Sounds neat, but where can I listen?

Click to reveal Like I said, this is an upcoming internet radio station. IE. it’s not quite ready yet. I’m still trying to experiment, get servers up, get content, etc. Once everything is up, you’ll be able to access the radio station either through your browser (lots of browsers support the web player), or through a downloaded file that can be played on various media players such as iTunes, WMP, or quicktime.

I’m hooked, but that’s a lot of air-time that you’ll need to fill, and there aren’t a whole lot of Minecraft parodies out there…

Click to reveal I really want to air more than Minecraft parodies and music. While that is great, you’d be correct to assume there’s not enough to fill air-time for the station to run 24/7. That’s why I’ve come up with a few ideas to try and combat this. First off, I’m going to be streaming more than just Minecraft music. As I said before, I really want to stream Minecraft news segments, podcasts, interviews, giveaways, live events, call-ins, etc. as well as music. Along with that, I’m going to start with only streaming over the weekends. Haven’t decided for sure yet, but it’ll probably be Friday night starting at like 7 PM EST. until Saturday night at 7:00 PM. This gives a solid 24 hours of stream time to include all of the content. As more content comes in, the hours may grow.

What’ll happen when the radio isn’t streaming?

Click to reveal Like I said in the last question, I may only stream on the weekends (at least for now). In that case, when I’m not streaming, one of two things will happen. Either the stream just won’t be up, and you won’t be able to listen to anything, or a playlist of Minecraft songs will simply play on repeat (in that case I would be technically streaming).

How are you going to obtain music that’s going to be played?

Click to reveal This is one of the main problems I’ve had with starting this radio station up. From what I can tell, I'm going to need to get permission from each and every parody creator in order to play their music on the radio station. I may ask for everybody's help, to tweet at them to help us get the permission.

… but why not just use YouTube, or plug.dj, or some other service?

I’ve got a few reasons, and I’ll try my best to explain them.

Click to reveal First off, as I said before, this radio station will play more than just music. It’ll play up-to-date news, interviews, live events, contests, podcasts, etc. pretty much combining all of the services that you already use and love. On top of that, I’m hoping for the community to be able to interact with it. I want to be able to take live calls over Skype, hold contests, conduct community driven interviews, etc. Again, this is something that I just don’t think you can get with just one of any of these other services that are currently out there.



Second off, I’m just going to be honest. I think this will be a fun project, and I believe I’ll have a fun time doing it.

What is the schedule going to look like? What if I’m in a timezone where nothing interesting happens?

Click to reveal This is another big concern of mine. Since I’m not able to sit in front of my computer 24/7 to DJ, I need to setup a little bit of automation. However, I’ll try to be live at a regular time each day that the station is running. In the future, I may play around with the possibility of having multiple DJ’s that can help me stream at different times of day.

When are you going to begin streaming?

Click to reveal I’m not completely 100% sure yet. However, there are going to be several stages of this project. Alpha, Beta, and Stable. Read below for a brief summary of each stage.



ALPHA - Expect a bit of chaos. The stream may be down often, things may sound glitchy or spazzy, there isn’t really going to be a format, and things may look really bad… this is just a time where I can test everything out, make sure everything is working alright, and get feedback from people.



BETA - Once I have everything some-what figured out, I want to try to get on a regular schedule. However, you can still expect down-times, glitches, and goofs.



STABLE - Finally, when everything is pretty much all good to go, I’ll go into the stable stage. You can expect things to go smoothly from here on out.

You said you’re going to be live? Will you take callers?

Click to reveal Yep, I’ll hopefully be reporting live from my studio (my bedroom), and taking callers is a possibility. The microphone I’m currently using isn’t the greatest, so I’d need to get an upgrade before the BETA stage begins. As for callers, I guess I’ll see how it goes. Listeners will be able to call in from Skype for contests, requests, interviews, etc.

What is your vision for this project?

Click to reveal In all honesty, I’m a little bit scared about this. It’s a lot of responsibility to work on something like this. However, I still have a rather ambitious vision. First, I want this station to be G rated. I remember when I was younger, my parents were very strict about what I could and couldn’t do. I want this to be something that the entire family could enjoy together.



Second, I want this to be heavily community based. I want to be able to interact with the community while live on the air. I’d love to be able to give shoutouts, answer questions, and take requests.



Third, I’m hoping this someday turns into something that’s a relatively good size. I don’t expect this to blow up, in fact I don’t want it to. However, it’d be pretty cool to be able to interview some pretty important people. Small mod makers, map makers, server owners, etc.

How can I help?

Click to reveal Right now, everyone can start coming up with ideas for the station.



If you’re a content creator - You can create a demo of your work, and PM it to me. Also be sure to let me know if you expect this to be aired on a timed schedule, or just a few times whenever I can. I expect the work to be good quality, and that’s about it. No offense, but I’m not going to accept work from a 5 year old singing on a laptop mic with lyrics that don’t make any sense. It’s just not gonna happen. Also, the higher quality your content is, the more air-time you get. For an example, I’m more likely to pick a really great 15 minutes Minecraft news segment than a cheesy hour long, boring podcast without potential.



If you’re an graphic artist - Again, you can PM a portfolio of your work to me. You’ll be contacted only if I need work to be done.



If you’re rich and willing to give me a few bucks - You can keep your money for now. At this moment, I’m not 100% sure if this project is going to really get anywhere. I’d recommend you wait until the project is at least in Alpha of Beta before donating. However, if you wish to donate, please PM me.



If you’re a programmer - PM me with some of your work. You’ll be contacted only if I need work to be done.



If you’re want to sponsor this project - You can again PM me. You can either sponsor financially, or with content such as a VPS, domain, or web-hosting.



If you’ve setup your own successful online radio station before - Please please please PM me. I have tons of questions for you xD



No matter how you end up trying to help, I am going to be a little strict about what content I’m going to accept. Don’t feel bad if I don’t decide to use your work. Sometimes when I get tons of requests, I just have to choose someone to go with. Also, overtime, I may decide to go with something different. Don’t feel bad if your work gets replaced with something else.

How can I contact you?

Click to reveal At the moment, there are two ways of contacting me. The best place is probably right here on this topic. However, if you’d like to contact me privately, please PM me right here on Planet Minecraft. In the future, I’ll be setting up a Skype and Twitter account for Noteblock Radio, so keep your eyes open for that.

Noteblock Radio is an upcoming internet radio station, centered around Minecraft, that plays more than just Music. We’re hoping you’ll be able to hear Minecraft news and updates, exclusive interviews, Minecraft podcasts, as well as live events, and even giveaways! It’s perfect to listen to while playing Minecraft, lying in bed, or even driving in the car!At this moment, I still don’t have everything worked out completely. Some of what I’m writing below is stuff that I’m just making up as I go along, so it may not all come together just yet. As time goes on, and I’m able to start testing a little bit more, I’ll try to bring more information.