SCMA | Southern Community Media Association

The CEO of the SCMA has announced that as part of the ongoing commitment and development of the association’s internet presence that the SCMA has acquired a new faster Australian based server to locate its IT services on.

Web Master for the SCMA Mr Brad Ward said “The introduction of this new server will see a significant and noticeable increase in speed for both the SCMA’S websites and also for the PDS”.

The new server was brought into service earlier this week after some extensive testing to ensure that it would provide the association and it’s membership with a reliable faster way to get information out to the membership of the association.

The most significant improvements will be in upload and download time for programs available on PDS with the new server providing a faster and more stable platform for the system to operate on.

The Associations web presence is constantly being updated and developed to provide the SCMA membership with the best possible information and support.

If you are interested in finding out more about the services that SCMA have available to it’s membership please feel free to contact the associations via the contact us page on the SCMA’s web site http://www.scma.org.au/contact-us/ or simply have a look at the SCMA’s website www.scma.org.au

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More information or comment on this release by contacting SCMA’s Web Master Mr. Brad Ward
via webmaster@scma.org.au or phone Geek Internet 03 9014 9815.
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Yes the Melomaniacs have over come all of the drama of the past few months and have shown their deep commitment by putting their show onto PDS effective immediately.

As of right now Melomania is available via the PDS and is waiting to be added to your stations playlist.

The show is broken into around 7 segments allowing plenty of time for you to insert sponsorship announcements and other promotional materials.

So what is Melomania all about ……………

Meaning Of Melomania is A Singular passion for music that is beyond all reason, hence the name of the show.

Melomania has been on the Airwaves since AUGUST 2008 and has already had talented national and international artists from many styles of music from Country through to mainstream as well as all places in between. The Melomaniacs also interview local guests not just for them but also locals from around Australia.

Melomania is about letting you know what is charting, what the celebs are up to, even a bit of gossip as well as what’s new.

We also like to introduce bands and artists that you wouldn’t usually hear even if they are from the same town or city as you. We love to discover new artists.

Basically Melomania is just a few hours of fun, great music and a little bit of craziness all rolled into one great show that your listeners will just become addicted to.

Melomania it’s young, it’s vibrant it’s entertaining … and who doesn’t like music?

Want to know more go to www.melomania.com.au and take a look

Great News!  Australia’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders music program – DEADLY SOUNDS has joined forces with the Program Delivery System to provide member stations of the SCMA another great programming option for their stations. Deadly Sounds is a weekly national indigenous music, interview and information program that runs for around 59:00 and provides stations with the opportunity to add more variety and information to their format.

The President of the SCMA Helen Bath said “I welcome Deadly Sounds to PDS.  It is great to see another quality program added to the PDS and it will prove to be a great asset to SCMA Members”

Also added to PDS in the last day is the newly developed CSA bank that has a variety of CSA’s available for member stations.  Once you have subscribed to this, any new CSA’s will automatically be downloaded to your station.

There are a lot of new programs about to be added to the PDS system as well as an ever increasing and evolving website, mySCMA site and so much more happening within the SCMA.
Not yet a member of SCMA? http://www.scma.org.au/join-scma and find out what a Can do Association can do for you

The X Award winning show “A Country Yarn” today became a nationally available program as it hit the PDS for the first time.

A county Yarn will now be available to all financial members of the SCMA via the “Program Delivery System” accessible through MySCMA another innovation by the Association.

A Country Yarn is a program that runs for around 56 minutes and is delivered weekly via PDS it is as simple as ordering the program and as soon as it becomes available you get it downloaded without any further work on your part.

The program is hosted by Ross Usher and features an chat show style interview with a different country music artist each week as well as music, album information and so much more. The laid back style of Ross makes the show one of those shows you just want to listen to all the way through.

Produced in the studios of My 105.9 FM  Mackay QLD the show and the fact that it is now national is a real credit to the hard working team.

Station Manager of My105.9 Stephan Kent said “A Country Yarn is one of those unique programs that we on community radio do so well – it also gives us a chance to really highlight the very best in Australian County Music. It was voted the most popular program on our station in 2009 and so far this season Ross Usher the presenter has managed to line up an excellent range of artists. I can tell you that any station who chooses to run this show will be adding a high class show to their line up.  The show is produced without any funding from anyone and we just love the idea that using Ross’s research and interviewing talents has taking THE COUNTRY YARN to new heights”.

There is no time like right now to add “A Country Yarn” to your stations program list if you need more information on PDS, mySCMA or A Country Yarn check it all out at www.scma.org.au or log into mySCMA.

Membership to SCMA is just $50-00 per year and information and applications can be found here

Face 2 Face PDS Training

The Program Distribution System (PDS) has been released for financial members of the Southern Community Media Association and is now available from the SCMA website www.scma.org.au without charge.

As part of our commitment to our members the SCMA is currently planning No Cost one day Training Sessions on PDS with Michael McFeeters from MJM Solutions.

These training sessions will happen in two locations Wagga Wagga NSW and Ballarat Victoria and all financial members of the SCMA are welcome to attend one or both of these sessions at no cost.

Please keep in mind that there will be a requirement to book for these sessions and a cut of gate for attendance at the sessions. Again at no cost to you the members of the SCMA.

These sessions will look at all aspects of the PDS including installation and all functionality and will provide those that attend a good grounding on everything from setting up PDS for your station to using its many features.

So the bottom line is after attending one of these sessions you should have a pretty good handle on PDS and sending and receiving via the system.

Planning for the workshops is well underway although at this point we cannot confirm the actual venues we can confirm the dates.

“PDS” Training Wagga Wagga – Saturday May 28^th 2010.

Session 1 will run from 10 am to 12 Noon

Session 2 from 1pm to 3pm

Cut off date for bookings will be May 21^st

“PDS” Training Ballarat – Saturday June 5th 2010.

Session 1 will run from 10 am to 12 Noon

Session 2 from 1pm to 3pm

Cut off date for bookings will be May 27^th

Bookings will be essential for both of training sessions please keep in mind the cut off dates as numbers at that date will determine if the session will go ahead.

As you have read in this newsletter and if you attended the conference PDS will be a valuable tool to all community broadcasters looking for material to supplement live programming as well as offering stations the opportunity to share their programs with other stations.

This can be done in several ways and will provide all member stations of SCMA with another great tool.

“PDS” stands for Program Distribution system but it is much more that that and will prove to be a huge asset to you and other stations throughout Australia.

Make the time to attend one of the face to face sessions and get to understand the advantages of using PDS and the great asset it will be to your station.

Training Bookings can be submitted via our contact form or by email to ceo[at]scma.org.au

SCMA Launches Program Distribution System Free to All Members

The Southern Community Media Association today released the latest in internet program sharing technology the “Program Distribution System” (PDS) designed by Michael Mcfeeters of MJM Solutions the system is the latest and greatest.

This technology will not only allow member stations to upload and make available programming for all other member stations through a central library it also offers members the ability to direct deliver programs to specific stations without the need to go through the formality of uploading to a library.

The system is designed for ease of operation and for quick and effective delivery of not only programming but any sort of data. This could be a program, an interview, a word file or even a data base of information. The PDS system is designed for ease of operation and was designed specifically for the needs of community broadcasters in mind, while at the same time offering extremely high levels of security for information sent through the system.

Already member stations are keen to provide programs and information for uploading into the system and it will be a matter of weeks before the system has a wide variety of programs available within its program library and the Document library starts to fill.

The PDS is available to all financial members of the Southern Community Media Association at no charge.

If you would like more information on the PDS please feel free to go to the SCMA’s website and follow the link to either PDS or PDS download.

If you would like to become a member of the Southern Community Media Association there is also information on the website on membership to the association. The SCMA is a National Representative Association for Community Broadcasters with member’s right across this Great Southern Land and welcomes new members to the association at any time.

Date of release: 29-03-2010

The Southern Community Media Association’s Program Distribution System has evolved further today with the introduction of a revamped PDS Web Interface.

The PDS Web Interface enables PDS users to manage the content available to them as well as acquire new content such as; programs, audio, production material, Australian music and a range of station administration material.

This revamp is a much neater design to our past Web Interface and has been developed by Brad, the SCMA’s webmaster.

If you’re a PDS user check it out by logging in to the PDS Web Interface at: http://my.scma.org.au

Below is a screenshot of the new PDS Web Interface.

SCMA PDS Screenshot

THIS ARTICLE IS OUTDATED & DUE TO OUR IMPROVED WEBSITE CHANGES THE INFORMATION IS INCORRECT!

THIS ARTICLE WILL BE KEPT AS AN ARCHIVE

The PDS (Program Distribution System) has now passed through its Beta testing phase and will be released to all and sundry very shortly. What is the PDS I hear you ask?

The PDS will allow secure program distribution between one to one stations or one to many stations, the PDS operates in two different modes

Direct Delivery

In this mode PDS is capable of delivering material directly to one or more stations simultaneously.

For example station 2AAA wishes to send program material to One FM in Shepparton and Voice FM in Ballarat it can cue the information to be sent directly to these stations. Once it has been sent it will then download automatically at the target station or stations. This does not mean anybody can deliver material to any other station with out permission. Each station will need to authorize the other station in order for this to be allowable.

Internet Subscription Mode

In this mode PDS will allow any station to supply programs or information to the PDS this program or information will then be accessible via a web page.

The web address for this page will be http://www.scma1.com/pds this will take you to a login page. Once you have logged in you will see the listed programs that your station can subscribe to.

* Update The PDS web interface will be upgraded over the coming weeks and we’ll be introducing a range of new features with our web based interface.

For example lets take 2AAA again it wants to supply a 1 hour show for 6 months on a weekly basis, 2AAA would apply to do this by the PDS system. Once 2AAA receives approval the program item will be displayed on the SCMA PDS web site. Let’s say Voice FM would like to take this segment; all they need to do is login onto the PDS site and click on the program it wishes to receive. Once your station has subscribed to a program the PDS will download this program automatically when it has been supplied to the PDS system.

Security

The PDS employs multiple levels of security ensuring that programs you supply will only go to the intended recipients and that it does not pose a security threat to any Computer. All Data transferred over the internet is fully encrypted, all registrations are locked to a specific computer and any tampering with security settings will render the program unlicensed.

Where can I get PDS and at what cost?

PDS is supplied free to all financial members of the SCMA. For information on the PDS can be obtained by contacting the CEO of SCMA Via our contact page

The Future

The PDS will deliver not only program segments it can and will deliver any type of information stored as a file, be it large or small with the upmost security. Improvements are continuously being made and constructive feedback is very welcome

SCMA Press Release – Date: 19-01-2010

National Regional Rural and Sub Metro Broadcasters Conference schedule released on the Web

Following on from the relaunch of the Southern Community Media Associations new website yesterday the Association has released the schedule of events for the 2010 National Regional Rural and Sub Metro Broadcasters Conference.

Some of the featured speakers at this years event will be the ACMA speaking about the code of conduct and sponsorship guidelines, David Wilson will return to speak about succession planning and marketing your station, Michael Mcfeeters will conduct a session on Technical made simple, the CBF have two workshops plus many more speakers on many topics will be at the conference. There will be all the usual features of the conference such as drinks with the trade, the welcome BBQ and the Conference dinner and X Awards.

All of this and a whole lot more and all included in the affordable conference registration fee. There are no extras and no hidden costs for delegates.

The 2010 National Regional Rural and Sub Metro Broadcasters Conference is a great opportunity for your station to learn, network and enjoy the social side of community broadcasting in an open and friendly atmosphere.

Take a few minutes to have a look at the conference schedule and information and then make your booking to be in Wangaratta Victoria on March 12^th to 14^th 2010.

We will make you welcome!

See you in Wangaratta

It is with great excitement that I announce the launch of the new and improved Southern Community Media Association website. By now you would have noticed the new website and logo, but that’s only the start……

We’re working on some innovative features for the website, that will include access for SCMA Members, Australian Music Artists as well as the general public. We’ve planned a range of  features for the new website over the next few months, and I hope you’ll stay with us as we go places no one has ever been.

The new website is designed to provide a basic information portal for SCMA members as well as non-members, and at this stage serves a fairly basic purpose, however you should expect a considerable amount of changes and additions to the website that will launch at the upcoming conference in Wangaratta including a great new way for Aussie artists to get their music out to the Community Broadcasting sector by using SCMA’s Program Delivery System and the soon to be announced Artists platform.

I’m looking forward to the conference myself as I will be presenting an Internet Technology workshop, focusing on using the Internet to provide an additional outlet for your radio station to connect with your listening audience. I’m very keen to demonstrate that the power of engaging your audience off air and online can be a great benefit to your station.

Anyway I should not give it all away about what I’ve got planned for the workshop or the website, I do like to offer surprises, so come along and let me surprise you!

Cheers,

Brad Ward
SCMA Webmaster