Background History
Plains FM 96.9 Station Manager, Nicki Reece, first came up with the idea of having a mobile recording booth in late 2007. The objectives were threefold:
- Community Outreach - to get out and about to events and capture Canterbury people's voices and stories
- "New Media" education - to demonstrate how the spoken word can journey from mouth to edited podcast
- Highlight our brand - with an eye-catching object that reflects both the listener and the volunteer broadcasters that make up our community access station
Plains FM's new logo (created by HairyLemon in Christchurch) was the inspiration for the design of the booth. It is a simple design that makes a bold visual statement and represents both community broadcasters and listeners.
Then NZ On AIR released information about their Digital Content Partnership Fund . A four million dollar contested fund (spanning 4 years) to help radio, television and independent producers create audio content for broadcast on air and online. An intense period of preparation and activity followed to get our application in on time. Three applications in that first year of funding were successful - two from TV and ours - the only radio station. We were allocated $72,200 to develop a portable recording resource. It was considered the "wild card".
See more details here about:
- background
- the broadcasting unit for teachers
In May 2008 the year long project began. The fabrication stage was trickier than anticipated and resulted in some delays but Miles from Brown Kiwi , and designer Lindsay King , persevered to overcome the challenges of the tricky shape. The structure also had to be modular and light enough so it could be packed down relatively easily. We also had to consider how to transport it. Would it fit into our van? How could we move it around easily? Can we actually get it through that door? Where will it be stored?
Fitting out The POD interior was a dream however. With its new touch-screen technology The POD will have numerous applications for community groups, or at events and schools. Now the final phase of creating appropriate resources for educational institutions and other users (including technical instructions for Plains FM staff) is under-way.
The POD's first outing was in December 2008 for the Santa Parade. It has since been at Culture Galore '09 and '10, student expos, CPIT Orientation, The Inter-Cultural Assembly, ChartFest '09, Eco Expo '09 and even the courtyard near the station during our Mornings Show. Winter was a quieter period as transport issues were sorted.
"It has been a real challenge project managing this but I'm thrilled that we now have a cool looking portable recording booth that allows us to set ourselves up away from the station, record audio and video, edit it on site and upload it to our website using current technology" says Nicki Reece. "We can give people an insight into the recording and editing process, gather some great content at the same time, and say - hey! we're Plains FM and we are here to reflect our local community, so come on into The POD and have a chat!"
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