Shout-outs let your listeners record a short voice message for your station in their browser, with no account. Every message waits for your review. An approved message airs only from a playlist you add it to, so nothing a listener sends goes on air by itself.
Shout-outs are part of CloudRadio One and Custom plans, on stations with an HLS output. Shoutcast and Icecast hosting radios don't have them.
Who can review
Messages are in the Shout-outs tab of the Media Library, under Programming in the left sidebar of your station. The station Owner, Station managers, Music controllers and DJs can listen to messages and approve, reject, block, download or delete them. DJs, who don't have the rest of the Media Library, land straight on the Shout-outs tab. Guest DJs can't see shout-outs.
Only the Owner and Station managers can turn shout-outs on and change their settings. See Users and Roles.
A count next to Media Library in the sidebar and on the Shout-outs tab shows how many messages wait for review.
Turn on shout-outs
Shout-outs are off until you turn them on.
- Go to Media Library under Programming, then open the Shout-outs tab.
- On the empty Pending tab, click Turn on shout-outs.
You can also click Settings at the top right of the tab, turn on Take shout-outs and click Save settings.
Each station needs the latest station update first. If it's missing, the tab says "Shout-outs need the latest station update" and the switch stays off: apply the update from your station's dashboard, then come back.
Settings
Click Settings at the top right of the Shout-outs tab, change a value and click Save settings.
| Setting | Default | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Longest message (seconds, up to 60) | 30 | 5 to 60 | How long a listener can record. The widget counts down and stops the recording at 0. |
| Messages per listener per day | 3 | 1 to 20 | How many messages one listener can send in a day (UTC). |
| Messages kept waiting at most | 200 | 10 to 1000 | How many messages can wait for review. When a new one arrives over the limit, the oldest waiting message expires. |
| Days before an unreviewed message expires | 14 | 1 to 60 | A message nobody approves or rejects in time expires and its audio is deleted. |
| Days a rejected message's audio is kept | 7 | 0 to 30 | How long you can still play or approve a rejected message before its audio is deleted. |
The Settings tab also has an Open widget link that opens the widget in a new tab.
Share the widget
Listeners send messages from the shout-out widget, a page CloudRadio hosts for your station. You can share its link or put it on your own website. Your station page and web players don't show it.
Share the link
While shout-outs are on, the empty Pending tab shows the widget's link with a copy button (Copy widget link). Share it anywhere, for example on social media or in a newsletter.
Add it to your website
- Go to Widgets & Links under Distribution in the left sidebar, and open the Website Widgets tab.
- Scroll to Shout-out widget.
- Pick a Theme (Light or Dark), Corners (Rounded or Square) and an Accent colour for the record and send buttons.
- Under Width, keep Auto (100%) or choose Fixed and enter a Width (px). Set the Height (px).
- Check the Live preview. It records, but never sends.
- Copy the Embed code and paste it into your page where the widget should appear.
The page you paste it on must use https, or browsers block the microphone. The style lives in the embed code, so to change it later, copy the code again. The widget doesn't need the JavaScript widget's script tag.
Only the Owner and Station managers can open Widgets & Links. While shout-outs are off, the section says so, and the widget tells listeners that shout-outs are closed.
What listeners do
- Click Start recording and allow the microphone. A countdown shows the time left.
- Click Stop recording, or let the countdown reach 0. They can play the recording back, or click Record again.
- Fill in How should we call you on air? (up to 40 characters) and, optionally, Where are you listening from? (up to 60 characters).
- Tick the box "I agree that the station can play my recording on air, with the name and place I give." They can't send without it.
- Pass the automatic human check, then click Send my message.
The widget then says "Thanks, we got your message". A listener who reached the daily limit sees "That's all for today". When shout-outs are off, or the listener was blocked, the widget says "Shout-outs are closed right now", without saying why.
Recording needs a recent Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge. A message longer than your limit is rejected automatically and its audio deleted.
Review messages
The Shout-outs tab has three views:
- Pending: messages waiting for review, newest first.
- Approved: messages you approved.
- History: messages you rejected and messages that expired.
Each row shows the listener's name and place, a status (Waiting for review, Approved, Rejected or Expired), the length, when it was Sent, when the listener Agreed to airplay, and a short Listener code. The code changes every day and is not an address; it helps you spot several messages from the same listener on one day. New messages appear on their own, without reloading.
For each message:
- Click the play button to listen. Right after a message arrives, the row reads "Preparing the audio" for a moment, and you can play or approve it once that's done.
- Click Approve or Reject. You can approve a rejected message again while its audio is kept, and reject an approved one.
- Open the row's menu (⋮) for Download, Block listener (on waiting messages) and Delete (on reviewed messages).
Block listener refuses that listener's later messages and rejects every message of theirs still waiting. On the Pending tab, tick several messages and click Reject selected or Block selected to act on them at once.
Delete removes a reviewed message for good: it leaves your library and every playlist, and its audio is deleted. A waiting message can't be deleted; reject it instead.
Transcripts
Each new message gets a text transcript, so you can read it before you play it. The row reads Transcribing… for a few moments, then shows the text under the details. A message with no voice in it reads No speech detected. If a transcript can't be made, the row shows none.
The transcript never approves or rejects anything: you can review a message as soon as its audio is ready.
Air an approved message
An approved message joins your library under Shout-outs, in the list of views on the left of the Tracks tab, titled "Shout-out from" the listener's name and place. To air it, add it to a playlist like any track. See Playlists.
Even approved, a message never plays in your random library rotation, in a tag-based playlist slot or as a song request. It only airs where you put it.
If you reject an approved message that the AutoDJ has already lined up, it can still air once.
What is kept
- Approved messages stay until you delete them.
- Rejected messages keep their audio for the days you set, then the audio is deleted. The row stays in History without audio.
- Expired messages lose their audio right away.
- A transcript is deleted with its message's audio.
For each message, CloudRadio keeps the name and place the listener gave, when they agreed to airplay, and the daily listener code. It never stores the listener's IP address.
Related articles
- Widgets & Links for the other widgets for your website
- Playlists to add an approved message to a playlist
- Users and Roles for who can review messages