Archive for December, 2010

Radio Advertising: A Long History Of Excellence

Monday, December 27th, 2010

For years people have tuned into radio talk shows, radio morning shows as well as all those broadcasters and their funky styles. If you are like many, you flip on the radio as well. From a marketing standpoint though, do you realize the value of radio advertising? While many say that your marketing pounds should be split into various categories, you will find that this is an excellence place to start. What does radio advertising have to offer you?

Consider first the amount of people that are on the radio at any given moment. In the morning, as people get dressed for work or school, the radio is on. When they get into their cars to head to work, the radio is on. The radio is playing in the office, on the way home again and maybe they turn it on before bed as well. It is the first thing that people wake up to. Radio advertising is a powerful medium.

You can put just about anything on it as well. You can fill your marketing pound tightly by putting it on a number of various types of radio advertising markets. Young adults tend to be one of the largest radio listeners in the afternoon hours. Market your product effectively to them during those hours. Adults love to tune in on their way to and home from work. Market your radio advertising pounds to them during this time. In fact, you can even market your product to young children on various radio stations geared towards them.

Radio is very versatile and allows you to tell your story for a smaller amount of your budget with excellent results. You will see that there are many reasons to head to the radio advertising market with your next product. Check out how well it can work for you and be impressed.

Push To Talk vs. Two Way Radios

Monday, December 20th, 2010

Push to talk is often confused as being the same thing as a two way radio. While it is true that two way radios use push to talk communication (think walkie-talkies), push to talk or PTT is a feature that can be added on to a cell phone plan for use on your cell phone. Two way radios on the other hand, are simply two way radios, with no additional features.

Two way radios have utilized the push to talk feature for decades in a variety of settings. Until recently, two way radios have been used primarily by industrial type workers, emergency crews, and utility companies. And although the communication takes place on a secure channel, the conversation is not necessarily one kept under a shroud of privacy. When using push to talk through your cell phone provider, the communication can be as private as a regular cell phone call.

Using push to talk is much like the old days of playing with walkie-talkies with your friends around the neighborhood. Only now, when push to talk is used as an additional feature on your cell phone, it has the capability of maintaining communication to national, and international customers. And instead of crackly, indecipherable conversations as was typical with walkie a talkie, the reception with push to talk is as clear as a standard phone call.

A perfect example of the benefit of using two way radios is in an emergency situation. An emergency dispatcher using a two way radio has the ability to communicate with and dispatch an officer to an emergency while maintaining contact with an emergency caller. The officer dispatched to the emergency can communicate with the dispatcher on his way to, and at the scene of the emergency with the touch of a button. If a cell phone were used in an emergency situation rather than a two way radio, critical time could be lost waiting for a cellular phone connection. When using two way radios, communication between users is instantaneous.

The way push to talk works through your cell phone is fairly simple, like using walkie- talkies; only radio IDs similar to phone numbers are designated for specific users, allowing for the privacy of a cell phone conversation. Here is a simple guide to using your push to talk phone:

Enter the radio ID of the person you want to contact

Push down and hold the push to talk button on the phone. When a specific tone is emitted, usually resembling a beep beep sound, the call is clear and ready to be made

You are connected! Be sure to hold down the push to talk button while youre talking.

When the other person is ready to talk, let go of the talk button and wait for their response.

Wait until you hear the tone indicating its clear to talk, then push and hold down your talk button to respond.

When youre finished, push the talk button again, and the call is complete.

As with any service, there are pros and cons to using the push to talk service. Although it is estimated there are currently 20 million (and growing) push to talk customers, not everyone in your address book is likely to be available through push to talk. This limits the number of personal calls you will likely be making through push to talk. If however, this is something that will be used for a specific business related purpose, and everyone you need to talk to is guaranteed to be in the push to talk network it can be amazing.

Imagine an event such as a rock concert in a large stadium, with several outlying parking lots and hundreds of events staff. Using push to talk communication, calls can be made from one event staff to another, (one to one) or from the head of the event to all 200 employees (one to many, often called group push to talk). Instantaneous communication at a huge event, with multiple employees could potentially eliminate any number of unforeseen complications.

This expediency in communication is easily translated to any number of industries. In a situation such as a major metropolitan power outage, utility workers can have the capability of communicating between one another even while regular modes of communication are out, even cell phone towers. In a situation such as this, the coverage area is more limited, reaching a few miles rather than across state lines. Nevertheless, this type of communication is perfect for a power outage, enabling utilities and utility workers to restore utility services while maintaining communication with one another. Some carriers even have the ability for users of their networks to use the push to talk functionality off-air. This means users working in very remote areas where cell towers are unable to reach, such as logging companies working deep in wooded areas, can still use the radio functions to communicate effectively and instantly to one another on the same carriers network.

Yet another benefit of push to talk is that it isnt cost prohibitive; minutes used across push to talk networks arent deducted from monthly cell phone minute allotments. A basic plan for push to talk can be purchased as an additional feature for a regular cell phone. A plan with unlimited minutes between push to talk customers is around 9.99 on top of a regular cell phone bill. Family plans can be purchased for push to talk groups, starting at 19.99per month. In addition to this benefit is that of international communication capability. With an international talk plan, calls can be made across international boundaries without the hassle of extremely high rates.

As opposed to regular cell phone conversations, push to talk is perfect for immediate, brief conversations. This feature is ideal for business meetings, or something as simple as instant communication between two spouses in a crowded grocery store. Push to talk phones are also cropping up all at amusement parks across the country. Teenagers can split up across an amusement park while maintaining contact with parents, all without deducting minutes from a monthly cell phone allotment or incurring roaming charges when out of network.

As with any type of communication, there are a few drawbacks when using push to talk services. One such disadvantage is that nuances of a regular conversation are lost as only one person at a time can talk while the other listens. This is especially true because there is a bit of a lag in time between communications, making the conversation seem a bit stilted. Another drawback is how obnoxious this type of conversation can be in a public place. Not only does someone within the vicinity of the call have to listen to your side of the conversation, they have to listen to the other end as well. Considering the current lack of cell phone manners, this adds an entirely new level of etiquette and privacy concerns.

Another drawback of using push to talk instead of a standard two way radio is the monthly fee attached to your cell phone bill. A two way radio can be purchased for a one-time cost of anywhere from 20-250, while a push to talk cell phone customer can pay 9.99per month up to 19.99per month for similar features.

There are several differences between the push to talk feature of a cell phone and two way radios. Each has unique benefits and drawbacks catering to specific ranges of customers. A two way radio is a great device to stay in contact with your 14-year-old while visiting an amusement park. Its doubtful however that you would want to give the same 14-year-old unlimited access to your push to talk cell phone.

It seems likely that although there are a limited number of customers currently connected to the cell phone push to talk network, its only a matter of time before that changes. While Nextel was once the only provider of this service, almost all other cell phone networks either currently offer services, or have plans in the immediate future to do so. Although it was once the stand alone feature differentiating Nextel from other networks, this is no longer the case. SouthernLINC Wireless, AT&T & Verizon all offer push to talk packages, and other networks are not far behind. Just as text messaging was once a rare cell phone feature, now its hard to imagine anyone buying a plan without it.

How Does Satellite Radio Work?

Monday, December 13th, 2010

Satellite radio is one of the biggest improvements in broadcasting since the introduction of FM. Satellite radio signal can be broadcasted for more than 35,000 kilometers (22,000 miles) with complete clarity and high quality sound. You will never get static interferences while listening to over 100 radio channels. The idea behind satellite radio has appeared in 1992, when the United States Federal Communications Commission granted a spectrum of the S band (the 2.3 GHz frequency) for Digital Audio Radio Service. The license to broadcast in that band was allocated to Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio in 1997. Now there are three companies that provide satellite radio in the world: Sirius and XM in Northern America and WorldSpace in Asia, Europe and Africa.

Each of these companies offer different broadcasting systems, since the radio signal of each is proprietary. This means that you will have to buy different hardware depending on your subscription to one of these companies. However, there are three components common to all satellite radio services: the satellites, the ground repeaters and the radio receivers. Different satellite radio companies broadcast the radio signal in different ways. For instance, XM satellite radio uses geostationary satellites which have orbits that are synchronized with the movement of Earth. These satellites are located above the equator. In order to allow subscribers to receive crystal-clear signal despite obstacles such as buildings, hills or bridges, XM satellite radio service has installed a network of repeaters antennas that receive the radio signal from the satellites and retransmit it to the subscribers receiver Sirius, on the other hand, uses satellites that have unique elliptical orbits around Earth. These kinds of orbits allow satellites to get higher in the sky than geostationary satellites and this prevents loss of signal. This is the reason why Sirius has fewer terrestrial repeaters than XM.

Satellite radio services have digital broadcast centers where a huge amount of music in digital format as well as CD format is stored. Radio programmers have the task of selecting which song has to be played at which time. There are also a lot of studios managed by digital radio companies where artists perform live. All songs and material are transmitted to the satellites in digital format so that the signal contains very high quality sound. The signal is encoded by the satellite and then retransmitted to the repeaters antennas, which then transmit it to the radio receiver which decodes it and plays the sound. The entire process is very quick and reliable. Satellite radio at http:www.review6.info would not be possible without digital compression. Digital compression is a technique that uses sophisticated algorithms to compress as much material as possible on the available bandwidth. Once you make a subscription to a satellite radio provider you will need the appropriate radio equipment. Traditional radios cannot decode the signal received from satellites so you will need special equipment.

The popularity of satellite radio has exploded due to many technological advancements that enabled manufacturers to offer the receivers at very attractive prices. The fact that satellite radio is commercial free for many of its channels is also a major selling point.

Getting The Radio Signal From A Satellite

Monday, December 6th, 2010

You have probably been hearing about satellite radio for a while and of course, lately there has been plenty of news about Howard Stern, he is bringing in many listeners to Sirius and the fan base is growing quickly.

One of the big differences between regular radio and satellite radio is that with satellite you get hundreds of channels that are of digital quality, plus on the screen you know who is performing because it gives you that information. There are very few channels on satellite radio that have commercials. With over 100 channels to choose from there is always something good to listen to. No commercials just the music you want to listen to , you don’t have to listen to salesmen, fuel companies, food advertisements, you will have no static, you will be able to listen to your music or talk show with no interruptions 24 hours a day. There are so many channels; a few of them are comedy, local weather and traffic, women’s issues, sports, old time talk shows from the 20s to the 40s.

Through digital magic, you will not get static or any other types of disturbances you would normally get from an analog radio. The possibilities do not end there though, as it may even be possible for digital stations to broadcast pictures and videos directly to your car or home stereo through the magic of digital broadcasting. When receiving a signal from satellite the signal is completely digital and everyone knows a digital signal sounds cleaner and there is no static, you either get the signal or there is not signal. The signal is encoded and sent to the satellite and then it is sent back down to a receiver which it will be decoded and then the receiver plays the sound. If you find you loose the signal it is because when you travel you move along the earth and since the earth is round you will sometimes loose the signal because the satellites are traditional on the horizons.

Now, people you don’t need to switch stations when driving because you cannot get a clear station in, you can listen to the same station or hundreds of other stations ranging from news, music and news in better quality than AM or FM bands. To receive the digital audio streams you will need a antenna to receive the signal.

Its small, portable and it fits in your purse or pocket, don’t be fooled because they are small, they give the best sounding quality a radio can offer. The auto manufacturers are installing satellite radios to enhance the new automobiles, and many stores are now carrying the portable models to be used in the homes.

Satellite radio is subscription based, meaning that you pay a monthly fee for the service. The purchase of a satellite radio and a small monthly fee will open a whole world of ad-free radio listening to you. You will need to pay a monthly or yearly subscription fee to enjoy satellite radio. Many of the automobile dealerships and manufacturers offering many different types of incentives, so are giving 3 months free or even up to 6 months of free service to get you hooked, they are also throwing in no activation fee.