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Newscasts for NPR OneThere are several steps to successfully upload a newscast file for the NPR One app service. They are:

Log into the audio skimmer and save the raw audio from the most-recently aired newscastEdit that newscast file in Adobe AuditionAdjust the loudness levels in Audition and save the fileConvert the file to the correct mp4 settings with Adobe Media EncoderVerify the file uploaded to NPR One

Step 1 – The skimmer steps

The skimmer is a station tool which records our on-air programming and stores it for multiple purposes. For NPR One it is set to record the first 10minutes of pretty much every hour of the day. The skimmer is also called the logger and archive player. It's a Windows-only application. (Read thedetailed wiki instructions on the archive player.)

Open the archive player from the menu under Start --> Telos Systems --> Archive Player

Log into the primary kut account, choose Newscast from the top Archive drop down selector and select the Today date range and click OK.

Look through the listed recordings from today and select the most-recently-aired newscast from the list. By double-clicking it you'll open up theCue list window. These recordings are the first 10 minutes of every hour. They are not edited. They include NPR programming as well as the localnewscast that we insert into our broadcasts.

Next you'll save the newscast file to the Temp Production folder on the desktop of the edit bay computer. Give it a logical name that you willremember because you're going to edit it next. The image below shows both of these steps.

Step 2 – Editing the newscast in Audition

Open up Adobe Audition CS 6. There's a step coming up that requires CS 6 or newer, so make sure you're using the right software.

Find your raw newscast file from the Desktop –> Temp Production folder and open it.

Skim through your raw audio clip and trim it so it is just the local newscast segment. Typically it will begin around the 6:00 minute point and endabout a minute and a half later. The length of the local newscast will vary from day to day. What you select to be the local insert for NPR One isan editorial decision.

Review your new in and out points on your trimmed newscast clip to make sure it's clean and just our local content.

Step 3 - Adjust the loudness levels in Audition and save the file

Next you need to enable the Audition tool called Match Volume. It's under the Window menu. Select it to turn it on. Now drag your raw audio filedown to the Match Volume tool. You'll see it analyzed by Audition and some measurements appear.

 

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There's a requirement for NPR One that the newscast file be at a particular loudness level. It's measured by an LUFS scale. Audition CS 6 hasthe industry standard matching tool built in. For the next step you need to select or verify the settings. They are:

ITU-R BS.1770-S LoudnessLoudness level of -17 for the mp3Ensure the limiting box is checkedClick the Run button in the lower right of the Match Volume tool

After you hit Run the audio file will be slightly modified by Audition to apply the loudness settings you chose.

Now your file to the and call it . save Desktop --> Temp Production --> NPR One Newscast folder newscast.mp3

Save it as an MP3 file. It should default to the current settings of the raw file – 320 Kbps, Stereo, 44100 Hz. It's going to be re-encoded at lower,but required settings next.

Step 4 - Convert the file to the correct mp4 settings with Adobe Media Encoder

Open Adobe Media Encoder 5.5 from the menu under Start --> Adobe --> Adobe Media Encoder

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We have programmed the encoding settings and set the application to monitor the automatically. When you open theNPR One Newscast folderprogram it will do a few things:

It will see your new newscast.mp3 file.It will convert the file from an mp3 to an mp4.It will upload the now newscast.mp4 file up to NPR.

The below image shows all these things in progress. Highlighted on the image are the normal settings.

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In theory, after the Encoder is done (it'll say Done and chime) the file is where it should be – on the NPR One platform to be shared with appusers. BUT it's a good idea to verify that the version of the newscast which you just completed did make it. Which leads us to ...

Step 5 - Verify the file uploaded to NPR One

This is pretty quick. The steps are (images below):

Open the FTP program called FileZilla from the menu under Start --> Filezilla FTP Client --> FilezillaClick on the Site Manager buttonConnect to the NPR One FTP siteVerify the filename as newscast.mp4 and the date and time. It should be timestamped just a couple minutes ago.

Every time the encoder is run it will overwrite the older version of the newscast.mp4, which may only be an hour old.The NPR One system will not play a newscast that is older than 6 hours.

Exit Filezilla.

You're done! ... Until the next hour