Distribution
Technologies
Distribution technologies is basically how a broadcaster
gets their show to reach their audience,
this can be done by a normal transmission from an aerial on top of their
building that then distributes the signal to everywhere within their area
boundary. That’s why if you’re taking a long drive through the UK and you’re
listening to a local radio station it will start to crackle and loose signal,
because you’re going away from their signal boundary.
More and more people listen to the radio now because it’s available
across many different platforms, now you can access the radio over the
internet, in your car, on your phone or on a music device like an iPod. Now, there are even apps made available to download onto your phone which allow you to listen to the radio straight from your phone. This
means more people will now listen to the radio because it has been made more accessible
than ever before, so in turn listening to the radio will become more popular
over time.
Another way of sending content to listeners is via podcast.
This is where you record your content or show as a digital file, then upload
the podcast onto a sharing site where the audience can then either stream and
listen straight from the website or they can download the content and put onto
a device like an iPod or a phone, there are even apps available on smart phones that are made for listening or downloading the podcast straight from your phon. So the
audience can listen wherever and whenever they want, for example when their
walking or even driving if they want.
Another way of distributing content is via something like an
iPlayer or ‘on demand’. This is a media player site that the audience can then
access whenever they want, that has pre-loaded content uploaded onto the site.
This means if the audience for example miss a show and want to catch up, they
can use an iPlayer to listen again to the old shows whenever they want.
Content distribution from independent producers to radio
stations via broadband is a relatively new form of distribution technology.
This is basically where an independent producer gets paid to make something as
requested by a radio station, which they then produce and send out via
broadband, like by sending the radio station an email containing the product
they have created. The most common use for this distribution technology is when
an independent producer creates something like a jingle or an advert at their
home in their studio, edit it as they like then when they have finished, save
as either a .wav or .mp3 file, then send it by a secure email over broadband to
the company or radio station who paid the independent company to create it.