NEW YORK — DNR Events provides one-of-a-kind entertainment and travel experiences while fostering diversity and equality. Our mission is to offer a flexible platform for dynamic expression that engages, entertains and informs. The cornerstone of this endeavor is DNR 2.0, a live streaming digital channel and audio archive featuring “Derek and Romaine,” a two-hour daily broadcast that the two of us host.
We got started as a duo in satellite radio back in 2003 and after more than 12 years, our show ended its run there in the summer of 2015. We had an established following and an audience of commuters and truckers that depended on us for entertainment every day. We just needed to find a way to keep doing our show, our way.
We explored doing a podcast, but after so many years in the dynamic world of live radio, it didn’t feel like a fit for us. Our audience expects to hear us every day on their way to or from work, and the off-the-cuff nature of our show and the ability to take live phone calls are really important to us. We met with lots of great people who are creating terrific content in the world of podcasts, but none of them had the technology or business structure to help us deliver the kind of show we wanted to do. That’s when we knew we needed to strike out on our own.
Our research led us to StreamGuys’ content delivery and podcasting network and their cloud-based SGrecast live stream recording and repurposing platform. StreamGuys’ technology fit the bill perfectly, letting us recreate the experience of our previous show as much as possible while giving us the flexibility to rebroadcast our shows 24/7 and do additional programming like standard podcasts.
Even small broadcasters who start streaming usually have broadcast engineers and audio professionals on staff, but we’re a mom-and-pop shop – just the two of us, and most of our experience is just being hosts. Romaine had a recording engineering background, which was essential in building a world-class studio to broadcast from, but every aspect of streaming technology was brand new to us.
STREAMING
StreamGuys was perfect for us — their solution was turnkey enough that we were able to make it work for us really effectively, and StreamGuys’ staff walked us through every step. We had no idea what we were doing and very little time to learn it, but they were very patient and kind with us. We know we aren’t their biggest client, but from Day One, they have always made us feel like our business is important to them.
Our show is streamed as a live broadcast each weekday. A Barix Exstreamer encoder sends our live audio to the StreamGuys network, where SGrecast also records it. As soon as the show is over, SGrecast rebroadcasts the recording in a loop until the next day’s live broadcast. We also post the recording in our online archive and podcast feeds. Our listeners love the looping replay, as they can tune to the show any time they want.
We absolutely love the immediacy that SGrecast gives us. On satellite, our show was limited to our broadcast time slot and when it ended, another show would play. For our listeners who wanted to hear the show after our time slot ended, it took a while for the recording to become available within their app. Now, the second the show is over, it’s immediately available to listeners anytime, anywhere through streaming on a dedicated channel and more quickly as a download than was possible before.
As a recording engineer, Romaine really loves the quality of the sound. We often get listener feedback that the sound quality we provide now is as good or better than when we were on satellite radio. That’s super-important to us, and a huge complement to how we’ve built our company and to StreamGuys’ services.
We are integrating additional StreamGuys services as we grow and expand. We recently launched an Alexa Skill, and we’re about to start using the blu Live cloud-based contribution service that StreamGuys offers in partnership with Digigram to allow ourselves and others to virtually host high-quality shows from outside our main studio.
StreamGuys’ technology has also given us the flexibility to help other radio hosts recreate their shows on the Internet the way they want. Through our DNR Studios brand, we offer additional programming ranging from live streams to on-demand podcasts and hybrid models like ours — helping others relaunch their shows the way we wish someone had been there for us. For hosts wanting to bring their broadcasts to podcasts or displaced radio professionals who want to continue to do radio their own way, StreamGuys’ technology is the right way to go.
For information, contact Jonathan Speaker at StreamGuys in California at +1-707-667-9479 or visit www.streamguys.com.
