Campcaster
Campcaster is a free and open source[1] radio management application for live broadcasting, remote broadcast automation (via web-based scheduler), and program exchange between radio stations. Campcaster was designed to allow implementation in a number of use scenarios, ranging from an unmanned broadcast unit accessed from remote through the Internet to a local network of Campcaster machines inside a radio station handling live broadcasts and delivering program automation by accessing a central audio storage system.[2]
 | |
| Developer(s) | Sourcefabric |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 2004 |
| Stable release | 1.4.1 beta
/ 29 November 2010 |
| Operating system | Linux |
| Available in | English; translatable |
| Type | Radio Automation Software |
| License | GNU General Public License v2 |
| Website | campcaster.sourcefabric.org |
History
The initial concept for Campcaster, originally named LiveSupport, was developed in 2003 by Micz Flor, a German new-media developer. The concept was further developed by Ákos Maróy, a software developer and then-member of Tilos Radio, Robert Klajn, a radio producer at Radio B92, and Douglas Arellanes and Sava Tatić from the Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF). The initial development was financed from a grant from the Open Society Institute's Information Program, through its ICT Toolsets initiative. The development was originally coordinated by MDLF through its Campware.org initiative, now spun off as the independent not-for-profit organisation Sourcefabric.
Components
- Studio: a desktop application for live shows or scheduling automated playback.
- Web: an HTML interface for remote scheduling of automated playback.
- Scheduler: a daemon which plays songs at their designated time. There is an XML-RPC interface for the Scheduler.
- Storage Server: stores audio files and playlists and allows access to them via XML-RPC.
Criticism
Despite the early enthusiasm and early adequate funding, Campcaster has yet to gain a greater foothold among radio broadcasters. A new Campcaster development team was recruited by Sourcefabric in June 2010, and the software has been deployed by Open Broadcast, a user generated radio station transmitting on Digital Audio Broadcasting frequencies in Switzerland.[3]
Airtime rewrite
In January 2011, Sourcefabric announced a rewrite of Campcaster, beginning with the 1.6 beta release.[4] The new product, known as Airtime, replaces the C++ scheduler of Campcaster with Liquidsoap, and includes a drag and drop web interface based on jQuery.[5]