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How the site works
The site is a big list of airchecks that you can listen to via streaming audio. You can scroll down the list and read about each aircheck. They are listed in the order they have been put on the site over the years. Read the list. To select an aicheck to listen, click on the boldface title at the beginning of the description.
What is the problem?
I do get complaints about the site, that people can't access the files, that nothing happens, that when they can listen, the connection jumps in and out, starts and stops etc. I do test each aircheck to make sure it plays on two different computers before I upload the site.
Nothing happens?
If you find that nothing happens when you click on the bold face title in the aircheck description, you probably need to have RealPlayer installed on your computer in order to listen.
You can download either a free player or a player with other bells and whistles at real.com. You'll have to pay for the bells and whistle version. The free player works with all the airchecks on this site.
(Note: Any version above RealPlayer G2 will work with this site. RealPlayer G2 is available from www.oldversion.com, The latest update of real Player (v10) seems to be fine.)
The sound keeps dropping out
Yeah, I know, it does that. Without getting into a lot of technical jargon that I quite frankly don't understand, you should know that the internet just wasn't built to pass streaming audio and video. It's basically a technological miracle that you can hear these airchecks, music, and see video over the internet. Sure, it doesn't work well... particularly on a dial up connection. The sound is not CD quality, and the player may start and stop, dump out altogether, or whatever.
Know that there are times that congestion from the source server, or from various internet sources may contribute technical difficulties. It pays to let you know that if you can't listen one day, or even one minute, come back another time and you might have better luck.
But I will say this
This site is built around the premise that most people use older 28.8 or 56K dial up connections and modems, but that you'll be able to listen with faster connections as well. I don't anticipate retooling the software encoder that I use to make these airchecks work only on high speed connections any time soon, as I want the site to be as accessible to as much audience as possible. I will occasionally offer high speed internet versions of airchecks if the quality of original material is good enough. These presentations are generally time limited. I pay for bandwidth, and my intention is to keep the site non-commercial and as accessible to as many people as possible. This means I use inexpensive web space providers, who may not offer the same level of reliability as the large commercial media sites.
Finally
Thanks for listening and using the site. This site, reelradio.com, airchexx.com, Allen Sniffen's New York City oriented sites try to educate and entertain listeners with the way radio used to sound. I'm pretty proud to be amongst that group. I exist through listener contribution of airchecks, commercials, jingles and production, If you have anything to donate, I'd sure like to hear from you. You can email me by using the "Email Rick" link. I know that there's still a lot of tape that people have, that hasn't been listened to in 20 years. Don't let those tapes end up rotting in some landfill. Tell me what you've got, and I'll let you know if I can work with it. Again: Thanks for Listening!
Rick Kelly
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