------------+\r\n<\/pre>\nYou can see the year in Chicago (August 2012 – Oct 2013), I did almost no work on verification – you were lucky if I was keeping schedules semi-current. I’ve completely given up on looking for HD2\/3\/4 web sites.<\/p>\n
Here is the first few of the oldest stations to give you a sense of the things not being looked at<\/p>\n
+------------+----------------------+--------+---------------------+----------------------------+\r\n| streamname | CityName | Statex | verifiedtime | FormatName |\r\n+------------+----------------------+--------+---------------------+----------------------------+\r\n| WSPM FM | CLOVERDALE | IN | 2005-10-08 20:11:58 | Catholic |\r\n| WFSO FM | OLIVEBRIDGE | NY | 2005-10-25 08:51:25 | Religious Ministry |\r\n| KBKS FM\/HD | TACOMA | WA | 2006-01-27 09:17:44 | Contemporary Hits |\r\n| WKAR FM\/HD | EAST LANSING | MI | 2006-02-13 20:08:25 | Public Radio |\r\n| WERG FM | ERIE | PA | 2006-02-13 20:39:55 | Educational |\r\n| WBER FM | ROCHESTER | NY | 2006-02-13 20:47:57 | Community Radio |\r\n| WWOG FM | COOKEVILLE | TN | 2006-02-13 21:22:20 | Gospel |\r\n| WAMC FM\/HD | ALBANY | NY | 2006-02-13 21:32:43 | Public Radio |\r\n| WBNI FM | ROANOKE | IN | 2006-02-13 21:53:51 | Classical Music |\r\n| WGTE FM | TOLEDO | OH | 2006-02-13 22:11:55 | Classical Music |\r\n| KUER FM\/HD | SALT LAKE CITY | UT | 2006-02-14 01:25:35 | Public Radio |\r\n| KVLU FM\/HD | BEAUMONT | TX | 2006-02-14 01:55:48 | Public Radio |\r\n| WQLN FM | ERIE | PA | 2006-02-14 01:56:13 | Public Radio |\r\n| WPSU FM\/HD | STATE COLLEGE | PA | 2006-02-14 06:05:33 | Public Radio |\r\n| KJJP FM\/HD | AMARILLO | TX | 2006-02-14 06:24:50 | Public Radio |\r\n| KING FM\/HD | SEATTLE | WA | 2006-02-14 06:39:38 | Classical Music |\r\n| KVPR FM\/HD | FRESNO | CA | 2006-02-15 19:01:43 | Public Radio |\r\n| KWGS FM\/HD | TULSA | OK | 2006-02-15 19:31:46 | Public Radio |\r\n| WUSF FM\/HD | TAMPA | FL | 2006-02-16 01:23:01 | Public Radio |\r\n| WERN FM\/HD | MADISON | WI | 2006-02-16 04:18:40 | Classical Music |\r\n| KUAR FM\/HD | LITTLE ROCK | AR | 2006-02-16 05:14:12 | Public Radio |\r\n| KUNR FM | RENO | NV | 2006-02-16 05:21:27 | Public Radio |\r\n| KHOY FM | LAREDO | TX | 2006-02-16 05:22:33 | Catholic |\r\n| WRNI AM\/HD | PROVIDENCE | RI | 2006-02-16 05:26:35 | Public Radio |\r\n| WUTC FM\/HD | CHATTANOOGA | TN | 2006-02-16 05:41:55 | Public Radio |\r\n| WVKS FM\/HD | TOLEDO | OH | 2006-02-16 20:48:51 | Contemporary Hits |\r\n| WRVF FM\/HD | TOLEDO | OH | 2006-02-16 20:50:51 | Soft\/Lite Rock |\r\n| KCCK FM\/HD | CEDAR RAPIDS | IA | 2006-02-17 01:19:21 | Jazz |\r\n| WHRB FM | CAMBRIDGE | MA | 2006-02-17 01:47:26 | Educational |\r\n| WGTD FM\/HD | KENOSHA | WI | 2006-02-17 02:41:24 | Public Radio |\r\n| KCFY FM | YUMA | AZ | 2006-02-17 03:51:40 | Christian Music |\r\n| WFMU FM | EAST ORANGE | NJ | 2006-02-17 07:07:25 | Community Radio |\r\n| WQRM AM | DULUTH | MN | 2006-02-17 08:49:48 | Gospel |\r\n| WFCR FM\/HD | AMHERST | MA | 2006-02-17 09:49:35 | Public Radio |\r\n| WBNW AM | CONCORD | MA | 2006-02-17 10:00:21 | Biz Talk |\r\n| WUEC FM | EAU CLAIRE | WI | 2006-02-17 11:26:35 | Public Radio |\r\n| WNZK AM | DEARBORN HEIGHTS | MI | 2006-02-17 11:30:25 | Ethnic |\r\n| WKYU FM\/HD | BOWLING GREEN | KY | 2006-02-18 02:26:18 | Public Radio |\r\n| KAFM FM | GRAND JUNCTION | CO | 2006-02-18 03:21:12 | Community Radio |\r\n| WEVO FM\/HD | CONCORD | NH | 2006-02-18 03:26:22 | Public Radio |\r\n| WMAX AM | BAY CITY | MI | 2006-02-18 05:24:37 | Catholic |\r\n| WNJA FM\/HD | JAMESTOWN | NY | 2006-02-18 06:27:38 | Classical Music |\r\n| WMEH FM\/HD | BANGOR | ME | 2006-02-18 06:28:30 | Public Radio |\r\n| KUAC FM\/HD | FAIRBANKS | AK | 2006-02-18 06:32:28 | Public Radio |\r\n| WKSU FM\/HD | KENT | OH | 2006-02-18 06:56:41 | Public Radio |\r\n| WKPB FM | HENDERSON | KY | 2006-02-18 07:09:31 | Public Radio |\r\n| WEKU FM | RICHMOND | KY | 2006-02-18 07:13:27 | Public Radio |\r\n| WAMU FM\/HD | WASHINGTON | DC | 2006-02-18 21:36:03 | Public Radio |\r\n| WNTK FM | NEW LONDON | NH | 2006-02-19 05:01:30 | News \/ Talk |\r\n| KZIA FM | CEDAR RAPIDS | IA | 2006-02-19 07:38:21 | Contemporary Hits |\r\n| WEMU FM\/HD | YPSILANTI | MI | 2006-02-20 02:06:26 | Public Radio |\r\n| WRVO FM\/HD | OSWEGO | NY | 2006-02-20 11:30:31 | Public Radio |\r\n| WWGC AM | ALBERTVILLE | AL | 2006-02-20 13:53:07 | Religious Ministry |\r\n| KLUX FM\/HD | ROBSTOWN | TX | 2006-02-21 04:48:40 | Easy Listening |\r\n| WKOK AM | SUNBURY | PA | 2006-02-21 22:05:35 | Local News \/ Talk \/ Sports |\r\n| KDSK FM | GRANTS | NM | 2006-02-22 00:18:57 | Oldies |\r\n| WNNJ FM | NEWTON | NJ | 2006-02-22 01:30:35 | Alternative\/Hard\/New Rock |\r\n| WSLU FM\/HD | CANTON | NY | 2006-02-22 02:10:24 | Public Radio |\r\n| WSUS FM | FRANKLIN | NJ | 2006-02-22 02:17:50 | Soft\/Lite Rock |\r\n| KZMU FM\/HD | MOAB | UT | 2006-02-22 02:36:27 | Community Radio |\r\n<\/pre>\nWhat I’m considering \/ proposing \/ bouncing off people is the notion that a volunteer would become ruler of a portion of the database and have primary responsibility for maintaining the station and schedule information. Reports of “It doesn’t work” or “The wrong program would go to you, with a ‘cc to me, and I would expect you to resolve the problems and\/or communicate with the person who reports the issue in a reasonably timely manor.<\/p>\n
I’m thinking along the lines of states having rulers, and possibly formats, creating a matrix. One person might take the lead for stations in New Jersey, and another person might want to maintain Country music stations – so a Country Music station in New Jersey would have two people with a shared responsibility.<\/p>\n
Of course, there is no monetary or financial reward for doing this. Nancy Pelosi wants us to stop working and just do things that interest us and help us grow as people – what more motivation could you want?<\/p>\n
Don’t respond right away – think it over and post a thoughtful response if you think this has merit. It means building some better web based tools and a few database changes, but it isn’t a major major project – but before I proceed, I would like some feedback.<\/p>\n
Note that I’m not looking for “I know what WKAR is!” from the list. There are about 6,000 stations that are more than a year since they were looked at:<\/p>\n
+---------------+---------------------+\r\n| verified_year | verified_year_count |\r\n+---------------+---------------------+\r\n| NULL | 111 |\r\n| 2005 | 2 |\r\n| 2006 | 293 |\r\n| 2007 | 464 |\r\n| 2008 | 339 |\r\n| 2009 | 785 |\r\n| 2010 | 1162 |\r\n| 2011 | 3687 |\r\n| 2012 | 344 |\r\n| 2013 | 2420 |\r\n| 2014 | 1192 |\r\n+---------------+---------------------+\r\n<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most of you know that I abandoned trying to maintain player links a few months ago, due to the end of Windows XP support, the shift toward mobile listening with dedicated apps and the general notion of getting away from … Continue reading