Stationhand
About
Built by a radio geek, for stations like yours
Stationhand started life as a hobby – one person's wish list for the radio software he always wanted. Here's the story, and who it's for.
Hi, I'm Craig
I've been in IT since I was 16 – which, I've just worked out, is 30 years. Wow. But radio got to me even earlier: I've been DJing and involved in radio since the age of 12, at just about every level you can think of.
I've always had a passion for music – I'll admit, more the classics than a lot of the newer stuff – and I've always loved the spot where technology, radio, music and IT all come together. Stationhand is what happens when you spend a lifetime standing in that spot.
- 12my age when the DJing and radio started
- 30years in IT – and counting
- 1automated station on DAB that started it all
How Stationhand came about
Stationhand has been a hobby project of mine, on and off, over the years. I understand programming well enough to know exactly what I want – but not the patience to be looking at code all day long.
So it's built around one simple idea: the features I'd want in radio software myself. The big push came from hearing a fully automated station on DAB in the Glasgow area. It didn't sound good, and I thought: I could do that better. So I started putting my ideas into AI software to build it – and so far, I think I've done just that.
I shared it with a few people. They liked the look of it and how it worked, so I put a few posts on Facebook to see what sort of reaction I'd get. The feedback from testers has been positive – thank you to everyone who's tried it and told me what they think. Quite a few changes have come straight from you.
Who it's for
Made for the smaller stations
Stationhand is aimed at stations that want to sound great without a big-station budget.
Internet stations
Smaller online stations that want to sound polished around the clock – beat-matched mixes, voice links and a log that runs itself.
Little budgets
Stations that can't stretch to the big-name systems, but don't want to sound like it.
Run for the love of it
Stations run by people who love radio – and would rather spend their time on the shows than wrestling with the software.
Straight talking
What Stationhand is – and what it isn't
Stationhand isn't here to replace the world-class systems that people have spent years building – I still use them today, and they've earned their reputation.
What the bigger players give you
- Full-time support teams.
- Years of development experience behind them.
- People who know every line of the code – they probably wrote most of it – so when something goes wrong, they know exactly where to look.
What you get with Stationhand
- Software shaped by someone who's lived and breathed radio since the age of 12.
- Everything tested before it goes out to stations.
- Changes that come from the people using it – your feedback really does end up in the software.
- Something built for smaller stations and smaller budgets.
To be upfront: I don't know every line of the code, and I can't spend eight hours a day fault-finding. If round-the-clock support is the most important thing for your station, one of the bigger systems may suit you better – and that's fine by me.
Still interested?
Let's talk radio
If Stationhand sounds like a fit for your station, get in touch – I'd love to hear about it. Or have a look around first: the live demo signs you in to a real station on air.