AirCut — Emergency Alerts Straight Into Your Live Stream

Your stream is running. An alert needs to go out right now. And there is nobody in the building.

AirCut sits between your playout software and your streaming provider. When an audio file lands in

the folder it watches, it drops that audio straight into the live stream and puts your music back

when it's done.

Your provider doesn't see a disconnect. Your listeners don't get dropped. The stream doesn't go

silent. As far as everybody out there is concerned, your station just made an announcement.

HOW IT WORKS

You point your playout software at AirCut instead of your provider, and you point AirCut at your

provider. That's the whole change — same server, same port, same mount, same password you already

use. Setup is one wizard, four screens.

From then on AirCut holds one continuous connection out to your provider and never lets go of it.

Alerts arrive as audio files in a folder you choose. AirCut reads the file name:

 - a file with "warning" in the name cuts in straight away

 - anything else waits for the current song to finish, then airs

Nothing needs to talk to AirCut. Any tool of yours that can write an audio file into a folder can

put audio on your stream.

WHERE THE ALERTS COME FROM

Wherever you like. AirCut doesn't care what made the file.

Mine come from SevereWeatherReady, which writes up National Weather Service alerts and renders them

to audio. If you've already got your own way of producing alerts, closings, or announcements, that

works exactly the same way — they just have to land in the folder.

WHAT IT RUNS ON

 - Windows 10 or later, 64-bit. The .NET runtime is built in — there's nothing else to install.

 - An encoder you can point at a server address of your choosing, set to Icecast 2 or Shoutcast.

 - Your streaming provider's host, port, mount and password.

 - MP3 or AAC at 44.1 kHz, constant bitrate. AirCut keeps your codec end to end — it does not

  quietly convert your stream to something else. If you send it a format it doesn't handle, it

  says so at the door instead of pretending.

AirCut installs as a Windows service, so it starts with the machine and keeps running.

TESTED WITH THESE ENCODERS

Every one of these was set up against AirCut and put audio on the air:

 - NextKast 7.x

 - PlayIt Live 2.18.2

 - Mixxx 2.5.6

 - BUTT — both Icecast and Shoutcast

 - Rocket Broadcaster

 - Altacast 1.1

 - ffmpeg

AirCut answers the four connection styles those cover, including the older Shoutcast one, so

plenty of encoders not on this list will connect too. If yours can be pointed at a server address

and sends MP3 or AAC, it's worth a try — and if it isn't a fit, AirCut tells you at the door

instead of failing quietly.

WHAT THIS IS NOT

AirCut is not an EAS device and doesn't replace one. It works on your internet stream — the audio

passing through it — and nothing else.

WHO IT'S FOR

Independent broadcasters running an internet or streaming station, who need something to reach the

air when nobody is sitting at the desk.

$99, one-time purchase. One station. No subscription, no activation, no trial to expire.