State of the Station Module - Further Development and Drupal 7

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robbt's picture

Hey all,
I am the web developer for a LPFM station here in Central Ohio - WCRS see http://wcrsfm.org and we have been using the station module for a number of years. I'm pondering revamping the site and I have been thinking about porting the station module to Drupal 7. I'm just wondering what other people's thoughts are on this and how we would go about working around the audio module being drupal 6 only as well. Since it never got completely ported to 6 does it make sense to try to rewrite it for 7 as well ? It seems that other solutions have taken over in terms of providing podcasting and audio for Drupal but based upon reading some of the comments here this is still an issue for people developing drupal sites.

I have a tendency to be overly ambitious, so I'm not actually planning on doing the upgrade but I just thought I would see what other people thought and if anyone would want to contribute. I think the station module is a pretty useful module and would hate to see it abandoned as Drupal moves on.

Comments

Schedule Page

joemoraca's picture

I am starting work on a LPFM radio station and would love to have an easy to setup / administer weekly schedule page ...

Joe Moraca
WebDevGeeks.com

X2 Love to see this happen

drewhutchinson's picture

Like to see a EASY to schedule page/view for Programs...............Drew

Schedules

mrchips's picture

We did a simple schedule in Drupal7, kvmr.org, with views and panels as a first step. So, I'd be interested in seeing more useful schedule in Drupal7 -- the like of a calendar schedule not based on only Mon-Fri week, but based on more intuitive use: a weekly schedule that shows the last two days and the next five days, defaulted to the current day, with ability to go back only a month, and go forward as far as is put into the schedule.

Chip

We did the same with some tweaks

drewhutchinson's picture

Not the easiest to edit the schedule, BUT super easy to create one.

http://kslx.com/
http://98kupd.com/
http://kdkb.com/
http://kazg1440.com/
http://thefan1060.com/

@drewhutchinson

joemoraca's picture

can you give a little more detail on how yours works? do you have datetime on each show?
Or are you using a Day field, a Time Block field and then using PHP to figure out what is playing now and next?

Joe Moraca
WebDevGeeks.com

Drupalcon BOF!

DamienMcKenna's picture

Hey Joe :-) Come to the Drupalcon BOF and learn more: http://denver2012.drupal.org/content/drupal-managing-radio-stations

See you there!

joemoraca's picture

I have my ticket.

Joe Moraca
WebDevGeeks.com

KVMR

joemoraca's picture

Chip,

I am liking what you did on your http://kvmr.org/panel/listeners-guide schedule page - I am going to try out quick tabs -

Can I ask how you (or anyone else) are doing your "On Air Now" block?

I am "assuming" you are not creating program items for each date a program airs...

Joe Moraca
WebDevGeeks.com

KBOO.FM

mrchips's picture

And here's what KBOO.FM in Portland did...

kboo.fm/schedule
kboo.fm/program

I've not looked recently, but NPR has a drupal development team to roll out sites for their affiliates...

KBOO

vj_pdx's picture

I'm afraid we're using a forked version of Station, but I'd be happy to talk with anyone about it. I'm not going to be at Drupalcon, though :(

Discuss changes?

DamienMcKenna's picture

Would you care to open an issue for Station to discuss your changes?

Discuss changes?

DamienMcKenna's picture

Would you be interested in discussing the changes you made? If so, please open an issue for Station. Thanks :)

Very interested in this.

drewhutchinson's picture

Very interested in this.

Now playing Block is a Must

patrickroma's picture

Now playing Block is a Must for Radio stations - I did Not find a Way to do this with D7...

New co-maintainer?

DamienMcKenna's picture

Who was it who offered during the BOF to help maintain the Station module? Anyone remember?

Not 100% sure but......

drewhutchinson's picture

I think for this module (Station) we need to scope out the needs for a general D7 upgrade. I'll start with my number one need:

1

Show (or Program) Scheduler
- Down to the minute
- Create and edit all "on-air" times in one place
- Fields would be;
* Title
* short description (times on-air)
* Image (large and tumbnail)
* Show Description (Body)
- Calendar view of all programs, Day, week, month

2

Playlist

3

Now Playing

4

Audio archive

That was me

jefgodesky's picture

That was me. I agree with Drew's comment, that outlining the specs for what the module needs is a great first step. We talked a lot at the BoF about the Community and Open Media modules, so how much do we all think we should work on extending those modules for radio, and what is the role of the Station module? That may make Tim's suggestion the best approach, for the Station module to focus more on documentation than anything else. The BoF ended before we really had any sort of consensus on which direction to go in.

--
Jason Godesky

Gathering Requirements for Station D7

andyhawks's picture

Hi all, I apologize for not creating a post to this group directly after Drupalcon, work got in the way. I totally agree with drewhutchinson and jefgodesky that it makes sense to outline everyone's requirements first. I've started a wiki page at http://groups.drupal.org/node/220739, if we can all use that to create a list of high-level functional requirements for D7. If you have new requirements please add them under Must Have, Nice to Have, or Future Considerations. If you support a requirement, jsut add your name next to it and any additional details/changes. Once these start to gel, or just generate some discussion, we can turn them into Feature Request issues at http://drupal.org/project/issues/search/station.

I think gathering requirements is a good first step to take before even thinking about how or to what degree we could adapt the Community Media suite of modules to support or replace Station. Let's let the requirements drive the functionality and not vice-versa. For reference, Community Media on g.d.o is here http://groups.drupal.org/community-media and you can explore the modules on an individual basis by looking at the starter kits here http://groups.drupal.org/node/214333. Sites that are running some version of Community Media or Open Media (the D6 version) include http://www.channelaustin.org/, http://bavc.org/, http://www.amherstmedia.org/, http://spnn.org/, soon http://mnn.org/, etc.

Whether we port Station as-is or adapt Community Media or whatever direction this takes, I'm very interested in this project and actively working on a D7 site for an online radio station. I'd like Internet-based radio stations to be included in the audience for this module in addition to broadcast and satellite.

--
Andrew Hawks
andy@andyhawks.com

I Want In On The Loop

sjeslis's picture

Andy,

I'm currently working on a D7 website for an on-line radio station and I'm very willing to provide feedback/suggestions. I'm a professional programmer but only a Drupal beginner.

Sincerely,

Scott Jeslis
Metal Express Radio
VP/Artist Relations/Webmaster/Partner
scott@metalexpressradio.com

Metal Express Radio
www.metalexpressradio.com

Radio

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