Version 0
From WWR
WWR uses the term 'Version' satirically. New releases of software happen organically. The whole thing is supposed to be an enjoyable hobby, not a stressful job with deadlines. So references to different versions and attempts to document them are tongue-in-cheek.
I woke up this morning and for some odd reaons had a memory of the very first software used to control the music stream. (This has nothing to do with the website, which I think was just a flat HTML page created with Frontpage at the beginning, a morph from the old Radio Free Talkeetna site.) The original program used to load Winamp with music in an automated fashion was written in ancient QBasic, hacked to run under Windows 98 on some model of a Pentium II(?) HP Pavillion. Having no knowledge of PHP or other scripting languages and not having a C compiler on my brand new machine (the first I'd owned in many years after leaving the software industry permanently in the 80's to pursue a life of non-technical simplicity) - I used the only software tool I was familiar with to run the station.
Since the entire project was just supposed to be a part-time in-town hobby to keep mental boredom at bay, I didn't care that QBasic was neither supported nor designed to run under a Windows GUI. The plan was for WWR to play music (mainstream music with an emphasis on the folkly stuff I'd grown up with in the 70's and 80's - I didn't know what independent music was at that time) interspersed with oddball sound clips - requiring only a few hours a month to maintain - there was no vision whatsoever of communicating directly with listeners let alone a community springing up around the station.
The original QBasic code was developed in a few days. I can't remember how it controlled Winamp but it must have been quite a hack since QBasic could not possibly talk directly to Winamp. But I distinctly remember the excitement, as I added code and capability, of having an EJ control the station. Not only did it mean I wouldn't have to be on-air all the time, but it allowed quirky 'artificial intelligence' of a very low order to flavor the listening experience. The EJs couldn't talk at that point yet one could still sense an air of confidence and superiority when they ran the station.
Early on, my major goal was to create a fully automated station that didn't sound automated, that had enough randomness and quirkiness that you never knew what would happen next. I didn't want to create or manage a radio station nor did I particularly want to be a DJ on a radio station (except when I had something to rant about) ... I just wanted to write fun software that would run a radio station. I repeatedly told Esther, who was unhappy with the amount of time I was spending on the code, that as soon as the station could run itself reliably, I would get back to gardening and our Alaskan lifestyle.
Sometime after Version 0 was up and running, I discovered and began teaching myself open source PHP ("you mean this stuff is free? - wow!") eventually converting the original programs to PHP where they continue to run in a DOS window, controlling the station with EJ attitude, much the same as the QBasic programs. An added benefit was that PHP could also be used to develop a dynamic website, interacting with listeners at the same time it was interacting with EJs. Version 0 passed into oblivion relatively unnoticed.
I still keep telling Esther that once the code runs the station reliabily, I'll be able to return to the garden. She no longer believes me.
