We do lose our signal in certain places around town. It frustrates me more than anyone else. However, is there a way to fix it? Maybe. Do we know what is truly wrong? Not really. Do we have the finances to figure it out? Nope. This is a technical difficulty we cannot do anything about.

Our live stream has some issues. What exactly these issues are, I am not sure. It will cut out, it will not work on certain platforms, it sounds odd, these are just some of the complaints I hear in regards to the system. I am never able to replicate these issues, and neither can IT. Now, would we be able to fix it? Possibly. Will it take time and money? Yes. Do we have the resources to fix it? Most likely. This is a technical difficulty I can work on, but is definitely not a priority right now.

SAM, our long lasting automated system, sometimes called “Seriously Awesome Music,” is out-dated. It runs on Windows XP, an operating system that is not supported anymore. This is one thing that will be changed before I leave my position. I do not want any future members of management to get phone calls at midnight saying that SAM is not working. However, changing to a new system is not easy. It provides lots of technical difficulties. We are trying to move to a system that is completely free, but we keep facing technical difficulties with it. There are issues with the station IDs and PSAs. Is this something we can figure out? Yes. Will it take time? Yes. This is a technical difficulty we can fix with a little time and effort.

When I started DJing, people didn’t know we had a remote broadcasting system, let alone know how to use it. As soon as I took over as station manager, I made a point of teaching myself how to use this system. It has worked. As I write this, two DJs are utilizing it, broadcasting the EOU basketball games. However, is the quality good? No. Is there a way to fix that? Maybe. Are we working on improving the quality? Yes.

Even though we have had success with the remote system, we have also had failures. The first basketball broadcast was rough. Really rough. Are we better now? Yes. We also attempted to do a remote broadcast, while also DJing, at the La Grande Main Street New Year’s Eve Block Party, we had to scrap the broadcast part, due to not have the correct adapters for the turn tables we were utilizing. Will these things continue to happen? Probably. Will we learn and change how we operate as we learn? Most certainly.

Now, why am I writing this? Is it a call for money? Maybe. Is it for awareness? Yes. KEOL is a college radio station. We are continually learning. We do not have an engineer. Every member of management comes in with a different knowledge of how to fix or adjust our equipment. Some people are clueless when it comes to technology when they come in, while others understand most of it. For me, I was clueless. However, I am now able to adjust our website, fix SAM, run the EAS machine, or fix pretty much anything, and if I don’t know, I know who I can call.

Overall, this is all a learning experience, as college radio should be. So, please, be patient with KEOL, we are probably just facing technical difficulties and learning while we try to overcome these issues.