The impetus to start Sunshine FM came in 1999 from a group of individuals who'd all been previously involved in narrowcasting, but wanted to create a station more involved with the local community. In a fusion of broadcasting philosophies, it was decided to use a software package developed for narrowcasting called 'Smartsound', and run the station as a digital entity.

Smartsound is radio automation software. It links together a continuous broadcast stream from a digital database of pre-recorded presenters and announcers, music files and sponsorships plus community service packages, all encoded and programmed to play in a given order. it is quite possible to load the system up and let it run by itself for as long as a few months.

Sunshine FM programmers use Smartsound, their home computer and the internet to put shows to air.

Most people have a computer at home and all they need is a headset with microphone. Sunshine FM supplies assistance for the software and internet connections where necessary. Some of Sunshine FM's broadcasters have bought small mixing desks to make it easier combining a microphone, Mini Disc or our new Marantz solid state recorder.

A presenter puts together a show on his or her computer using audio editing software, then this is compressed to MP3. When a segment is complete it' is sent via the intranet to the Sunshine FM transmitter computer, which is linked to the radio tower and is coded to play to air at the correct time. Sunshine FM has no live announcements to air at any time.

Sunshine FM defines the community it serves as a 'senior' one, catering for an older age group, and the station's volunteers are generally comprised of retirees, but this hasn't been a barrier to the success of the system.

Sunshine FM is fortunate to have many retired ex professional announcers to assist with making the station sound as good as it can.

The system also comes into its own in emergencies. It is possible to put emergency announcements over the air in about
2-3 minutes, and the SES has direct access to enable emergency information to be sent directly to our station in order to record and then transmit urgent warnings as soon as possible.