[uf-discuss] Marking up radio stations

[Corey Mwamba]

Hello again,

I had not realised that Andy Mabbett didn't post a reply here - so here's a 
reference to his blog post on this:

http://pigsonthewing.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/measurement-microformat-for-radio-station-frequencies

There's discussion in the comments. Having had some sleep, I'm feeling more 
that "frequency" should be able to act as either

1. a property, as proposed in the broadcast examples page:
http://microformats.org/wiki/broadcast-examples

OR

2. a sub-property of "adr".

Am I correct in thinking that this would be similar to how "tel" or "geo" 
work?

If this were to happen I think "frequency" should have additional 
sub-properties:
* band [I think this should be required] - FM, SW, LW, MW, et al.

It should be enough to just write 

<div class="vcard">
<strong class="fn org">Rádio Nacional do Alto Solimões</strong>
<div class="adr">
<!-- you could of course use geo instead of adr -->
<span class="locality">Amazonas</span>
<span class="country-name">Brazil</span>
</div>
<div class="frequency">
<span class="band">FM</span>: 96.1
</div>
<div class="frequency">
<span class="band">AM</span>: 670 
</div>
</div>

But as quite a few radio stations are located over a range of frequencies, 
you'd need 

* low - the lowest frequency at which the station can be heard
* high - the highest frequency at which the station can be heard

This is from my gigs page for Radio 3 and shows the range:

<div class="location vcard">
<strong class="fn org">
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzon3" class="url">BBC Radio 3</a>
</strong>
<span class="frequency" style="display:block;">
<span class="low">90.2</span> - <span class="high">92.6</span>
<abbr class="band" title="Frequency Modulation broadcast">FM</abbr>: 
</span>
<span class="adr">
<span class="country-name">UK</span>
</span>
</div>

and you could use value for discrete frequencies.

<div class="vcard">
<b class="fn org">Heart Radio in Sussex</b>
<i class="frequency">
<span class="value">102.4</span>  and 
<span class="value">103.5</span>
<span class="band">FM</span>
</i>
(<abbr title="50.9761;0.2293" class="geo">Eastbourne</abbr>)
</div>

If you wanted to or needed to refer to units [note that when using a radio, 
most people will not need the units as the reception range for each band is 
already set] then you could use hMeasure;

<div class="vcard">
<strong class="fn org">Rádio Nacional do Alto Solimões</strong>
<div class="adr">
<span class="locality">Amazonas</span>
<span class="country-name">Brazil</span>
</div>
<div class="frequency">
<span class="band">FM</span> 
<span class="measure">
<span class="num">96.1</span>
<abbr class="unit" title="megaHertz">MHz</abbr>
</span>
</div>
<div class="frequency">
<span class="band">AM</span> 
<span class="measure">
<span class="num">670</span>
<abbr class="unit" title="kiloHertz">kHz</abbr> 
</span>
</div>
</div>

But I feel this is easier to read and type:

<div class="vcard">
<strong class="fn org">Rádio Nacional do Alto Solimões</strong>
<div class="adr">
<span class="locality">Amazonas</span>
<span class="country-name">Brazil</span>
</div>
<div class="frequency">
<span class="band">FM</span>: 96.1MHz
</div>
<div class="frequency">
<span class="band">AM</span>: 670kHz
</div>
</div>

Shortwave radio reception can be dependent on the time of day: should/can this 
be handled with hCalendar?

For example, looking at 

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/waystolisten/australia.htm

The morning frequencies might be marked up as: 

<div class="vevent">
<!-- here, I'm assuming that the person lives in Western Australia. This is a 
country that can have as many as six timezones. -->
<strong class="summary">Morning</strong>
<span class="dtstart">9:00 
<span class="value">+08</span>
</span>
<span class="dtend">12:00</span>
<span class="value">+08</span>
</span>
<div class="frequency">
<span class="band">SW</span>: 
<span class="value">9660</span>, 
<span class="value">15230</span>, 
<span class="value">15240</span>, 
<span class="value">21725</span>
</div>
</div>

Any thoughts?

C.

----
http://www.coreymwamba.co.uk
http://trio.coreymwamba.co.uk/

music = science + magic