|
When
Mad Max and Madison have their Web cam on, their radio show
becomes something else
By
Ray Barrington
Dotcom editor
As TV shows
go, it ain't "WKRP in Cincinnati."
But the show available at www.maxandmadison.com has one thing
Johnny Fever and his cohorts never had - reality.
In this case, it's the tiny Webcam giving a shot of the almost-as-tiny
room where the morning duo from WJLW-FM 106.7 (better known
as The Eagle Classic Rock) hold forth.
It's apparently the first Web cam at a Green Bay radio station,
says Mad Max, the male half of the pair.
"We've been doing streaming audio for about a year and a half,"
he said. "We put together our first Web page about two years
ago using "Front Page for Idiots."
The next step was inevitable, and the station took it in late
January. "It's just kind of a neat way of doing the show -
it broadens your way of thinking," Max said."It's that voyeuristic
thing."
Of course, WKRP had a better time slot. MM&M handle the 6-10
a.m. shift at the station, providing drive-time rock, news,
weather and comedy.
And if a guest happens into their rabbit warren of a studio,
so much the better. A recent visitor to the Web site might
have seen actor Jeff Daniels promoting his movie "Escanaba
in Da Moonlight." Or they might see something else.
"It's amazing to see the hits go up when the Hooters girls
are on," Max said. All right, not everything reaches that
level of interest, although Madison certainly has her fans.
But there are loyalists, Max says.
"It's really amazing; we'll sit there, won't be doing anything
during a break, maybe three songs, drinking coffee, and there
are 15-20 people on there and they're staying on," he said.
What is notable is that Max set the system up himself, with
a little help from Uniserv, the Web site's host.
"We just hooked up a 3Com home camera, a USB connection. We
got it off the Web," he said. "We use two different computers;
one for audio and one for video."
The camera sends out between three and five frames per second,
rather speedy. "Most of the research we did showed sites streaming
at five to 10 frames a second," he said. "We decided to go
all out."
When the show's off the air, the video link shows pictures
of Max and Madison and some of their antics.
Ray Barrington is the editor of Dot Com. Send love letters,
story ideas but not spam to [email protected].
|
