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As recent re-openings edge life back to normal, our KZSM noon live emergency news special will move to Monday and Friday. We will summarize what affects our listeners going into the week, and going into the weekend. We will continue to interview leaders, experts, and your neighbors to bring you the facts from local sources.
Our radio hosts continue to adjust to the current reality. The most technologically adventurous have begun broadcasting remotely from home.
After two months without a live show, Ray Howard, host of “Into the Gray,” Fri days 10 a.m. to noon, decided to broadcast from his home office. Howard’s show “attempts to use music to remind us all that we have much more in common with each other than the black and white issues that are tearing us apart as a nation.” The combination of music and talk requires two CD players, a sound mixer, a computer to play music, a second computer to send out the output signal, microphones for the host and any guests, and reliable wi-fi.
“The actual home studio turned into much more of a duct tape and shoestring facility than a 21st century production studio,” Howard admits. Forty-five minutes before showtime, key connections were missing, and any one of several problems could kill the live broadcast.
Like all our KZSM.org volunteers, Howard is a problem solver. He borrows his son’s DVD player, grabs his backup laptop, finds an extra microphone. Drawing on his skills as a videographer, he finds the correct combinations of wires and connectors to make the output signal work.
Fifteen minutes before showtime, the KZSM Operations Manager calls in the test the switch over. It works. Howard hooks up the microphone and tests it. Nothing. Oh yes —s witch on the power. It’s too loud, but there’s sound.
At 10:02 a.m. “Into the Gray” goes live. All is well. At 10:15 a.m. the next-door neighbor starts mowing right outside of the “studio.” The show goes on. A successful show, all things considered. “Next week will be better,” Howard says, “and every week will continue to improve as we all figure out our way in this new normal.”
Like all our staff, Howard is a volunteer. KZSM. org is a self-supporting non-profit. We also are feeling the economic effects of COVID-19. To help sustain our programming, find the “donate” button on our website, KZSM.org. Tune in, stay in, help out.
