KCHU Project Update !

We are taking a plunge into the final stages of a very large project for KCHU and it's surrounding communities. Its taken longer than anticipated, but we've had to wait for technology to catch up with our ideas and have run into many unexpected problems. But we're excited with some early results. Here is a brief update on the project.

We had our signal being sent through a dedicated 56K line to Glennallen and Cordova for years, giving them a clean sounding signal but at a very high cost. The other communities were taking the signal from the 770 AM being broadcast out of Valdez. When looking at McCarthy and Whittier you can tell why the signal was so bad. We needed a way to get a good signal to everyone within a reasonable budget.

Until recently the internet wasn't an option for a high quality signal in areas with limited internet infrastructure. However, with new technology we are able to now. In some places we have to use dish internet systems to get the signal. That has caused some problems, but seems to be working. Other places are getting high speed internet making it even easier. As we are able to get higher bandwidth and faster speeds the signals will get better and better.

To over simplify what we are using, it's a sound card minus the computer. It's a small box that compresses and sends audio over the net. It has about 70 different settings, and we are using the bottom 10%. So there is lots of room for growth as internet technology improves.

Some of the delay in improving the sound quality is all the remote functions of the boxes aren't working through the satellite. That's causing us to go to the communities to make changes. We are working on that problem to be able to better serve the communities.

We are up and running in Whittier, Glennallen, and McCarthy. Glennallen listeners shouldn't notice much difference now from what you had before. If so, please let us know with specifics to time, show, and problem. There are still some glitches we are working out and your help and patience is appreciated!

Whittier and McCarthy should hear some improvements soon too, if not already. We are playing with the settings, so if you notice improvements (or it sounding worse), please notify Danny.

Whittier is also having some other problems with it's antenna, so although the signal should sound better than ever, it may be a little weak. That is going to take some testing and is on our summer list!

Tatitlek is having some problems with it's transmitter and we will be working on that as quickly as we can.

Feel free to contact the station if you have questions or problems. Email Danny at gm@kchu.org or call 835-5080 or 1-800-478-5080.

Thanks again for all your support! You are what powers public radio!

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT

7:00-9:00 PM Weekdays

http://performancetoday.publicradio.org/

Performance Today® is one of America's most popular classical music radio programs, with more than 1.2 million weekly listeners on 237 stations around the country.

Performance Today® features live concerts by famous artists in concert halls around the globe and from the American Public Media studios as well as interviews, news and features. Listeners to Performance Today, on any given day, may hear from performances in the great concert halls of New York, Prague, London, Berlin and Paris.

The list of concert performers and studio guests on Performance Today® is a Who's Who of the classical music world: the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Yo Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Midori, Maxim Vengerov, Itzhak Perlman, Andrew Manze, Pierre Boulez, John Adams, John Tavener, Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, Cecelia Bartoli, the Emerson Quartet, the Eroica Trio, Sir Simon Rattle, Lorin Maazel, Daniel Barenboim, Michael Tilson Thomas, Ravi Shankar, Mikhail Pletnev, Emanuel Ax, and Alfred Brendel, to name just a few. Several times each year, Performance Today also features young American soloists with the potential for great careers, as "Young Artists in Residence."

The Piano Puzzler®

Every Wednesday between 7:10 and 7:30, Performance Today® features the Piano Puzzler. Composer/Pianist Bruce Adolph plays a familiar tune in the style of a famous composer and a call-in listener tries to guess the tune and the composer. It's great fun.

Test your ears as Bruce Adolphe takes a popular tune and transforms it into something that sounds like it was composed by one of the greats. Guess the great and the song. Then listen to a piece by the composer in question. The Piano Puzzler® with Bruce Adolphe is available for download and as a podcast.

View Videos of FIELD NOTES Online

Recently, the Prince William Sound Science Center started making enhanced podcasts of the Field Notes programs that are produced by the PWSSC for KCHU Terminal radio in Valdez, Alaska. The regular Field Notes programs are in mp3 audio format and are aired weekly on KCHU at 12:50 pm on Wednesdays and Sundays. The new enhanced podcasts are uploaded on YouTube.

New Podcasts are uploaded all the time. Click on the link below and see the newest podcast!

http://www.youtube.com/user/cordovaalaska