I use Airtime hosted on a Dutch VPS feeding a server on this service - 99% of the time it works well but there are still some odd bugs, you must watch and listen to check on it, and as I have a normal day job I don't always get the time to do this.
But the same applies to proprietary playout systems costing € 20 000 or more, they have gone badly wrong at the BBC, Hilversum and other big broadcasters and because these stations no longer have tech ops and monitoring engineers, it is only sorted out after 100 listeners telephone the duty office and complain that the two shows are being played out across each other, or there is dead air (nothing at all transmitted but blank carrier).
And on small community stations that happens all the time ( I stopped routing the silence detector on ours to my Blackberry, as I would get 60+ emails per day).
I agree Airtime can be hard to set up (it would not work at all on a German VPS, and on a standalone PC that works fine as a phone system was not reliable) and then you have the costs and hassle of keeping anoher server going, though I worked out it was cheaper and more reliable to do that from NL, than to leave computers in my studio running in the UK and pay for the electricity (a bonus was the hosting company I chose also uses 100% green sourced electricity)
If "dutch radio" really wants the news exactly on the top of the hour (as is common on NL stations) and does not want to use Airtime he or she is best off setting up a proper home studio as a hybrid analogue/digital system which can handle both live and automated playout.
The Freeplayer software (
www.verdonschot.eu) can do this but it can have some odd bugs, you must be careful about loading up good quality files (or dedicate one PC to automated playout and have some emergency content to play if something goes wrong). Zara Radio will also do this. Provided your playout computer(s) are reliable for 24/7 operation ( I suggest having a good UPS for power) and clocks are kept accurate by linking it to the VSL servers, and the mixer faders are is kept open your news will play out even if you are not there. (you may even if you are handy with electronics be able to build a circuit to automatically switch the audio feeds).
By using two computers, you can use one for news playout/editing whilst the music streams from the other (and have emergency backup). Indeed it will be a few hundred Euros of kit, but many folk give away "obsolete" computers that are only a few years old or they can be got second hand very cheaply, and it seems that Hilversum sell off lots of decent analogue kit like EELA consoles fairly cheaply as Dutch teenagers seem to get these for their bedroom studios. in NL it seems you have the advantage that broadband at least in towns is more reliable, making streaming directly from your home studio a more attractive proposition.
In conclusion, the solution you want does exist - but not without a fair bit of time and resources invested, and some knowledge of broadcast engineering, and unfortunately since 20 years there has been a decline in this as the big broadcasters have downsized and it is no longer a paid occupation (I was a broadcast engineer in the 90s, today I work in normal IT/telecoms maintenance for medium sized businesses as a day job).
it may be of course you are in the same position and lack time rather than knowledge, perhaps some friends or family can help you?
