Mon Dec22 LAST CALL FOR DECEMBER SHOWS!

Greetings, one and all!

Today, you have one simple assignment: get me your DECEMBER RADIO SHOWS! So far, these are the people from whom I have this very important (for your grade!) file:

Keith, Trevor, JP

Brendan D

Ben and Tyler

For the rest of you, there is no sign of a December show whatsoever, except for Nicole, who uploaded her session file, and not the exported mp3.

YOU NEED TO PASS THESE IN RIGHT NOW. NOTHING ELSE WILL HAPPEN IN THIS ROOM UNTIL I GET EVERYONE'S DECEMBER SHOW.

Mr. L

Friday, December 19: THIS DAY in HISTORY

Greetings from across all borders and boundaries:

Hello children, and a thousand pardons that I could not be here. Here is your assignment for today:

A) Most of you should have DECEMBER radio show that you have uploaded to your computer. If this is the case, I need to have a copy of it ASAP (For the rest of you, we will need to finish it on Monday, assuming we don't get buried in an avalanche by then.)

B)For the remainder of today's class, you will need to create either a Discussion or a Page on our Google group. Here is what it will have to be about:

1) You have already interviewed at least 2 or 3 of your classmates. Now you will have to decide which person you would most want to interview, besides a family member or personal friend. Choose wisely, because you can only choose ONE PERSON

2) You must pick out ONE important event in that person's life to talk about. For example, I would either choose
President Reagan, when he stood in front of the Berlin Wall and demanded that it be torn down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjWDrTXMgF8
http://www.reaganlibrary.com/reagan/speeches/wall.asp

OR, Jimi Hendrix, when he played the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_nO0F4ugss
http://www.jimi-hendrix.com/magazine/502/502,features,nationalanthem.html

Notice that I have links to both these events. You will need to gather some links of your own. Just figured I would warn you.

3) You must come up with at least seven questions you would want to ask this person, based on that event. Your questions must be posed in the form of a complete sentence

4) You must come up with at least a two sentence ANSWER for these questions. What do you think this person would actually say? You must base this on some references you can find online. Here's where you list your sources. And please, don't just list http://www.google.com/, or http://www.wikipedia.com/ -- how LAME! List the actual website addresses. You should have at least three of them.

As I said, please post this as a Discussion. Also, I will need you to print it out, with your FULL NAME at the very TOP of this document, and hand it in to my substitute.

"the faster we go,
the rounder we get"
Mr. L

Thursday, December 18th: Time to get ALL December shows DONE!

Greetings, Period 3 Radio Noisemakers!

We are REALLY starting to run short on time. For one thing, I won't be here tomorrow --sorry, but I have another commitment that I cannot get away from. Fear not, I will leave an assignment which must be done. For another thing, after this week, we only have one day to realistically get any work done: Monday. Other than that, all you have is today.

SO FAR, I CANNOT FIND A DECEMBER SHOW FOR ANY GROUP IN HERE. I NEED TO HAVE SOMETHING BY THE END OF CLASS TODAY

Today, the batting order to get next door is as follows:

WAVE 1: Trevor/Keith/JP & Mike/Zach

WAVE 2: Kate & Nicole

WAVE 3: Wesley/ZHutch/BrendanL & Brian/Greg/Thiago

WAVE 4: BrendanF & Ben/Tyler

WAVE 5: Mateo/Mason

This presumes that you are not COMPLETELY FINISHED RECORDING next door. If you are, then my only question must be: where the heck is your December show?

While you're waiting to go next door, here is an item missed by people on Tuesday:

The assignment was to either explain how to do something that you already do, or explain how to achieve some special effect in Adobe Audition. I was unable to find a discussion posting on either topic for the following people:

Zachary DiFranza
Brendan Driscoll
Jeffrey Dufficy
Brendan Fitzpatrick
Benjamin Greff
Brendan Litavis
Mason Missaggia
Nicole Rumrill
Tyler Sullivan
Brian Tate

Additionally, I will need some additional information from the following people:


Mike Cronin
Mateo Bravo
Greg Hadley
Mason Missaggia
Brian Tate

I like what you've done, but it doesn't really fit the assignment, which is to tell me how you DO something. Could you include a paragraph or two on how to do something from what you wrote already please?

Thiago Mendes
Zach Hutchinson --- Excellent work, but could you upload an audio example that demonstrates this effect please?

Wesley Eriksen, Keith Bohlin and Kate Bransfield -- again, very cool, but I was hoping you could include some links and a set of instructions for getting signed up for an account

OK, that ought to do it for this morning. Again, most importantly, YOU MUST UPLOAD SOME VERSION OF YOUR DECEMBER SHOW TODAY.

Cheers,
Mr. L

Tuesday, December 16: More recording, and.....?

Greetings, fellow aquarians!

Today, you will be moving in and out of the recording studio next door with all due speed -- this means, BE READY, and don't waste any time when you get in there. You will each have 15 minutes to begin with. Here is the order in which you will go in:

wave 1: Kate and Mike/Zach

wave 2: Nicole and BrendanF

wave 3: Ben/Tyler and Mateo/Mason

wave 4: Trevor/Keith/JP and Brian/Greg/Thiago

Then we start all over again from yesterday, time permitting.

While you are waiting your turn, you will need to do the following:

A) Add to the show you have already created next door: bumper music, on air identifiers, intro theme song. Using Audition of course. Note: I can convert any files you might need, so if you need something ripped from a CD, I'd be happy to help. Just did that for a bunch o' people yesterday.

B) Your choice of the following:

either
1) figure out at least two new features in Adobe Audition, and then post a discussion about how to do whatever it is you found out how to do, what it's good for, why anyone would want to use it. The posting must be at least two complete sentences for each effect, and ideally a link to where this sound has been uploaded to your DIV share account. THIS IS AN INDIVIDUAL EFFORT!

or.....

2) give me a little something I can add to our staff page, sort of an add on to your picture and bio. It could be anything you want to share; for instance, I know some of you like to draw, some of you play on teams, some of you can play an instrument, some of you are into gaming such as Halo or WoW, some of you are into "fantasy sports teams", and so on. Offer me some example of what you do, whther its a picture, a sound file, a movie(?), etc etc, explain to me how you do it. Make it as detailed an explanation as possible. Pretend I don't know jack squat about what you do, and you have to show me how I could get started.

OK, that oughtta be enough exercise for today.

"the faster we go,
the rounder we get"
Mr. L

Monday, December 15: Five sessions til the break!

Greetings, noisy radio aquabats!

As of today, we've only got just a few more sessions until the break. Most of you have published December scripts, and some of you have gotten in next door to do some recording; though truth to tell, I have yet to see any actual "December broadcasts" show up in our account at Box.net.

This being the case, I am asking that each member of every group make the a discussion posting to our Google group. The discussion should consist of at least 4 paragraphs of not less than three to four complete sentences each. It should include the following

A) Title it after yourself, plus the phrase "Old and New"

B) The first paragraph should discuss anything you look forward to doing during the upcoming break

C) The second paragraph should talk about anything you wish you had gotten to do during this past year, but somehow just didn't

D) The third paragraph should be all about plans you might have for this new year that's coming up fast.

E) The fourth and final paragraph should be how you're going to connect this all to the December show you're currently working on.

This material should be worked into the current December shows you are working on. Each of you will need to get at least five minutes recording time in next door. I will begin setting up a "batting order" in a completely random fashion while you finish this current assignment.

"the faster we go,
the rounder we get"

Mr. L

Thursday Dec. 11: Stuff ya gotta hand in, part One

Greetings, radio children,

There are some items missing from the list of things you have been doing over the past several days. Here is who owes what (and needs to do it now)

Naturally, if you've done it and I just missed it, please show me where it is, ASAP. AND, send me the link to the EXACT webpage where I can get this info, by EMAIL

Online radio stations (part one) ----
the blog post for this is found HERE
Brendan Fitzpatrick
Mason Missaggia
Tyler Sullivan


We can do online broadcasting(part two)---
the blog post for this is found HERE
Mateo Bravo
Zach Difranza
Jeffrey Dufficy
Wesley Ericksen
Brendan Fitzpatrick
Trevor Flaxman
Gregory Hadley
Zachary Hutchinson
Brendan Litavis
Thiago Mendes
Mason Missaggia
Nicole Rumrill
Tyler Sullivan
Brian Tate


Setting up online at DivShare
the blog post for this is found HERE
Jeffrey Dufficy
Mason Missaggia

Creating and geting to me a SouthPark type avatar
the blog post for this is found HERE
Mateo Bravo
Michael Cronin
Zachary DiFranza
Brendan Driscoll
Brendan Fitzpatrick
Trevor Flaxman
Thiago Mendes
Mason Missaggia
Nicole Rumrill
Tyler Sullivan
Brian Tate
Tyler Sullivan

Posting a Discussion about December scripts/topics for radio shows
the blog post for this is found HERE
Brendan Fitzpatrick
Benjamin Greff
Sullivan Tyler

Naturally, you also all need to actually be getting next door and working on your radio shows

"the faster we go,
the rounder we get"
Mr. L

PS There will be NO gameplaying of any kind until I am perfectly satisfied that ALL these assignments are completed. If you do attempt this, I will simply be foreced to ask you to set down in writing why felt compeeled to ignore this ruling.

Wednesday, December 10: we DID find our solution!

Eureka! It works. OK, let me back up and explain my story a little bit better. It would seem that our accounts on DIVshare do indeed work. It also seems that our website works: hooray! It would seem that we can do our work here, but cannot listen to the results online UNTIL we leave the building and go online somewhere else. AND, I cannot upload any of your files while I am at home: I have to come back to the building to do that. Savor the irony. In any event, it seems that we are indeed in business, and that we can proceed to the next step which is:

DECEMBER BROADCASTS

Here's what you need to do (if you didn't know it already)

A) You need to discuss amongst yourselves what topics you'd like to cover, then post a discussion to this effect

B) Naturally, you will need to write a script for this show: some kind of an outline that's somewhat more specific than your topic list. Try to set it up in 5 minute time slots, as I want to be able to move people in and out of production next door as quickly as possible. Post this as well

C) Get next door and start setting up your broadcast.

D) While you're waiting around, you may NOT play any games online. However, you can --and will-- set up another avatar for yourself by going to this website:

http://www.sp-studio.de/

It allows you to make a "South Park" type character to represent you on our site.

Please follow the instructions carefully, & when you have a (school appropriate) image ready, please either upload it to Box.net, or upload it to your account at Divshare, and then send me the download link.

"the faster we go, the rounder we get"
Mr. L

Tuesday December 9: We might have found our solution!

Greetings, radio broadcasters!

Before we get into anything else, I would like you to first of all go here:

http://www.geocities.com/radiothreewhps/

This is a webpage I cooked up on my own to see if it would be possible to display your radio shows after I have hosted them at this website:

http://www.divshare.com/

It seems that the first webpage works, and works very well because the second website seems to offer the ability to "stream" your radio shows that we have been seeking. BUT.....

Before we get too overwrought, I would like to try an experiment. I will be moving at top speed to revamp our stuff found on the school's website. In the meantime, I want EACH of you, as INDIVIDUALS, to set up your own accounts at www.divshare.com Once you have an account, I want you to upload some files -- 3 or 4 will do, as long as its stuff that you yourself have helped make during this class.

After that, you will need to post a discussion in our Google group. Name the Discussion after yourself, plus the word "divshare". Please include the exact website address for at least one of the files you have uploaded.

Here's how you do it:

A) go to http://www.divshare.com/

B) in the top right hand corner, you will see a form that asks for your first name, email address, and two places to enter a password. Please fill out the form then hit the SIGN UP button

C) On the next screen, you have to type in some random words; please do that correctly or you'll be here all day!

D) On the next page, look for the link in the top right corner that says "No thanks, continue to my account"

E) on the next page, notice that you will have to go to your email at some point to answer the email they just sent you and "confirm" your account. Either that, or they conclude that you're a bug-eyed alien robot from Neptune, and they delete your account

F) Still on this page, notice that there's a link which says "create new folder" do that, and name the folder after yourself

G) When you create this folder, notice that DivShare automatically puts you inside that folder. While you are there, click the Upload a new file button, and upload some files

H) Once these files are uploaded, you will notice that they have gotten some links attached to them. Those are the links you want to copy and paste into your Google discussion.

See how well you can get this to work. Good luck!

Cheers,
Mr. L

Friday December 5: finishing up the week

OK, last day of this week: time to put all the threads back in the sweater. Before I begin with the big stuff, I need the following from just a few people:



Photos for the staff webpage: I still them for the following people:



Mike Cronin -- sorry Mike, but the picture came out way too blurry to be used.

Ben Greff

Tyler Sullivan



What I want the world to know : bios are still owed by the following people:



Brendan Fitzpatrick

Mateo Bravo

Mason Missaggia

Tyler Sullivan



OK, now that we have THAT out of the way, here's is what I want y'all to be able to do, AS GROUPS:



Use one of the "online broadcasting" websites you found yesterday as a result of the research assignment we started on Tuesday Your group should make your best attempt to set up an account so that you can actually broadcast something you have created. My best suggestion for what you will broadcast would eb the "on air identifier" you made some weeks ago: they're small and easy to work with.



If you succeed, please make a discussion posting titled after your names plus the phrase + the phrase "we're on the air". If it doesn't work, please email me to let me know that you will be trying one of your other websites



Cheers,

Mr. L

PS There is one other SMALL assignment. It has to do with finding a color you like using a webpage called "Hexadecimal". This webpage can be downloaded from the folder you share on BOX.net When you get a chance, please use this page to find a color you like, then email the exact color code that it produces.

PPS As always, no game playing online or offline, and no "fantasy sports" sites used. Also, you must keep all electronic devices --including cellphones, mp3 players, gaming units, etc etc-- out of my sight. If I see it, I'm owning it, and you can get it back from the powers that be at the front office. 'Nuff said!

If you are truly done with everything, come to me, as I have some special stuff planned.

Thurs Dec. 4: setting up online (we hope!)

Howdy there, friends and neighbors!

It would seem that MOST of you have gotten done the first half of the assignment from Tuesday, the Google group page you had to make, which was all about "free online radio" SOME of you have even gotten a good start on the other half of that lesson, which was to make a page about
"free online radio broadcasting", although none of you seems to have completed that assignment. Sooooooooooooooooooooo, this is what needs to happen:

A) Everyone who started the latest assignment needs to finish it.

B) All the rest of you need to do it too. Just click the link above for free broadcasting.

C) Once everyone in your group is done, you will need to decide which website you found is the very best for actually doing online broadcasting. ONE member of your group needs to make a discussion post which includes all the names of your group members, the name and address of the website you chose, and a one sentence explanation as to why your group chose it.

I hope you choose wisely.

Mr. L

PS When you have done this, your entire group needs to come to my desk for further instructions. There's a couple of other things you'll need to do, but they're a little tricky to explain this way.

Tues. December 2, PART TWO

Howdy, howdy, howdy!!

If you're reading this, it means you've finished up with all the items listed in part one. Either that, or you like living dangerously. Either way, here is what you need to do for this section:

A) you are going to create another "page" in our discussion group. This one must be named after yourself, plus the phrase "we can do online broadcasting"

B) As you may have guessed from the title, today you are going to explore the possibilities of being able to create your own broadcasts using some other venue besides the school. There's two reasons for this: 1) we might be waiting quite awhile before the school gets us set up to do "streaming mp3s", which is the stuff you could listen to on those stations you looked at yesterday 2) Long after you're out of this class, I want you to still be able to broadcast if you so choose. I'm a big advocate of free speech, and I don't think it should be limited to groups with lots of money and equipment like the school has!

C) you will be doing a Google search for "free online radio broadcasting"
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+online+radio+broadcasting&aq=4&oq=free+online+radio

D) You will locate at least five online broadcasting places which have at LEAST these features:

• its completely free -- what can I tell you, I'm cheap. Besides do YOu have money to burn?
• it allows you to broadcast some sort of radio show without lots of special (and expensive) hardware or other equipment
• it doesn't require a credit card -- even when something's free, sometimes they want a card number, go figure!
• it allows you to do it from any computer you want; in other words, we're not limited to the equipment we have here at school
• Hopefully, there's no software to download and install

E) In your "page", list the website addresses AND the names of each of these five websites

F) for each of these websites, write one paragraph of at least two to three complete sentences explaining how the site is supposed to work, how you sign up for it, what you can and cannot do with it, etc etc.

G) Finally, recommend at least one of these sites as the best you've found

Cheers,
Mr. L

Tues. Dec 2. PART ONE

Greetings, radio luminousities!!

Before we get going with the second part of today, there's a few things that we need to finish up:

A) November shows -- I am missing shows from this past month from the following people or groups:

Michael Cronin Zachary DiFranza

Brendan Fitzpatrick

Benjamin Greff & Tyler Sullivan

Gregory Hadley Thiago Mendes & Brian Tate

Nicole Rumrill

B) November shows that are too short -- In case I have not made this plain, your radio shows need to be at least 10 minutes long. The following shows fall into this category:

Katherine Bransfield 3 minutes so far
Brendan Driscoll 5 minutes so far
Wesley Ericksen Zachary Hutchinson & Brendan Litavis 4 minutes so far

C) What the world should know -- this was first assigned last week, then re-assigned yesterday. here is the link for it:
http://noiseaquarium.blogspot.com/2008/12/missing-work-please-help-your-uncle.html
(its in the part B section on this posting)

and here is the list of those who need to get it done:

Mateo Bravo
Michael Cronin
Jeffrey Dufficy
Wesley Ericksen
Brendan Fitzpatrick
Benjamin Greff
Zachary Hutchinson
Brendan Litavis
Mason Missaggia
Tyler Sullivan
Brian Tate

D) yesterday's assignment about online radio stations -- There were several people who did not get around to completing this assignment either:

Mateo Bravo
Michael Cronin
Brendan Fitzpatrick
Benjamin Greff
Mason Missaggia
Tyler Sullivan
Brian Tate

I will be posting the second half of today's festivities momentarily. If you see your name anywhere on this list above, you need to tend to this first!

Cheers,
Mr. L

missing work, please help your uncle Paulie find it, OK?

hey guys, still waiting on some last minute stuff for your grades. I cannot wait after this morning, because the grades have GOT to be in there ASAP. Here's what I'm looking for:



A) I'm missing a whole bunch of interviews; those of you who owe them will be advised to get them to me. Likewise, many of you did not complete some very simple postings, such as the topics for your latest broadcasts, the actual scripts for these broadcasts and "seven jobs in radio". If I'm simply overlooking any of this stuff, please point them out to me.



B) While we're at it, there was an assignment that I asked you guys to do "if you had time": a brief bio of yourself, your interests etc labeled "what I want the world to know". Most of you haven't had a chance to get to that, so here's the assignment parameters again: "Finally, and this is ONLY if you have time, I would like each of you as INDIVIDUALS to start thinking about what you would like the world to know about you as part of this radio station. Think about what you would most want people to know about you. Jot some ideas down, and post them. Again, this is ONLY if you have the time; if not, don't worry, we'll get to that next week"



GET THIS DONE TODAY PLEASE

OMG, it's December!!!!!! Let's make some "pages"

Whoa...time flies when you're having fun. Or as one frog said to another "Time's sure fun when you're having flies" Anyway, there's a whole bunch o' stuff we need to get to today, so let's get it done, OK?


OK, first things first, today's assignment, THAT WHICH MUST BE DONE.

As you know, I try to make all my classes as practical as possible. I also try to give you opportunities which you can make use of long after the class is over. I also try to go around any difficulties we come up against. You may have noticed that we have had some technical difficulties getting some of our shows to play. Also, we STILL do not have the ability to "stream" these shows, meaning they start playing as soon as you click on them. I would like to start fixing that. Here's what I want you to do:

1) do a Google search for "free online radio" This will bring up a startlingly HUGE number of hits. Apparently, there are a lot of people doing broadcasting out there online.

2) Pick out at least eight of these sites to investigate. Make sure you record somewhere the name of each site, plus the website address. You can do this in WORD for the time being, but whatever you do, DON'T put it in a group posting; each of you is going to make a "PAGE" NOTE: when putting the website address in to your "page", please make sure that it is a "live link", something that a person can click on and it brings them to that website.
(I will demonstrate how to do this.)

3) Your sites must include at least two different "genres", meaning they play at least two different kinds of broadcast. I haven't looked at them all, not by a long shot, so I don't know everything that's out there. See if you can find stations out there that do the stuff you've been doing, whether its sports, hard rock, gossip and celeb stuff, gaming, politics, etc etc.

4) For each one of these stations, list at least two things they do that you wish we could do, if it were possible. Make each listing in the form of a complete sentence.

Please make all this information available in a page named after yourself, plus the phrase
"What's Out There - Part One"

That oughtta do it for today. Cheers!
Mr. L

Mon Nov. 24: lets keep those recordings going!

Greetings one and all, children of all ages!

Today, I would like to ensure that every group has enough time in

A) the production rooms next door

B) the machines which have Adobe Audition here in the lab so that ALL groups are able to turn in

C) a complete rough draft of a new radio show for November

Please remember, today is pretty much the last day to get this done. We may be here on Wednesday (or maybe not) but that won't do much good, since the classes will be pretty short

Cheers,
Mr. L

Fri Nov 21: let's get recording!

OK, it's the last day of this week, and we only have a few days left in next week; then we get back, it's DECEMBER already! Where does the time get to? Anyway, it's time to start getting next door and get cracking on those new shows. Each group will start out with 10 minutes of studio time, so if you don't have at least that much of your script ready by now, that's what you need to be working on. As a group. While NOT playing any online games.

Those groups that are "good to go" right away need to get up to my desk to claim their fair share of studio time, and then get in there and get it done.

While your group is waiting its turn, you will also need to work on adding material to what you have ALREADY recorded next door. Come up with at least another ten minutes worth of stuff to do or talk about, and post that as a new discussion on our Google group.

Additionally, you should be brainstorming about other elements which you ALREADY know how to add, such as your intro theme song, "bumper music", your "on air identifier", your "end of the show" sound, and any other sound effects you may wish to add. If there are any changes you wish to make to any of these elements, you should let me know by posting a discussion on our group to that effect. PLEASE MAKE SURE that EVERYONE in your group has access to ALL of these separate files. When you start putting together your new broadcasts, I don't want any group held up because one of you is out sick, and no one else has the darned files!

Finally, and this is ONLY if you have time, I would like each of you as INDIVIDUALS to start thinking about what you would like the world to know about you as part of this radio station. Think about what you would most want people to know about you. Jot some ideas down, and post them. Again, this is ONLY if you have the time; if not, don't worry, we'll get to that next week

Meanwhile, I will be busy getting everyone's group logos, so that I may finally start uploading everyone's files to the website. Btw, I STILL need group logos from the following people:

Thiago Brian and Greg

Brendan F

Ben and Tyler

Cheers,
Mr. L

Wed Nov 19: finishing up from yesterday, and beginning new radio shows

Greetings, broadcasting fishes from the Noise Aquarium,

Today, I will be demonstrating to you the most updated version of the webpage which will host all of your radio programs. It will need to be updated, as only the following students have handed in the "group logo" which I asked for the other day:

Trevor, JP and Keith
Nicole
Wesley Brendan and Zach
Brendan Driscoll

For everyone else, I am still waiting. Please get those logos to me ASAP
Additionally, remember to complete all assignments from this past week, including all the research we have done on radio jobs.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, when you are done with all that, your radio groups will need to start filling out the details about what your next broadcast will be all about. You need to begin setting up at least the rough draft of a script -- ie, you need to know what you're going to say! This new November script needs to be posted as a Discussion on our Google group; the title must include all your group members names, plus the phrase "November script"

If you feel that you are ready at any time during this class to get into the Production rooms next door, then please get up to my desk and let me know

Cheers,
Mr. L

Tues Nov 18: new topics for radio broadcasts

Greetings once again,



OK, so I am very close to being able to upload at least SOME kind of a website for us, including the first complete radio programs you have made (AND your interviews, eventually). While I am putting the finishing touches on that, your group will need to discuss the topic you wish to explore in your next broadcasts. You will need to discuss, then post a discussion on our Google group which includes the following:



A) a general name for this new topic



B) five specific things you want to do or explore or talk about with this topic.



C) Any specific needs you will have, such as bringing in people outside of our class, if you feel the need for such



Please, when you make this discussion posting, include the group members names in the title, as well as the name of your radio show



Cheers,

Mr. L

Tues Nov 18: A typical day in radio

Greeting, airwave students,

Today, you will describe what a typical day in radio would be like. Here is what you need to do:

A) Pick out details from at least two of the jobs you've researched as a basis for what your day would be like. It would be better if the jobs were actually somewhat similar to each other, but this is not necessary: many jobs nowadays combine different elements of what used to be two or more separate jobs.

B) Imagine what your hours would be, staying within reason. In other words, different people work a lot of different hours -- I used to work at a job that was 7am to midnight Saturday and Sunday! Just don't imagine that you'll be working an hour a day...not happening!

C) Set up each hour. If part of your day is from 8am to 9am, devote at least two sentences to what happens during that hour, what you have to do, any difficulties you might face. Ditto if part of your day is from 3am to 4am.

D) part of every workday is about preparing to do something else. Be sure to discuss any preparations you might have to make.

When you are done listing everything that happens and everything you do, a brief paragraph of not less than three complete sentences should do to sum up whether or not you would want to do a job like this, or if you think that a better one could be built.

Cheers,
Mr L

PS Even when you are done, you are not done. There is no online gameplaying; this includes Yahoo fantasy football

Mon Nov 17: While I'm uploading.....PART TWO

If you have time after the first part of today's proceedings, you may begin compiling a list of questions for DJs that will --hopefully-- be able to come to our class sometime soon. Please post these questions in a discussion posting called "new improved DJ questions" on our Google group. Five new questions should suffice for now.

Cheers,
Mr. L

Mon Nov 17: While I'm uploading.....PART ONE

Greetings radio people!

Today, we are going to be working towards two separate but related goals. Well actually, YOU will be working towards them; I will be working feverishly to revamp the website and upload your files. Wanted to do that from home, but apparently, my secret decoder ring powers over the school's website only work from inside the building, not from my house:

A) Last week, we looked up different job descriptions and titles that had to do with working in radio. Now that you know some of the things that people actually do in radio, it's time to find out a little bit more about them. You will choose at least two of the jobs you found AND one job that someone else found, and for EACH JOB, discover the following information:

1) How much money does this job make?

2) What kind of training beyond high school do you have to do in order to get this job?

3) What's the job outlook for each job? In other words, are radio stations going to need more of them or less of them in the future, or about the same?

When you get this information, you will make ONE discussion post about all three of your job choices. You will title it "getting paid to do what I want"


Oh, that's right, you will need a place to find this information! How could I forget that...here's a place that may prove useful:

http://www.bls.gov/OCO/

It's the online version of the Occupational Outlook Handbook, and it's pretty simple to use. When you go there, you will see a "search box" in the top right corner, after the word FOR: Just type in the name of the job you want to find out about, and it should return at least several links. Each link should lead to a page that has several categories at the top and a lot of information. To find out what you how much you can get paid, you click on "Earnings"; to discover how much more schooling you will need, click on "Training"; to get an idea about whether this job will be around for you, click on "Job Outlook"

Cheers,
Mr. L

PS You may of course help each other, but you CANNOT be simply copying what someone else finds for you.If I see that happening, I will simply delete your posting and tell you to start over.

Also, beginning today, I will begin taking back points awarded when I see anyone engaged in playing online games, fantasy football, etc etc. That's not why you're here.

Thurs Nov 14: Happy Happy, Joy Joy!!!

Ok chilluns, before we begin, make darned sure you did BOTH assignments from yesterday. Or, you can do today's first, then get back to that stuff; whatever! As long you understand that you're responsible for all three.

OK, let's launch into this shall we?

Yesterday, I was granted extraordinary superpowers over that part of the school's website that has to do with us. The address is here:

http://www.hopkinton.k12.ma.us/whps/home.htm

You will notice that the picture, the students, the shows listed are all completely out of date. I will be working to update that, add in the names of your shows, put in links to your broadcasts, ete etc, and it will probably take a great deal of time. Here is what I want you to do in the meantime:

A) You came up with studio names and names for your shows and slogans for your programs. Start writing them down in Word, seeing which font size color etc etc you would like best

B) Decide if you want to go with photos of yourselves or perhaps some kind of avatar. On this last one, the skies the limit of course, provided its not inappropriate for school. As for myself, for many years I was known as the mightyWalrus -- its a long story -- and my symbol was a walrus and sunburst. Make something up, and have fun with it!

C) Try to set up something that combines A and B together in one package. You are fre to use any program on your computer. I place no limits on your creativity, just remember to NOT do something inappropriate.

D) If you haven't already, go over your shows and your interviews, and make sure they're ready to bge uploaded. If I find anything inappropriate that I somehow missed before now, I will make you change it anyway. Plus, there's always room for improvement.

Cheers,

Mr. L

Wed Nov 12, part two

Ok, now that you've found seven different job descriptions, I want you to create another discussion post. Call it "batting order" plus your first and last name.

In the discussion itself, I want you to rank from most favorite to least favorite the radio jobs you have found. Do this in a column, kind of like so:

1) job A
2) job B
3) job C
4) job D
5) job E
6) job F
7) job G

After each job, write up at least two complete sentences describing what it is about this job that you most like. Why is it a favorite? What about it would ever make you want to do this job? Also list any possible downsides to each job.

And, for your most favored job, add in why this job is number one for you.

Cheers,
Mr. L

Wed Nov. 12: So what's in it for me?

Greetings radio children,

In all the years I've been teaching, I have always tried to make my classes as "real world" as possible. Today, I want you to imagine this: that you have been so inspired by my magnificent classes that you decide that you are going to "break into" radio. In other words, you'll get paid to do what you're doing now for free.

Or will you? As you might have guessed, there are more jobs in radio than just sitting behind the microphone. So let's look at some of what goes on then -- besides everything else, when we FINALLY get some DJs in here, you'll probably have better questions to ask them.

(BTW, IF YOU STILL NEED TO COMPLETE YOUR INTERVIEWS, PLEASE DO SO. THIS ASSIGNMENT DOES NOT EXCUSE YOU FROM THAT.) ***

OK, so here we go:

STEP1 Identify at least seven different types of jobs that actually have anything to do with working in radio. Now, you could get a book out of a library or from guidance on what those jobs are. Or you could go where they place ads to get people to work at a radio station. Here are some places where you can find out some actual jobs:

http://www.bestradiojobs.com/
this site has a search feature underneath "Find Full or Part Time Work" where you set the "Job Type" to Radio Positions, then hit find. You'll get tons of ads, each with a position offered.
http://www.careerpage.org/search.php
this site also has a search feature, but they've got the job titles set up in a convenient little pull down menu
http://www.airtalents.com/
http://www.cpb.org/jobline/
http://www.massmediajobs.com/
http://www.amfmjobs.com/
http://msi.amfmjobs.com/quick.html
this link has a search feature where you can type in the "call letters" and find out the employment info for any radio station in America
http://www.npr.org/about/jobs/index.html

As you find the name of a job AND find out a little bit about what that job is all about (about a sentence or two for each job), you might want to start writing this stuff down, along with the address of the webpage where you found this information. When you've got all seven done, please post a discussion to our Google group. Title it after yourself, plus the words "radio jobs I've found"

When that's setup, I will post the next blog posting about the next step I want you to take

Cheers,

Mr. L


*** PS, these are the people who still owe the interview assignment. Please tell me if I've got this wrong somehow, and show me where your interview file is:

Bohlin, Keith
Bransfield, Katherine
Bravo, Mateo
Driscoll, Brendan
Fitzpatrick, Brendan
Greff, Benjamin
Hadley, Gregory
Mendes, Thiago
Missaggia, Mason
Sullivan, Tyler
Tate, Brian

Fri Nov 7: Are you on the list?

Greetings all you chirpy happy radio people!
This week, some of you have been conducting interviews. I have gathered all the interviews that I have found --this means the ones that you uploaded to Box.net -- and I have put them all in a folder. Please check here to make sure that your interview has been found. If it's not in there I'm assuming that you haven't done yours yet.

Here is the folder address:

http://www.box.net/shared/g03jzyss4i


Cheers,
Mr. L

Thurs Nov 6: please finish up everything from yesterday!

That's it. That's all there is too it. There's nothing else to say. Get your interviews recorded: remember EACH ONE OF YOU has to do at least two interviews where YOU are asking the questions. This also means that YOU were EACH supposed to set up interview questions in a Discussion posting.

Additionally, please let me know if any of your DJs have responded to your emails from this past Monday.

Cheers,
Mr. L

PS Your interviews are NOT group projects! EACH ONE OF YOU MUST INTERVIEW AT LEAST TWO OF YOUR CLASSMATES!

PPS Some of you have STILL not posted as a discussion the email you want to send to your DJ. This needs to get done

WEDS Nov. 5: Interviews and Q & A

Greetings all you magnificent people! Today we will be doing two different things that are closely related:
A) The interviews you set up last week will actually be conducted starting today. That means some of you will be heading next door to conduct these interviews. Remember that you will be able to bring up your interview questions on screen if you know where you posted them in our Google group.

B) While you are waiting your turn to get next door, each of you will be picking out one of the DJs you were in contact with last month, and asking them if there is any possibility that they might be able to "swing by" our classroom for a little Q & A session. Let them know that your teacher/instructor/all around good guy will have to get permission first, but that he anticipates that the school will say yes. please Please PLEASE make sure to post as a discussion in our Google group what you are going to say in your email, and which DJ you are sending this request to. I need to review them BEFORE you send them out! Please title this discussion post after yourself plus the phrase "which DJ I am inviting"

Cheers, Mr. L

PS If some of you find yourself waiting to get next door, we have some small digital audio recorders which supposedly can be hooked up directly to the computers. No, I'm not really sure how they work, but won't it be fun to find out?

Halloween greetings from your local mad scientist ;-)

Good morning, radio children!

This is my treat to you: today, I will merely need you to complete all work from this previous week, especially the reviews of all other radio shows, and the setup of interview questions from yesterday. I should be able to get an accurate reading of your monthly grades by the end of today, so if you email me later on today or sometime this weekend, I should be able to let you know precisely what is going on with you grade-wise.

Cheers, and Happy Halloween from,
Mr. L

Thurs, Oct. 30: if you don't ask, they'll never tell

Greetings, radio personalities about to populate the fruited plain,

Today, you will be completing one task, and beginning another. Let's start with the second one first:

PRACTICE INTERVIEWING SKILLS

A few of you have already begun doing this, at least in a limited sense. Now, each of you will have to begin setting up interviews. Here's what you need to do:

A) Find at least two other people in this class who are NOT IN YOUR GROUP who are willing to be interviewed. (I'm trying to mix it up here a little bit). If no one consents, well, too bad for everyone involved, I'll just start matching people up if that happens. (Or as Darth Sidious put it, "I will make it legal")

B) You will have to agree on an interview topic with each of these two people. The topic has to be school appropriate and something you are both comfortable talking about.

C) set up a series of questions you plan on asking this person about the topic you both agreed to. For now, five good questions will do.

D) When you have this all set up, please post the names of the two people you plan on interviewing, the topic for each one, and the set of questions. This should be set up as a Discussion posting on our Google group; you should title it using your name plus the phrase "Interviews, step one"

When you are done with that, please complete any work that you have not finished up in the past few days.

Cheers,
Mr. L

Tues Oct. 28: Finish up what we started yesterday

The title of this post says it all. There is no need for further comment

Cheers,
Mr. L

PS If you or your group are among those who could not upload your shows yesterday, please try it again. I have taken steps which I believe will make it possible for you to be successful this time around

Mon Oct 27: posting your radio shows, reviewing all shows

Greetings all you fine radio people!

Today you have two great tasks ahead of you. The first is for ALL radio shows to be "finished", in the sense of having a rough draft uploaded to Box.net. So far, here are the people/groups who have successfully uploaded their shows:

Thiago Mendes Greg Hadley Brian Tate

Trevor Flaxman Keith Bohlin Jeff Dufficy

Brendan Driscoll

and here is where I have stored those files:
http://www.box.net/shared/dfif2ik0gm

As for the rest of you: you need to get them finished and uploaded in the next 25 minutes. If you still need to record something next door, get up to my desk, and let's get going! If you already have all your parts, and just need to put them together, then what on earth are you waiting for?

The other half of today's work is to review all shows that are not your own. Eventually, when you have heard every show that's being created by this class, you will have to post your review in the form of a discussion posting on our Google group. All INDIVIDUAL students in this class are responsible for making this posting.

Your Discussion must be named "all the shows". Each posting must include the following:

A one or two sentence summation of what you thought of each show. Be nice be polite be honest and get to the point

This summation should include at least one constructive suggestion

OK, I think that will be enough exercise for this morning. Let's do it, let's get it done!

Cheers,
Mr. L

Wed Oct 22: Putting your show together

Greetings exuberant radio people,

Today, you will need to do two things:

A) finish up everything assigned yesterday, and last week. This means bumper files that are MP3s, NOT session files! So, if you passed in a session file the other day, even if it had "all your mp3s", DON'T DO THAT AGAIN! I am not accepting session files anymore.

Additionally, I am not accepting assignments through email anymore: they MUST be handed in to your shared folder on Box.Net. If you cannot access this shared folder from the "Radio Room" next door, then email your files to yourself, then upload them from our main computer lab.
THESE FILES ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!

B) You also need to be able to start creating a "rough draft" of your radio show. This rough draft must have the following:

• an intro theme song
• a studio recording from next door
• An "on air identifier"
• another studio recording from next door
• A segment of bumper music on EITHER SIDE of those studio recordings
• A "signing off" segment, where you somehjow signal the end of the show, either through a voice recording of yours, or some bumper segment that you ALWAYS use to end your show

All of the aforegoing files MUST be saved as mp3s, which you then import into an Adobe Audition session file. You lay down each of these mp3 files into a different track, arrange them so they sound good, then EXPORT this whole session file as one big Mp3 which contains everything I just ementioned

This is the "rough draft" of your radio show, and it must be named after ALL the members of your group, and UPLOADED to your shared folder on Box.Net

Cheers,

Mr. L

PS If you don't have all the stuff for this "rough draft" of your show,

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Tues Oct 21, Part One: bumper music!

OK, by now you ought to have some music mp3 files available; and if you don't, you get to use my tunes, such as they are. (Hey, don't complain if my selection isn't quite the same as yours; I've been telling you about this for over a week now.) Here's what you're going do with them: create "bumper music" by using the selection tool in Adobe Audition to take out a nice 20 seconds or so from a favorite song. Bumper music is usually used to bridge the gap between sections where you're saying something, or playing an entire song, or conducting an interview etc, etc etc. Each of you will need to create at least five "bumpers" for your group, with each one being 10 to 20 seconds long. SO, if you have two people in your group, I'll be expecting a total of ten "bumpers".

OK, but just how do you make a "bumper"? It's a simple four step process, and you will need to use Adobe Audition every step of the way, so get that program started!, Then, do this:

A) Use the import command to put a song on the list at the left side of the program (just like we did with loops way back when)
(if you don't have any mp3 song files to work with, I have a bunch of them here: http://www.box.net/shared/g3kmhntxou ) B) drag this song onto a track, just like we used to do with loops C) doubleclick on that song to get into edit mode D) In edit mode, listen to the song to find a small piece of it that you like. Then just hold the mouse button down while dragging to select the piece you like

E) Once you have that piece selected, Click the FILE command then click on "Save Selection As"

F) SAVE the file as an MP3, and name it after yourself plus the name of the song or the name of the group.

G) Repeat this process until you have them all done

H) Make sure to upload a copy of ALL your bumpers to the Shared folder I've made for you


Cheers,
Mr. L

Fri, Oct 17: finish up everything from yesterday!

OK, so what are you sitting there for? You know what you have to do; get it done, and upload everything you have to hand in. That way we all go home happy!

So WHAT do you need to hand in? Simple: an mp3 file that you have created from an Adobe multi-track "session" file. This mp3 file

A) needs to be named after ALL members of your group

B) must include your theme song and ALL the recordings you've done next door

C) If you have had time to create an "on air identifier", that has to be in there too. You might as well, because that's the first thing I will be looking for next time we are here

WHERE do you hand it in? Simple: you upload it to the "shared folder" I made for you on BOX.NET

cheers,
Mr. L

PS If you have any favorite mp3 files, today would be the day to upload them to Box.net, or at the very least have them on your computer

Thurs Oct 16: Finish up and upload!

Greetings, happy noisemakers!

Today, we will be working on three things:

A) Getting the rest of you through the Radio room next door for some 5 minute recording sessions. Those of you whose recordings I actually have are in this folder:

Zach DiFranza and Mike Cronin
Ben Greff and Tyler Sullivan
Keith Bohlin Trevor Flaxman Jeff Dufficy

If for some reason you have done a five minute recording already and are concerned that you are not listed here, please let me know so that we can find it. The rest of you NEED TO GET THIS DONE!


B) You will also be setting up the script for the "on air announcement" of who you are, the name of your group and (with any luck) your on air slogan. A good example of what something like that might sound like is right here:
http://www.box.net/shared/f5hcj64oiu
its the file called "opening thing_mixdown.mp3"

If we have time today, each group will start recording those identifying announcements; if we run out of time, then that what tomorrow is for. Either way, start writing up a Discussion post about what your "on air identifier" will actually say. Write it out like a script, so you can just go next door and slam it out!

C) Last but not least, you need to start arranging the recording sessions you already have along with your theme song into a new session file. You can do that here in the lab and when you are finished, you can export it as an mp3 file. Name it after your group members plus the phrase "radio show first draft"

MAKE SURE TO UPLOAD IT TO YOUR SHARED FOLDER AT BOX.NET!
MAKE SURE YOU NAME THEM SO I KNOW WHO CREATED THEM!

Cheers,

Mr. L

Links to Your Radio Room Recordings & your Theme songs

Greetings Period 3 Radio Production students:

Here are the shortcuts to the folders where I have stored the stuff you made in the Radio Production Room next door:

Period 3 Radio Room Files folder shortcuts

Period 3 Second Radio Room
(the 5 minute sessions)
www.box.net/shared/cs6uvc8liz


Period 3 First Radio Room Recordings
www.box.net/shared/mbuzr8gnfc

Period 3 Theme Songs
www.box.net/shared/xdpmojn2tu

Wed Oct 15: Putting it together, Part One

Greetings children, and welcome back!

BEFORE WE BEGIN, LET ME PLEASE PUT IN A CALL FOR YOU TO BRING IN MP3 FILES OF SONGS THAT YOU REALLY LIKE. TWO OR THREE SHOULD DO THE TRICK!

Today, we will be accomplishing three very important things:

A) I have some shared folders available for you on BOX.net. What this means is that you will all have a place where you can upload files that you will need for future classes, whether it be song or sound files (more on that in just a second), or sessions that you have done in the "radio room" next door, and then converted to mp3s.

In your email inbox, you should find an invitation from me to share this new folder. I want you to respond to that email, and then see if you can upload a file that is named after you -- it can be even just a simple Word document.

B) From this point forward, you should upload work that you have finished into this shared folder. So for example, many of you will be continuing the process of recording 5 minutes of material next door, and then exporting this stuff as an mp3. Please upload this stuff to your new shared folder directly. (If you also want to email it to me and to yourself that is also fine)

C) Finally, I want you to start working on putting your show together. By this I mean that you already have a theme song and at least two different mp3 recordings. What I want you to do is to use Adobe Audition to fit these pieces together, using a separate track for each file you use. You will probably find that there are some things where you need to choose which parts of it you want. For example, many of you have theme songs that are just way too long. At this point, you will want to consider how best to get them to a minute long or less.

You may also have places in yopur other files where you messed up, and you will want to cut out those parts using the "selection" tool I showed you in Audition.

Well, that should be enough exercise for this morning :-)

Cheers,
Mr. L

Friday October 10: making a name for yourself!

Greetings radio children, and welcome to the last class before a long and much deserved weekend break. Today, I am not going to be here for the first part of the class: duty calls, family calls, and I am going to be delayed. While you are waiting, I would like you to do the following:

A) Come up with a name for your show. Be creative but remain school appropriate. Obviously, if you're reading a blog called the "Noise Aquarium", your instructor doesn't mind some strangeness, but it has to be something that won't get us all in trouble

B) Come up with a name for yourself and your other group members. Again, be creative and appropriate.

C) Come up with a slogan for your show. Nike has the "just do it" slogan. The army has the "army of one" slogan. Come up with your own. Again, be creative and appropriate.

Please post all three of these as a group discussion posting on our Google group.

When you are finished with that, please work on anything else you still have not finished up for this class.

Cheers,

Mr. L

PS With any luck, I will be in soon and those of you who need some more studio time will be a gettin' it :-)

Wed October 8: getting some air time

Greetings O most noisy and happy of all radio people!

Today, I wish for you to continue your work from the other day, only more so:

A) If you have received answers to questions you have asked of various DJs, then please post both the questions and answers in a Discussion posting on our blog. YOU ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE for at least one posting of this type; this is NOT a group project.

B) Continue refining the "script" for your group's next session in the Radio Production room next door. If you feel that your group has at least five minutes worth of material, and you guys can just go in there and get it done without wasting any time, then let's go for it.

C) Make sure that your group has posted what you will be saying for this new session

D) If you have not received any feedback from any of the DJs you emailed, then email some other DJs. Don't waste too much time nagging people who won't write back.

Cheers,

Mr. L

Monday October 6: talking and writing and planning, Oh My!

Greetings loud noisy exuberant radio children!

Today, we will be working to accomplish three things, all of them really K3WL!!!

A) Everyone who has NOT had a chance to get into the radio room and record will be able to do so. BE READY !!

B) If you have received permission from your DJs to write to them and ask them some questions. When you get their answers back, you have to post both your questions and their answers under a new Discussion topic called " the DJs talk back"
Please be sure to include the name of the DJ, the website of their radio station and their email address for EACH DJ who responds to you.

C) All of you who have already had that chance will be putting your time to good use by starting to come up with a rough idea of the topic you would like to talk about for your first show. The topic has to be something specific -- "we wanna talk about the Patriots" is way too general for example.

The topic you choose has to have at least four or five different parts to it. For example, if you were going to talk about a particular band, you might want to talk about a new song they have which is getting a lot of airplay, a tour they've been on, what you think about the price of tickets, etc etc etc.
You will need to post a discussion topic about this as well. For this discussion you will only need one per group.

Cheers,

Mr. L

Friday October 3: getting more people in front of the big microphones

Hello children!

Well it's almost the weekend, and excitingly enough, we have another class session to get all the rest of you in the radio room next door, so we let all of you "find your voice" Here's what I want you to do while you're waiting for your turn:

A) think of what you actualy want to say

B) make a new discussion posting with your name in the title and "what I want to say"

C) the posting should be about a paragraph long, at least three complete sentences

D) MAKE UP WORK YOU HAVE NOT PASSED IN!

Cheers,
Mr. L

Thursday October 2: sending emails, setting more questions and getting into the "room next door"

Greetings radio children!

Today, we are going to work towards several different goals, one after the other:

A) You will send an email to each of the five radio DJs you selected as part of an earlier assignment. Each email you send will let them know who you are ( a high school student) what you are doing (working in a class on radio production) and why you are writing -- you would like to ask them some basic questions about what they do. Please make each email brief, polite and appropriate. Be respectful in all ways.

B) AFTER you have sent that, you will each need to make a new discusssion posting. You have had some time since you posted your original three questions you wish to ask your DJs; now you will need to create not less than five additional questions. Try to think of exactly what you will need to ask. This is important, as the people we are trying to contact are very busy people, and we may not get more than one chance to ask them anything.

C) While this is going on, I would like to take in groups of four people at a time to the radio room next door, to get acquainted with the equipment and possibly create a test recording of your voices. When I take you in there, please be aware that the equipment in that room is all precision made, and probably worth more than my car. In other words, you need to be very careful. This is one place where we DO NOT ACT LIKE WE'RE STILL IN GRADE SCHOOL. If you can't handle the responsibility, you will not be allowed to stay in there.

D) If this still applies, any makeup work you need to hand in needs to get done TODAY.

Cheers,
Mr. L

Friday, September 26: Listening to Tunes!

Greetings, children:

By now, you should be pretty well caught up with all the work we have had to accomplish this past week, including sending me your mp3-based theme songs, and the research you were supposed to conduct on radio stations, DJs and questions for the "radio personalities" you chose. Now it's time to just sit and LISTEN.

Here is what you need to do:

Go to this folder:
http://www.box.net/shared/c05xd0hjqy

and notice that there are approximately a dozen or so mp3 files. They are named THEME1, THEME2, THEME3, etc etc. You will need to listen to each song in its entirety. That means you have to actually listen to the whole thing. Then, you have make a discussion post where you do tell me the following:

A) a one sentence comment on each song. Be polite and school appropriate, but if you like or dislike something about it, then SAY SO. And, explain WHY you think what you think.

B) Out of all the songs, pick the top five, and then list them in order, something like this:

# 1 is THEME6
# 2 is THEME11
# 3 is THEME5
# 4 is THEME2
# 5 is THEME8

Make sure I know for a fact which song you liked the best, which you liked second best, so on and so on.

You all have to make a separate discussion post, but you may converse among yourselves about it.

Cheers,
Mr. L

Who Are They? Where Are They? How Do They Do It? (tues sept 23)

Greetings! If you are reading this, it means you are completely caught up with all the work you needed to do for the first part of this month. Now it's time to move onwards and upwards.
What you will be starting today is to try and understand a little bit more as to what is involved in being a "radio personality": people who actually already do this for a living. One way to do this is to find out who these people are, and then ASK THEM.
The obvious first step then is to find these people. One possible way of doing this is to look at the websites for various local radio stations in Massachusetts. I have done some preliminary research for you, and this is what I've found:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=local+radio+stations+Massachusetts.&btnG=Google+Search
the original Google search
http://www.officialusa.com/stateguides/media/radiostations/massachusetts.html
a pretty good list, fairly comprehensive
http://www.usnewslinks.com/radiostations/ma.html
another good list, which breaks down the stations by genre and city location. A multiple page list
http://www.shgresources.com/ma/radio/
another really good resource, which not only does the break down by genre and location, it also lets you know if it’s a college station or not.
http://www.ontheradio.net/states/massachusetts.aspx
yet another good place to look, this one has direct links to the websites associated with the radio station in question.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
A) Make a list of at least five different radio stations. List their "call letters" -- WBZ, WNRB, etc, along with the town where they are located, their "format" (Top 40? Sports? Hip Hop? Easy Listening? News/Talk?) and the address for their website.
You will need to post this list to our Google group as part of a discussion posting you will make. You will also need to include in this discussion posting why you chose these particular stations
B) Once you have five stations in mind, please use their websites to find at least five "radio personalities" -- people who actually make broadcasts of some kind or another-- who you feel know something about this business, and might be able to tell you a little about what they do. Please list their names in a second discussion posting.
C) Finally, begin to compile a list of questions you would want to ask any of these people. You might ask them how they got their start, what first got them interested in doing what they do. Please come up with at least three good questions for now, and put them in a third discussion posting
Cheers,
Mr. L

Monday, Sept 22 -- Saving your Theme song as a sound file

Greetings, and welcome back from your absolutely dreadful time-without-Mr-LaRue (aka "the weekend"). Well, you've all done a great deal of work, most of which has been passed in by now -- more on this later!!! Up until now, you've been gathering sounds, creating session files, laying loops down into tracks, and selecting parts of these loops to make new sounds. Many of you have been making clever and creative noises; I should know, I've listening to them! Now, for the first time, I will want you to create a new sound file from your ENTIRE SESSION FILE. This new sound will include all the sounds you've been using in your session, merged into one single file.

Here is how you do it:

A) Open your session file

B) Click the File command

C) goto EXPORT, then Audio Mix Down

D) Save your file as a "wav" type file, or as an mp3

E) Please send it to me by email attachment

OK, so that will do for today. The other thing you've got to is to make absolutely sure that you've handed in everything you needed to do for this class up until now. To do this, you need to look at the folders I've set up for you on my Box.net account. And to do that, you'll need the addresses for those folders. Here they are:

11 Loops (per student) -- http://www.box.net/shared/i14o4l3i17

Loops and Selections -- http://www.box.net/shared/qtbfcfh8g7

Session Files -- http://www.box.net/shared/k5uxcufygk

Theme songs -- http://www.box.net/shared/xdpmojn2tu
(You will have handed these in only just starting today, but I thought you should know where they will be stored.)

Please make sure that you have all your work handed in, including today's work.

Cheers,
Mr. L

Thursday, September 18: loops and selections

OK, it is possible that I, your highly trained technology instructor and all around good guy, can make a mistake. And when I do so, I admit it. Well, here I am admitting it: I have asked you to make sure that you have emailed to me a loop plus four selections which you have "carved out of" that loop, and it looks like I haven't specifically shown you how to do that. My apologies for that; and now, to explain precisely how it is done:

A) start up Adobe Audition, and get into multitrack mode

B) import the loop you want to chop some pieces from, and then drag it onto a track (no, it doesn't really matter which one)

C) change from multitrack to edit mode -- you do this by selecting it from that list you can find in the upper right corner of the program. If you still need help with this, please let me know

D) when you're in edit mode, simply position your mouse arrow somewhere in the loop, hold down the left mouse button and drag as far as you want to go. Where you start and how far you go is totally up to you.

E) When you have part of the loop selected, click on the File command, then click on "Save Selection"

F) give your selection a new name. Usually, I keep part of the old name, and add something to it, but I say, whatever works for you.

G) Save your selection

H) Repeat this process until you have made four different selections

I ) send me the original loop, plus the four selections you made from it, to my email address. In case you've forgotten, my email address is mrlarue2009@gmail.com

Once you are done with this, please keep working on your session files, and I will do my best to get your new stuff uploaded to my Box.net account as soon as possible.

Cheers,

Mr. L

Wed Sept 17: are you up to date?

Hey there all you happy noisemakers in Period 3!

Today, besides everything else you are doing, you will need to make sure that you are "up to date". That means that, no kidding, I need to start setting up grades, and there are certain items you need to have in front of me by now. These include NOT LESS than the following:

A) 11 loops, along with a description (including a website address) of where you got them

B) At least two different session files, named in such a way that I know which one came first ( so I can see your progress in making it sound better)

C) One loop that has had at least four different "selections" extracted from: ALL FIVE FILES

D) Additionally, today, you are going to need or each one of you to make a discussion post stating one thing you have learned how to do in Adobe Audition from me, and one technique that have figured out on your own. That's two techniques for each one of you, not for a group of two or three. You each need to be learning stuff for yourselves, not just waiting for someone else to do it for you. You need to adequately describe how you do each of these things. Pretend that you're explaining this stuff to someone who knows nothing about this program

Cheers,
Mr. L

September 15: wow, is it Monday again already? ;-0

Greetings, Period 3 radio Students!

Today, you have several tasks to complete:

A) Each one of you needs to have handed in at least 11 different loops, to be used in building your theme songs.

B) Not sure if you've handed in 11? Or if I ever got them? (After all, it won't count if I didn't find them) Then check out this special link, which I have made just for the students in this class: http://www.box.net/shared/i14o4l3i17

It leads to an online folder, where I have gathered together all of the loops I have received from members of this class. If you don't see your name there, or if there are fewer than 11 files included under your name, then you need to do one of the following:

C) Find more files OR

D) re-send what you already have found -- hey, even I can lose stuff on occassion

E) You will also notice that this "Box.net" online folder is a handy way of not losing your files; so, if you stored stuff on the H drive and you've all of a sudden lost it, here is a place to find it again.

F) By the end of today, EVERYONE needs to have sent me at least one Adobe session file, which uses the loops you've found.

Cheers,
Mr. L

hello to period 3 Radio Production on this most glorious Friday, September the 12th

hey there, noisemakers and happy people! Today, I will spend some time at the beginning of the class demonstrating a few different techniques in the Adobe Audtion program. This was made possible by the fact that one of the techies came in and loaded Audition on my teacher workstation AND on several more of your computers. We can't have it on every machine -- we don't have enough licenses for that -- but there are at least 13 or 14 of your computers which do have it. So I'm expecting great things today.

But before you dive into that, I wish to demonstrate the following:

A) starting anew session

B) getting into "multitrack view"

C) importing sound clips

D) placing clips on various tracks

E) speeding up or slowing down the sound by using a "TIME STRECTH"

F) how to chop part of a clip, so it doesn't play

G) how to add new tracks from the INSERT --> Add Tracks menu

H) how to change a clip color, for ease of viewing

whew!

after that, you will be free to proceed with what you were doing yesterday. I am expecting that many more of you will be able to email me various sound clips/loops AND the website address where you got them, as the class progresses :-)

Cheers,
Mr. L

What we will be doing on Tuesday September 9

Greetings, noise producing creatures!

Today, you will be
A) continuing to work with the program Adobe Audition.

B) continuing your effort to create a theme song for your future radio show.

C) continuing to experiment on mixing different sounds on the different tracks, to see the different effects you can get, and how it makes your "theme song" different

D) to do this, each of you will need to open the program, click on the FILE command, then click "NEW SESSION". This opens a blank window, where you can drag different types of sounds, and arrange them in a way that sounds good, or at least doesn't sound too bad

E) You will SAVE your session, and you will name it after your both your first and last name, plus the phrase "First Session"

F) Your session ends up getting saved in your MY MUSIC FOLDER inside of your MY DOCUMENTS FOLDER. So, when you go to email this session file to me, thats where the file will be located.

G) You MUST BE LOGGED IN AS YOURSELF in order to do this properly. So, when you finish your session, save the file and then log off that computer. You should be able to email me that file from another computer. Let's not waste time!

H) Speaking of time, lets make sure that everyone gets a fair turn. Try to produce something in about a twenty minute block; otherwise, there will be way too many people left waiting at the end of the class.

BY THE END OF THE CLASS, EVERYONE WILL NEED TO HAVE MADE A NEW SESSION. EVERYONE WILL ALSO TO EMAIL THIS NEW SESSION TO ME AS AN ATTACHMENT FILE. YOU WILL NEED TO PUT YOUR NAME AND THE WORDS "FIRST SESSION FILE" IN THE SUBJECT LINE

Cheers,
Mr. L

Oh, btw, while you are waiting for your turn at using Adobe Audition, I will need to have you collecting some free loops, downloading them to your computer, and then emailing at least eleven of them that you think are good to me, as attachment files. You may use the search I used here:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+loops+download&aq=3&oq=free+loops

to look for websites that have loops you can download. Or, if you are really ahead of everyone, and know some sites where you can get something good, feel free to do so. Either way, TELL ME WHERE YOU GOT THESE SOUNDS!!!

PS One good site I've found is at http://www.freeloops.com/; they allow you to search for sounds by style, tempo, or instrument just use the little box that says "Search Loops By" in the lower right hand corner.

OK, now for Part Two of today’s assignment! (Sept 4)

I’ve been reading your emails with great interest, and have discovered a little bit about each of you, what some of your interests are, why you want to be in this class. You will need to expand upon this in a discussion post you will create on the Google Group you just joined. Here is what your discussion post needs to include:

A) What would you most like to do on a radio show? Would you like to

setup playlists, where you choose the music?
If so, what kind of music most interests you?

Would you like to talk about sports?
If that’s the case, then what teams would you want to discuss?

Perhaps you’d like to talk about school or local news, about things that are going on in Hopkinton that you think are important. In that case, would you be willing to interview people, either by recording or perhaps even live during a broadcast?

Maybe you’re in a band, or you can play or sing; OR, you know someone who does. Would you be willing to give your band some airtime?

It’s also possible that you’re interested in current events, like the election or things that are happening overseas. Could it be that you wish to be a commentator, someone who gives their opinion about stuff that’s happening?

Another possibility is that you are really into gaming, and you have some ideas about new titles that are coming out. Maybe you’d like to do game reviews?

Or maybe you like computers a lot and are really into special effects, especially with sounds.

Look, the bottom line is that the possibilities are endless. Please pick out AT LEAST TWO ITEMS you would be interested in pursuing, and why you’re into them. And by the way, if there’s something I didn’t mention in this list, please, Please, PLEASE bring it to my attention!

B) Regarding the two things you’d like to do, do you have ANY previous experience with them? Any at all? Please don’t worry if you think what you’ve done is not “important” enough, or you haven’t done it for an audience. Look if you’ve ever argued with your friends about the relative merits of WoW versus Halo, if you’ve ever played a song with a band, even if it’s just in someone’s basement, if you’ve ever talked about politics, traded mp3s by some new band with friends of yours, THAT IS MORE THAN GOOD ENOUGH.

OK, that ought to do it. Please be as complete as possible. When you are finished, make sure to post your discussion, and then take a look at the discussions put out by your classmates. Maybe you have some people who share your interests!

Cheers,

Mr. L

What to do Thursday, September the 4th

Greetings, and welcome once again!

Today in Radio Production, you will be doing two things, both of them related. this is the first thing you must do:

In your email inbox, you SHOULD have an invitation from me to join the Google Group which I have set up for this class. It's called "Doctor Troll's Psycedelic Therapy Lounge". You will need to follow the instructions in this email TO THE LETTER to get signed up, and to be able to go on to the next step. If you need assistance, I will do my utmost to help. Additionally, several of your classmates have already responded to their invitations, so they will be able to help you as well. They are:

Wesley Eriksen

Thiago Mendes

Zachary Hutchinson

Trevor Flaxman

OK, so get get set up RIGHT NOW. C'mon back when you're done, and then we'll go on to part two, which I will post when you're ready.

Cheers,
Mr. L

Greetings Period 3 students, and welcome to the Noise Aquarium!

This is the Noise Aquarium, where the students from Mr. LaRue's period 3 Radio Production class will receive news, instructions, marching orders and potentially leave comments and ask questions. If you are allowed and you do leave a comment, please bear in mind that this blog is available to the entire world, or at least that part of it that's on the Internet. This includes your parents, other teachers, your guidance counselor, the principal, the superintendent, and what the heck, the mayor, the governor, the chief of police, the head of the FBI, and pretty much EVERYONE. So be cautious, courteous and school appropriate in any comments you leave