Just read the Tips & Techniques article by Richard Stroobant in the May RAP about MP3’s. I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Stroobant about putting as much information about the spot in the text of an email like spot title, ISCI code, rotations, run dates, etc. I just wish the other stations in our market would take the same pride in what they send out. I got burned once by running the wrong spot because the information just wasn’t there. I take great pains to be as detailed as possible when I send an e-dub from my production room. It’s a simple matter of professionalism.
Stroobant’s point about sending one spot per MP3 is valid too. A computer file is not the same as a reel-to-reel tape. Keep it simple. One spot, one file.
However, encoding MP3’s for broadcast at 192kbps is overkill. When a spot is sent through the entire broadcast chain of exciters and compressors and transmitters (oh my), the audio is so squeezed there’s no appreciable difference between 192kbps and 128kbps. Not even CD’s are “CD quality” on the radio. I always think of the end user. John Q. Public, who listens to a simple clock radio while he takes his shower or his factory-installed car stereo as he drives to work, will never notice the difference. I believe a good standard is 44.1Khz at 128kbps. At that standard, a 60 second spot comes out to about 1 meg, which attaches quite nicely to an email, and the sound quality is pretty spiffy. To paraphrase the blonde chick, anything else is either “too hot or too cold.”
Ed Thompson
Creative Services Director
STARadio, Quincy, IL
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