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That’s... It?

For the most part. The technical side is taken care of, all the ways you can and don’t do right have been addressed, so there really isn’t much to the story from here. But all in all, it was an enjoyable experience. Looking back on it, I can think of a couple things I can remember. *Cue Buzzfeed Article

Top 5 Emotions I Felt During Master Your Finances

Number 5: Fear

Oh yeah, I was terrified starting off. It wasn’t about the host, it was just in general. There was a lot to do in so little time. From coordinating, scheduling, recording, and uploading, I was afraid of making a single mistake. Later on I realized that the workload that I was dreading came out to be pretty easy in the end. Each week became a stride once I got the rhythm

Number 4: Confusion

Oh yeah, At first, I had no idea what I was doing... and that’s okay! Not knowing how to produce is fine, but you have to understand your limits, and that what I had to learn on a daily basis. Once I realized “I can’t do it”, then I was able to learn how to do it. Ultimately teaching me how to improve myself and the quality of the show

Number 3: Overwhelmed

There was a time when I felt that there was so much on my shoulders. Especially with scheduling. When the semester started, the previous producer was in charge of finding guests for the host. This was almost unheard of, and there came a point that most of the guests that I talked to either were not interested, or canceled last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. This took a major toll because I felt like I was letting the host down, and when I talked to the host about it, he came out to help me and coordinate in getting guests too, making the experience much better. It is realizing your weaknesses to make the outcome better.

Number 2: Excited

Each week meant a new guests, and that also meant a new story to tell. Each person was nice, compassionate, and true to their nature. I loved talking with them before the show, the candid behavior was welcoming, and it helped me establish a personal connection. Talking to them made me look forward to the next week. Then I would be able to experience new people who walked a different part.

Number 1: Understanding

The show, in the end, gave me more compassion for others. This show broke the barrier that I originally believed about people in the workforce. These people worked busy schedules, whether small business or corporate, these guests had their own lives to live, and I had to respect that, and respect it fast. Not everyone can appear at a moment’s notice, and that is the craziest part. At first it is easy to assume that, but once you understand that, you become more grateful to the fact that they took the time to come here, to talk about their passion, and to advocate in what they believe. That is what makes me come back every week.

In conclusion

I loved learning the intricacies of producing, it has taught me how to appreciate the hard work it takes to get something on the air, and not to mention how impressive it is that it can be extremely easy too. The people made me love the show, and the host is so nice and compassionate that he is willing to help you as well. Nothing is better than having the support of the people on the show and the host. You don’t work for him... You work with him.

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Pro-gram

If you followed my instructions previously, now you should have 4 files ready to go. Remember their names? 

Good! So that means I don’t have to repeat myself. Now with all of your might, take them into one of the bins on the computer called the VT Bin, the Q drive. Once in there, do one more crucial step, get the times. These times are important for the traffic director of the station. These times tell him how many commercials can run during that show time. Any more or less, will mean shorter hours for the hosts, and even less time for other shows. Let’s just say, don’t follow these instructions, then:

Now you uploaded that in. Great! now what? Well... Remember the social media? Don’t forget to upload that before and after the show, and don’t forget to make sure that the show is in the system for the weekend. Don’t know what to look for? I got you right here:

See those segments I told you to type before? Well whoa. It’s right there, that’s crazy. These pieces are all you need to make sure that your show is ready for the next week. If these times match from the ones you sent to the traffic director, then this is the right show. Feel free to listen exactly at the showtime to double check too. 

Revel in the glory that you programmed this all by yourself.

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Wait, What Do You Mean We Can’t Do A Live Show?

Whoa, did I strike a nerve with that? Well... tough. The real life is not a perfect world there... sorry, I had to take that Band-Aid right off. And just like that, you have to realize that these are not robots that you are talking to... yet. These are real people, with full fledged businesses and companies. That means you run on their time, and you have to accept that. Not everyone is available on a Sunday morning at 9 AM on 107.7 The Bronc and 1077thebronc.com. So what do you do? You record a pre-recorded show.

Now it is the same principle for the live show, only this time instead of playing the imaging for the show, you pretty much just record when the guests are ready. After the session is done, it is time to get to editing... again (oh did I forget to mention a crucial part of the show is editing?) This show now needs to get the same treatment that live shows do, minus the strain of commercials. 

We went over what the imaging is from the very first post, so with those in mind, it is time to knock it out of the park with the opens at the beginning of each segment. These are going to be important. Now that you have each part edited, it is time to export them. Name them this: A N D   D O   N O T    M A K E   A   M I S T A K E . MASTER_1, MASTER_2, MASTER_3, and MASTER_4. 

Do that and we are golden. Now it is time for the next process for next post. Programming... Oh yeah, we are getting down and dirty next time.

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Uploading 1 of 1

If you followed my posts previously, then let me say:

You are one step closer from finishing a podcast. 

Now that you have your clip ready, time to take you through the fun adventure of uploading your clips to... the cloud

Well Filezilla, but... same principle. Filezilla is a file storage system that we use to upload our podcasts and embed them into our website, 1077thebronc.com. It is as easy as clicking, dragging, and dropping it into the folder. 

Now you have a fully usable link that you can now put onto 1077thebronc.com. Once you access 1077thebronc.com, time to go to the editing page and do some Coding. Yeah, we are gonna do some magic.

Go to your page and it is time to edit. 

Once you see each listing of the previous shows, now it is time to highlight and edit the site and change the title of this weeks episode. Once you edit the information, now it is time to embed the link. It is as easy as copy and pasting it with the new date from the old links in the show. If you follow the system I said last post, then you are golden, otherwise... good luck. 

After saving the webpage, go back and look on the website, does anything look different? if so, then you have done your job right. If the website does not appear at all, then you probably deleted the page from existence... how did you do that. I’m not even upset, I’m actually impressed.

And viola! Now you have uploaded your show online for a viewing audience!

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Show’s Done... Now What?

Now is time for the fun part... Editing. Oh yeah, time to go into our favorite friend Adobe Audition and edit down the show. So without further ado, it is time to put on my biggest, fakest, and annoyingest (not sure if that’s a word... definitely not a word) smile, because it is time to pull a popular Buzzfeed article trope. 

5 Step Editing Tips; Number 4 Will Shock you!

Step 1: Find Your Show

In the vast world of the internet, everything has a log or recording, and that could not be more true than at a radio station. One thing to always make sure of is make sure logger is recording. When you are starting your show, logger is records each hour from both streams, WRRC1 and WRRC2. 

Step 2: Put It In Adobe Audition

Once you find the hour for your show, time to open up Adobe Audition and start a new session. For the name you want something that is going to be both quick and easy to remember... How about the name of the show and the time it aired! Whoa! So how about... MYF_170911. Wow, that sounds wacky, but okay. Now you have your audio file.

Step 3: Bye Commercials

But that was for your show... you can’t do that... Yeah... when it was on the air... no is not on the air... is it? Checkmate. It is easy as listening over to the designated commercial times and dragging and deleting. Usually these commercials will come at 15 minute intervals. All you have to do is remove those chunks and you are good to go.

Step 4: Fix Those Levels!

Okay, as natural as it may sound, humans are never perfect. They will be loud, or even worse, quiet. So how do you fix that? with a little bit of studio magic! All you do is take those trouble spots, and just a magical effect on the menu to put the sound levels to a normal number. This makes the listener hear the show better, and also makes the world full of rainbows and sunshine*

*Does not actually make the world full of rainbows and sunshine

Step 5: Save Often As You Should!

Well this may not sound like an actual problem... but believe me... do it. Saving is how angels get their wings, and how sanity is restored. Once you save the edited piece, congrats! You are almost done! and by that I mean you have your podcast for this week. 

This is now ready for the next stage... The Website. 

#PleaseNoFlamerinoBuzzfeedaroonie #struggling college student #hashtag

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We’ll Do It Live!

Unlike Bill O’Reilly, we don’t need expletives for when we are live on the air. When scheduling guests, we usually prefer to have them come live. in my opinion, having a live show is more organic and genuine, while having a pre-recorded show can lose that authentic feeling. The fun about having live shows is also that they are unpredictable. What happens when the guest doesn’t show up? what if the guest is late? what if ‘what if statements’ had an actual impact on the situation?

Freaking out would not be the best option, but if you are prepared for anything, you will be just fine. When the guest arrives, what do you do? well don’t be rude, introduce yourself, let the guest be comfortable with you. If the guest seems calm, then the show will go better. Not only that, but when both the guest and host arrives, there’s one thing you have to be mindful of... social media. Yes, even for a sponsored show is social media important. Think of it like this, If you have a show that has grown quite a base, then they are going to need to know you are on. so it is as easy as take a pic and take a click. 

                                               See? not so hard, is it?

Now with the social media out of the way, time to start the show. Here are the three things you will have to worry about, the talk suite, the opens and closes for your show, and the commercials that you play during the break. Just bring up the levels, turn play the top of the hour, and play the open. once that’s playing, you are on the air.

After the hour plays, each segment has their commercials play, then top of the hour goes, and it is time for one last video for the social media. Like this:

And just like that, you are done with your first live show! Great work there, cadet, now if only that was the whole job. Next, you have your show recorded... and now it is time for editing. 

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So... Who’s On First?

Now that we have the semantics out of the way, now it is time to get into the nitty gritty of my job. Each week I am responsible for putting up a show for master your finances, producing the episode, and creating a podcast for the show after it airs. So how do I get guests? Well lucky for me, there is this fantastic term called networking 

Networking you may ask? “Yeah” I will respond. Kurt Baker is a member of the Princeton Chamber of Commerce, and each time he comes to the meetings, he is constantly in touch with hundreds of people in the business industry. During the get-togethers, he meets each guest and establishes a connection between each person. Networking is crucial when creating a lasting relationship. If you do it well, you will have someone who will be interested in being a guest. And viola! that is how you get a guest! It’s crazy what the magic of getting guests are.

Sometimes not everyone wants to be a guest, and that is completely okay! but that doesn’t stop me from extending the hand and sending out my feelers and find guests as well. It is as easy as picking up the phone and calling.

And yes... That ancient device that is in your pocket right now... (or the phone in your hands) can do this magic thing called... calls. Such a foreign concept this day and age, but still an important method of communication. Not to mention how awkward it is to send a formal email to someone and them marking it as spam because they weren’t expecting an email saying “Congratulations! You are selected as a potential guest for Master Your Finances.” I know I would never answer that email, and the sad part is I would be the one sending them. So call the guest, see if they are still interested in being a guest, and rinse and repeat each week. 

Next for each guest, it is time to get the idea of scheduling... and whoa... schedules? what is that? It is that magical concept that we will get into later. 

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What The Frontdoor Is A Bronc?

So enough about Master Your Finances... how about 107.7 The Bronc! Man, how can I talk about The Bronc... oh I know! let me talk about what The Bronc does for Master Your Finances!

                                         Talk about counterproductive!

So before I get to this, let’s find out what the H-E-double hockey sticks is The Bronc. 107.7 The Bronc is a premier college radio station that was proudly awarded the best college radio station in New Jersey from the New Jersey Broadcaster’s Association, and the only station to give away a car and a cruise... so not to toot my own horn... but we’re kind of a big deal.

So with being part of The Bronc, I have had to learn how to use the wonderful program Adobe Audition to create a show promo, open, bumper, and close.

And thank the high heavens those files did not look like this... 

But wait... back to Audition... I had to write... record... AND PRODUCE? Well yeah... what else would I do?

Panic... Panic is definitely an option. 

So instead of freaking the heck out, I created the imaging that is now synonymous with the program. 

If you R E A L L Y want the gritty detail about what I did... then here... listen to them. 

Now that this is out of the way, I guess it is time to talk about my experiences with the show, even how to produce the show each week... Which we will get to next time!

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Master Your Finances...?

When I talk about mastering your finances... most people are like:

Being in control of your financial future is completely confusing. Let’s be honest, for me, I have no idea how to save my money, and not only that, my funds are practically nonexistent (what can I say... I’m a college student. )

In lieu of this, that is where Kurt Baker comes in. Kurt is a Certified Financial Planner professional for Certified Wealth Management and Investment. So I mean it when I say he is prepared to take your hand and prepare you for your perfect financial experience. The format of the show itself is a 60 minute talk show (I know... how dare they not play music... well too bad, not that kind of programming). Each week, Kurt Baker sits down with his guests and talks about current topics that will impact our financial future. Not only that, but we also get a glimpse of who the person behind the company, which gives an eye opening experience of who we are talking to. It breaks that impersonality barrier. 

Now knowing what the show is all about, it helps you get an idea of what I have to take care of. Speaking of taking care of something, Wanna know how I take care of things about The Bronc? Me too! Wow... we have so much in common...

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An Introduction

Hey there folks! The name is Steven, but you can call me Stein. I am the producer for a sponsored program Master Your Finances, a premier show aired on 107.7 The Bronc. When I first started with the show, I did not know what will happen next. I thought “Oh a show? Well, I like being on the air...” and continued on to meet the host Kurt Baker. Kurt was extremely nice and knew what he wanted, which is always appreciated. 

Whoa, that’s me!

Sometimes when working for shows, you are at the mercy of the host, whether they are good, or... not so great, but who are you to judge? It’s just smiling and nodding... right? Well... wrong. As a producer, you are not only the ambassador for the host, but you also your own individual, you have just as much power as the host. And as an individual, you have your own life and priorities. What do you do to remedy that? You have to not be afraid to lay your boundaries. We can do a lot, but we can’t do everything. You have to know your limitations, or else you will crack under the expectations. 

Yolks aside, I will take you step by step through what I had learned and what I have understood from my experience. So... want to take this journey with me? N-no obligations or anything...