Create a school radio station

Setting up a web radio at school is an idea that appeals to more and more primary and secondary teachers. What lies behind that enthusiasm? And above all, how do you put this new teaching tool in place without complication?

Why set up a school radio?

School web radios can be used in several ways. Depending on the age of the pupils involved, an online station offers different strengths:

• for primary school children: the school web radio tends to take the form of podcasts of the lessons or exercises given in class. Children can then listen to their lessons once they are home, which is a fresh way of going over them, and gives access to parents and above all to anyone who was away.
• for secondary school pupils: the exercise can be set as practical work or as an after-school project. It develops the pupils' abilities, in particular by getting them to speak in public and to research a given subject.
  So there are several reasons to set up a school web radio, and all of them let pupils grow through a new exercise that is enjoyable, simple to organise and inexpensive.

How do you set up a school radio?

You have already thought about your project, the programmes and how you will introduce this new tool to your pupils. But once you have decided to set up a school web radio, you need to know how to go about it.

It is very simple. At Vestaradio our customer service is available by phone on +33 7 44 97 23 53, by private message in our manager (create an account by starting an order) or by email at support@vestaradio.com. Our advisers will take you through every plan that might suit you, depending on what your web radio is meant to do.

Once you have picked your plan and your options, all that is left is to place your order on our website. That is how simple setting up a school web radio is. As soon as your payment goes through, the station is ready to launch.

What budget should you allow for a school radio?

The budget for your web radio depends entirely on your goal and on what you want to do with it.

First of all you will need equipment. To run a music-only web radio, a computer and an internet connection are enough. If you want to broadcast live shows, you will also need microphones, headphones and a mixing desk.

That part of the budget is significant at the start, but you only pay it once. Setting up a school web radio, like any other web radio, also means paying your host monthly, quarterly or yearly. At Vestaradio our plans grow with you, so you can start small and add only the options you need, as your web radio develops.

In addition, an annual subscription costs less than paying month by month. For example, if you choose to set up a school web radio with Vestaradio, and you take an annual subscription, you pay for only ten months instead of twelve on the Evolution plan (1,000 simultaneous listeners, live broadcasting software and website included).