[paul.fr]

I'm sure many of us wonder this, how is the live broadcast then converted in to mp3?

[BenV]

Ah ha! that's my job!

We collect the record of transmission from the studio, and adapt the show in certain ways (we may wish to include extra bits for the podcast audience, or take out things that are time restrained or of specifically local interest), and simply save them as an mp3.

There are lots of audio editing packages around, and pretty much any of them will do a good job if it.

Simple, really!

[paul.fr]

Ah ha! that's my job!

We collect the record of transmission from the studio,

what format would that be?

[BenV]

Well this depends on the system.  In our studio, the system has a database of the audio we need (i've no idea what format that would be) but when we export the audio we choose the format - it can be .s48 (stereo file, 48kHz) .m48 (care to guess?) or two types of .wav (.wav is just the container, the compression can be mpeg or pcm).  We use mono pcm .wav files, but our editing software can handle the other types too.  .wav tends to offer the greatest range of compatibility, just in case we need to use different software.

A technical answer, but hopefully what you were looking for?

[paul.fr]

Thanks Ben, it's always nice to know the business end of things.

[techmind]

We collect the record of transmission from the studio, and adapt the show in certain ways (we may wish to include extra bits for the podcast audience, or take out things that are time restrained or of specifically local interest), and simply save them as an mp3.
really!

They take out all the BBC Cambridgeshire jingles, and the BBC local travel news, and stick in "Stripping down science - the Naked Scientist" / "...on your way to work, or even *at* work" ditties in their place.
It was quite a surprise when I first listened to the BBC Cambridgeshire streaming version instead of the podcasts I'd been used to.

Do you have to find the inserted jingles manually, Ben, or are they flagged and/or occur at well-defined time intervals?

[BenV]

I'm afraid we take them out manually, as it would be tricky to get them in exactly the right time!