Category Archives: FAQs

FAQ Question #2

FAQs

FAQ #2: Do you read/record all of these books? Can I help?

We do not do the reading ourselves. Almost all of the content we broadcast comes from the free audio books website Librivox.org. Volunteers there manage book reading projects and the volunteer readers. They also help us navigate the copyright issues (see FAQ #1)

You can be a volunteer reader! There are articles on the Librivox.org website about how to make a good recording, what equipment to use, etc. You can sign up to record a chapter or a poem or something small to start with, then move on to large projects if you wish.

We got started in this radio station project by first volunteering at Librivox.org as a reader. Then, when the prospect of a radio station came up, it was as easy as 1 + 1 = 2: Librivox + radio = Classic Book Radio!

FAQ Question 1: Can you play my favorite (modern) audio book?

FAQs

FAQ #1:  Can you play my favorite (modern) audio book?

We can only play stuff we have permission to play.  If you can help us get permission to play your favorite audio book, we will sure try to play it.  We would need permission from the copyright holder for the book, and the copyright holder of the performance of the audio book.  And if there’s any music in there, we may need permission from the copyright holder of the music composer and of the performance of the music.

We would need specific permissions to play it on the radio, and possibly additional permissions to stream it.

Oh, and it can’t have lots of swear words and stuff in it because that kind of thing isn’t allowed on the radio.

Kind of daunting, isn’t it?  So, who do you call to get permission to play a modern audio book?  I don’t know.  I’ve tried contacting publishers and they aren’t very responsive to this sort of thing (so far).  If you figure it out I would love for you to show me how!

This is why we are using public-domain performances of public domain books.  And we don’t have music intro/out-ro/bumps.