MahZeh.org

WOBC-FM Public Radio

We are often asked questions like this: “Our staff spend so much time recording and reporting this data by hand. Couldn’t a computer do it better and faster?” The answer is usually yes.

WOBC-FM, an all-volunteer public radio station with a dedicated local following, hired MahZeh to create a new Web site design from the ground up, including installation on an in-studio server. Then they asked if their new computer system couldn’t streamline the work of station administrators. This was in the year 2000, when no open-format radio stations had real-time online playlists.

The resulting program- and playlist-management system — built from scratch by MahZeh using MySQL, ASP, and Perl — is still in use by the station today. It was the first Web interface in the world to allow a DJ to enter his playlist from the studio in real time, while a listener visiting wobc.org instantly sees complete information on every selection just played, and can search by keyword for songs, artists, labels, etc. during the current show and all other shows aired on the station.

In addition to bringing listeners into greater interaction with the station and its hosts, this system saves WOBC’s volunteer staff hundreds of hours every year by automating the painstaking processes of compiling and reporting playlist statistics, and managing complex programming schedules comprising many hosting staff and departments.

http://www.wobc.org/