Getting started with live broadcasting

Your first live show, from opening the booth to the recording afterwards. Set aside fifteen minutes for a test before your first real show.

What you need

• Live switched on for your station. Live shows are in early access. If the Live tab in your dashboard shows a request form instead of Open the booth, ask for it there first (see Getting live for your station).
• A computer or phone with a current browser. Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari. A computer is the most reliable.
• Headphones. Without them your speakers play back into the microphone and listeners hear an echo.
• A microphone. The one built into your laptop or phone works. A headset or USB microphone sounds clearly better.
• A quiet room and a steady connection. Wi-Fi close to the router or a network cable. Mobile data works if the signal is strong.

Your first show, step by step

1. Open the booth. In your dashboard go to Live and press Open the booth, or go to yourstation.aweradio.app/booth. Sign in with the account that owns the station.
2. Allow the microphone. Your browser asks once. Choose Allow. The booth now shows off air · music playing: your station is playing its music as usual.
3. Pick your microphone. If you have more than one, choose it in the microphone list. Put your headphones on now.
4. Do the sound check. Speak at your normal show volume and watch the meter: keep the peaks in the green. Amber is loud, red is too loud and will distort. Press Record 6s, say a line, then Play back. What you hear is exactly what will air.
5. Name the show (optional). Type a title in What's the show?. Listeners see it as what's playing while you're on air.
6. Choose a talk bed (optional). Open bed and tap a bed to hear it in your headphones. The one you tick plays quietly under your voice while you're on air.
7. Press GO ON AIR. The booth switches to on air and your station changes from the music to you, for every listener on your station page, in Discover and in the apps. The very first time can take up to half a minute while the booth gets ready.
8. Talk. Need to cough or take a breath away from the mic? Press cough: your mic goes silent but you stay on air. Press it again to come back.
9. End the show. Press the same button, now off air. The music picks up again by itself. Then press leave to close the booth.

The booth at a glance

Bringing in a guest

1. In the booth press invite. You get a six-character call-in code and a link, valid for four hours. Tap to copy the link.
2. Send the link to your guest by message or email.
3. Your guest opens it, types their name and allows their microphone. They don't need an account. Ask them to wear headphones too.
4. You hear each other in the booth. When you're on air, both voices go out on your station.

After the show

Every show is recorded automatically. Open Live in your dashboard: the show is listed with its recording. From there you can play it back, publish it as an episode, or delete it.

If something isn't working

• The booth says live isn't switched on for your station. Ask for it in the Live tab of your dashboard. We switch it on and reply by email.
• The browser never asked for the microphone, or you pressed Block. Click the lock or settings icon next to the address bar, allow the microphone for the site, and reload the booth.
• The meter doesn't move. The wrong microphone is selected, or it is muted on the device. Pick another one in the microphone list.
• Listeners hear an echo. Use headphones, and close other tabs or apps that play your stream.
• You hear yourself very late. That is the 35-second broadcast buffer. It is normal.
• The show stopped by itself. Usually the connection dropped or the phone locked. Reopen the booth and press GO ON AIR again. Your station plays music in between, so listeners never hear silence.