How to Turn a Radio Station Into a Video Channel
Radio audiences already watch. Live video on YouTube, smart TVs and FAST platforms puts your station where people spend screen time, and every break in your programming becomes a chance to sell digital ads. This guide walks through the workflow end to end.
1. Start from the playout you already have
Your radio automation (for example RadioBOSS) keeps doing what it does today: music, programs and commercial breaks on air. The video workflow reads what is playing and when a break starts, so the on-air team does not need to change how it works.
2. Add a video production layer
A production tool such as vMix composes the picture: studio cameras, the current song and artist, graphics and a clean layout for the hours when nobody is in the studio. Fast Monkey Station can run on the same PC as vMix when needed.
3. Encode and mark the breaks
Fast Monkey Station turns the radio playout into a video channel and marks the commercial breaks with SCTE-35 cues, the standard signal that streaming platforms and ad partners use to know where an ad can go.
4. Distribute to the platforms where your audience is
From there the channel can go to your own player, to YouTube and to FAST and streaming platforms that accept a live signal.
5. Turn radio breaks into digital ad opportunities
When the radio plays a commercial break, the video viewer can see a segmented digital ad instead. The radio commercial stays the same for listeners; the video audience becomes new inventory. Ad insertion depends on the platforms, players and ad servers you work with.
What you need to get started
- Your current radio playout.
- A video production tool (vMix or similar).
- Fast Monkey Station, available as a self-hosted trial.
- A destination: your player, YouTube or a FAST/streaming partner.
Want to see it working with your setup? Explore Fast Monkey Station or talk to our team.