PRAGUE, August 8th 2011 - Airtime, the open source radio software, is part of the West Africa Democracy Radio platform that has won a Knight-Batten Award for Innovations in Journalism. The developers Sourcefabric, who announced the release of Airtime 1.9 this week with over forty improvements, will attend a ceremony at the Newseum in Washington DC on September 7th 2011 to receive the $2000 Special Distinction prize.

Airtime 1.9 features three new ways for radio stations like West Africa Democracy Radio to better manage audio files. Airtime now stores files in a new easy-to-search directory, allowing producers and presenters to find and edit audio ready for broadcast. ‘Magic file synchronisation’ then automatically updates playlists and shows when audio files are edited. Radio stations can also set ‘watch’ folders so that Airtime notices and updates the station’s archive when new audio is added or deleted.

“From West Africa Democracy Radio to London’s Resonance FM, Airtime is being adopted by a global community of radio stations worldwide” said Sourcefabric’s Chief Technical Officer Paul Baranowski. “Many of them gave us feedback for this release and one way we really wanted to improve their experience was with file storage and management.”

Other new features include a one-step Ubuntu install, graceful reboot recovery, Shoutcast support, and improved front-end javascript widgets to allow stations to display their programme online.

Airtime is free, open source software and allows users to schedule shows remotely through any web browser for broadcast via FM, digital or webstream. Airtime can be downloaded at airtime.sourcefabric.org

Sourcefabric is a Czech Republic-based not-for-profit organisation and one of the largest open source media organisations in Europe. They provide independent newspapers, radio stations and journalistic enterprises with open source software, services and support.

For more information contact adam.thomas@sourcefabric.org or visit www.sourcefabric.org/en/about/presscenter/

Sourcefabric is a not-for-profit organisation and one of the largest open source media organisations in Europe. They believe in quality, independent journalism and provide newspapers, radio stations and journalistic enterprises with the open source software, tools and support to produce it.

Postal Address:

Sourcefabric o.p.s.

Salvátorská 10
110 00 Praha 1
Czech Republic

phone: +420 222 362 540

Press contact: Adam Thomas

This release was published on openPR.