I am trying to fiound out if anyone knows the quality and type of file that radio stations like for sound files. We have been offered free time slots for a 30 sec. sound file for our church.
Well, you certainly couldn't go wrong delivering an AudioCD.
Most folks tend to consider MP3 stereo at 128Kbps to be "sufficient quality". I tend to use 192Kbps for my personal collection. Chances are any semi-modern station has a PC in the booth for playing such things.
FWIW, MP3 bitrate/quality varies depending on the number of channels. All things being equal, spoken word or non-stereo program content, a 64kbps MP3 'mono' (single-channel) file would have the same quality as a 128kbps 2-channel MP3.
The point is, for higher quality MP3s, use mono encoding for spoken word and other material that has no spatial content.
In my simple 'sum and difference' experiments, a spoken word mono 320kbps MP3 is identical, ie: totally cancels out when 180 degrees out of phase with the 44.1/16 bit PCM original.
PS- I would suggest using the Vegas Audio Forum for audio related issues to keep the VP video forum less cluttered than it already is.