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Rockin' Recorded Radio

Want to know the coolest audio setup I've experienced in a long time? My computer, recording software for Internet streaming and an MP3 player. Even though I'm a music "nut", it was actually "talk" that sent me in search for a software solution to satisfy a cravin' to record some of my favorite talk and news shows - some from national networks, others from local stations that stream their signals. All I wanted to do was use my computer to record the shows as MP3s so I could play them back later on my iPod.


While several companies make recording software that captures streamed Internet signals (easily found by doing a Google search), I stopped after I discovered Replay Radio 5.2 (www.replay-radio.com). I love this software. At $30 to download the full version, you can't beat it and it really is sort of like "TIVO for radio", although it doesn't "pause live radio" or at least I couldn't figure out how.


But despite this limitation, let me share with you how simple it is to record Internet radio and play it back using your MP3 player. Using Replay Radio, I clicked on the button "Add A Show" from the neat, simple interface. I was given the option of downloading a list of radio shows from various stations, which I did. While certainly not an exhaustive list of programs, (the list was also limited to secular choices), I simply clicked on my favorite show from the lineup, pressed "record" on the interface and began recording the show onto my hard drive as an MP3. Had my program not been in progress, I could have set the software up to begin recording automatically. Under "Quick Record", I was given several options for quality, ranging from MP3s recorded at 56 MB per hour (CD quality) down to 7 MB per hour (analog AM radio quality). I could easily have chosen to record the audio as a .wav file (a whopper file) and I could have also just as simply automatically added the file to my iTunes library. Most importantly, it is very easy to add a "pre-set" to the show or station to the choices available.


As is the case with audio streaming, Internet recording software works best with higher speed Internet connections, but it can work with dial up, although there may be pauses in the audio stream occasionally. The quality of my test recording (captured using high-speed) was fantastic and didn't miss a beat or vowel. There was a glitch, however, but not with the software. I couldn't concentrate on the show that I had recorded because I was thinking about so many applications this software, MP3s and local broadcast streaming have for ministry. I know countless people who would love to listen to Focus on the Family or Insight for Living, but can't because their favorite shows are not on at convenient times. Software such as Replay Radio is the ticket. I know your pastor wouldn't mind you sharing his broadcast message with a friend, captured, of course, as an MP3 via streaming Internet audio.


Let me share with you some of my best ideas for using MP3s and Internet radio in ministry and personal worship. I'd also be interested to know your great ideas!


If you have a radio ministry and your local station streams its audio signal, craft a short, creative promotional e-mail to send to your church members and also print the message in the bulletin. In the e-mail, provide a link to the station, with the time the broadcast airs. Instruct the church members to forward your message to everyone in their address book and to report back to you any you've received. You may discover your e-mail and pastor's message travels thousands of miles from home.


If your services are broadcast on local radio station and streamed, ask the station manager if he would be willing to do some ten second public service announcements, promoting the fact that "our worship services are heard locally and internationally", then give the station's dial location and Internet address.


Develop a list of popular Christian radio stations and shows, provide their times, Internet addresses, post the list to your church web site, and demonstrate how easy it is to record those shows for personal playback later. The best way to create this list of stations is to turn this challenge into a Student Ministry scavenger hunt!


Help teach both young and old how to use this technology to develop a personal development plan and ministry. Have a one-night seminar and promote it with the contest idea of seeing who can bring the oldest radio or who remembers the oldest radio program. And remember, recording technology is for one's personal use. Always abide by copyright law and encourage others to do so as well.


Newer technologies such as the Internet and MP3 players needn't and shouldn't take the place of traditional communication methods, such as broadcast radio. We need them all to communicate the Good News. It's neat to know that without spending an additional cent, our church's morning and evening worship services are now not just local broadcasts, but internationally heard radio programs - all because our local radio station chose to stream its signal about two years ago.


It's incumbent upon us as Christian communicators to use the new tools and well as the older ones to reach the world.