MusicMaster Blog

Welcome to MusicMaster

Tenerife Radio – Las Palmas, Spain; YPCA – Hilversum, The Netherlands; Notice Branded Media – Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Radio Stajerski Val – Sentjur, Slovenia; Fujairah FM – Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Channel V, Channel V Hits, CMC, Max, Smooth TV – Australia;
WDUN-FM, WDUN-AM, WDUN-HD2 – Gainsville, GA; Classical Rush – Dallas, TX; WCVO-FM, WZNP-FM – Gahanna, OH; CFWM-FM, CKMM-FM, CFRW-AM – Winnipeg, MB; CFCA-FM, CKKW-FM – Kitchener-Waterloo, ON
Journal Broadcast Group Inc.: KJOT-FM, KQXR-FM, KRVB-FM, KTHI-FM – Boise, ID; WCYQ-FM, WKHT-FM, WNOX-FM, WWST-FM – Knoxville, TN; WLWK-FM – Milwaukee, WI;
KEZO-FM, KKCD-FM, KQCH-FM, KSRZ-FM – Omaha, NE; KRVI-FM, KSGF-FM, KSPW-FM, KTTS-FM – Springfield, MO; KMXZ-FM, KQTH-FM, KTGV-FM – Tucson, AZ;
KBEZ-FM, KHTT-FM, KVOO-FM, KXBL-FM – Tulsa, OK; KFDI-FM, KFTI-FM, KFXJ-FM, KICT-FM, KYQQ-FM – Wichita, KS

MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014

In May we will start our MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014 through Europe. We hope to meet as many of our customers as possible on the tour, which will lead us through Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and France. More details, cities and dates will be announced during the next few weeks. We are looking forward to seeing you all!

MusicMaster 5.0 SR-11 is now Available

MusicMaster 5.0sr11 is now available through Help, Check for Update. Highlights include:

The Unscheduler now has an option to prevent locked elements from being unscheduled. Version 5 introduced the LogMemo feature that allows you to have a memo that appears when you open the log. Now, you’ll also be able to see the contents of the memo by just hovering over it when you view the Schedule Calendar. When the History Browser is set to display Individual Songs, you can now use the Combine Linked History option to merge the history of linked songs. You’ve long been able to set any hour, quarter- or half-hour segment in the Daypart Editor and now you’ll be able to change that split mode for all hours at one time.

These are just some of the new options you’ll have with 5.0sr11. If you have any questions, contact your personal Music Scheduling Consultant for more information.

Talk Radio Boot Camp Dallas Recap

MusicMaster President/CEO and founder, Joe Knapp, shares impressions from this month’s Talk Show Boot Camp in Dallas:

“Not enough people know how valuable MusicMaster can be to talk radio.” This comes from my good friend, Kipper McGee, who found creative uses for MusicMaster while he supervised programming for the legendary Chicago news-talk station, WLS-AM. Kipper used MusicMaster to rotate “objects” instead of whole songs, including liners, stingers, bumpers, and just about everything else. Kipper shared thoughts about managing multiple forums.

Another good friend, the always-eloquent Valerie Geller, showered us with pearls of wisdom about creating great radio content. She’s one of my favorite authors, too. If you’re creating radio content, I strongly suggest you check out her books! In an encore performance at CRS a couple weeks later, she reminded me of the world’s shortest short story, written by the immortal Ernest Hemingway: “For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Worn.” Something tells me that Hemingway would have written some great radio advertising copy!

It was a pleasure to touch base with other friends and colleagues too, such as Mike McVay and Steve Goldstein. Try not to miss Steve Jones the next time he does his Brand Like A Rock Star presentation. It’s priceless!

But the best part of the show, for me personally, was seeing Glenn Beck up close and in person for just the second time in my life. He’s an incredibly inspirational public speaker!

Left to right: Kipper McGee, Valerie Geller, and Glenn Beck

Colorado Springs Genius Day

Colorado Springs Radio Broadcasters in Colorado Springs, located about an hour south of Denver, Colorado, hosted Joe Knapp and Jesus Rodriguez on Monday, February 10th for a MusicMaster Genius Day workshop. Everyone was so excited about the session that they began firing questions before even saying hello. It’s great to see how much passion there is in the field about MusicMaster 5.0. We discussed every aspect of the software. We are noticing a trend at these Genius Days concerning the new Optimum Goal Scheduling options in version 5.0, which keep blowing everyone away. We would like to thank Aaron Zytle and his team for coordinating the day with us. We kept our promise and even though it was exactly a week after the Super Bowl we never brought up the game in the Bronco state. Lets just say we love our clients to be happy with us when they are at arms reach.
Pictured left to right: MusicMaster Representative Jesus Rodriguez; Gundy from RXP; Aaron Zytle, PD of RXP; Mehoff, MD at KILO; Ross Ford, PD at KILO; MusicMaster President and CEO Joe Knapp

CRS Nashville Recap

The MusicMaster team invaded the 45th Annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, TN, February 19-21! Partnering with Wide Orbit, Aaron Taylor, Marianne Burkett, and Drew Bennett shared time with many new friends and swapped stories with numerous, current MusicMaster clients. CRS is always a amazing opportunity for professional and personal growth, networking, and the chance to rub elbows with major artists in the format, as well meet and hear music from emerging artists.

Customers crowding the MusicMaster booth at CRS

MusicMaster’s Marianne Burkett and Shane Finch with Ty Herndon and Jeff Dempsey from Wide Orbit with MusicMaster’s Aaron Taylor at CRS

Aaron Taylor with Julie Stevens, PD and Nate Deaton, GM of MusicMaster client KRTY-San Jose

New CRS memories were made with Ed Hill/KMPS Seattle, Sean Ross/Ross On Radio New York Julie Stevens and Nate Deaton KRTY/San Jose, Jerry Butler/WRUF Gainesville, Rob West/WJVL Janesville, Tom Oakes/Ohana Media Group, Stacey Cato/CMT Nashville, Kim Hennes/All About Country Chicago…and so many more.

MusicMaster continues to celebrate our anniversary with The 30th Anniversary Acoustic Jam featuring Country Music Hall of Famer Mel Tillis, Ty Herndon, Anita Cochran, along with Hali Hicks, Lucas Hoge, Samantha Landrum, Zane Williams, Casey Donahew, North 40, Joe Bachman, Carissa Leigh, and a stage filled with incredible talent.

Hundreds of industry notables came to meet Mel and take home a personal photo with the past CMA Entertainer of the Year. MusicMaster founder and president Joe Knapp knows how to throw a great party!

Mel Tillis (waving, center) with Drew Bennett, Joe Knapp, Marianne Burkett, Aaron Taylor, Melanie Ross, Laurie Knapp, and Shane Finch

Heather Looney from North 40, Marianne Burkett and Melanie Ross from MusicMaster and Paige Logan from North 40 pose together at the MusicMaster 30th Anniversary Acoustic Jam

Joe Knapp, CEO of MusicMaster, with Ty Herndon and Anita Cochran

Catch our gang at the upcoming Great Lakes Broadcasting Conference/Lansing, MI in March; Worldwide Radio Summit/Hollywood, CA in April; NAB Show/Las Vegas, NV in April; and Canadian Music Week/Toronto, ON in May.

MusicMaster in Oceania

ON AIR’s Kevin Hopkins spent most of this past month in New Zealand and Australia meeting stations and training future MusicMaster pros. He also had the chance to meet again with Cameron St. Clair, Sea FM’s Afternoon Announcer & Music Supporter. And, boy oh boy, this man knows his MusicMaster!

Both had interesting talks about the future of MusicMaster and the API, MusicMaster’s potential to integrate with third party applications, and of course some wishes he has for future versions of MusicMaster.

Cameron and Kevin were joined by AVC’s Greg Altena. Greg, as the new MusicMaster distributor for Australia and New Zealand, was very happy to meet existing MusicMaster stations and long time users like Cameron.

Cameron St. Clair (left) and Greg Altena (right)

NRB Nashville Recap

MusicMaster attended the NRB International Christian Media Convention for the first time February 22-25 in Nashville at the beautiful Gaylord Hotel. In attendance were Joe Knapp, President of MusicMaster/A-Ware Software, Director of Marketing Melanie Ross, Sales Director Shane Finch and Music Scheduling Consultants Aaron Taylor and Marianne Burkett. The annual event includes training, general and keynote sessions, along with 130,000 square feet of exhibit space. We were lucky to partner with both Wide Orbit’s Jeff Dempsey and Enco’s Aaron Johnson for this show.  What a great opportunity it was to learn more about Christian media talk to our mutual customers, and folks interested to learn how the products fit together.

Aaron Johnson of Enco demonstrates Nexus functionality between MusicMaster and Enco

Marianne Burkett speaking to a prospect with Jeff Dempsey from Wide Orbit

Aaron Taylor and Shane Finch from MusicMaster with Aaron Johnson from Enco

Marianne Burkett and Melanie Ross in the Wide Orbit booth

Salon de la Radio Paris Recap

4,185 radio professionals joined this year’s Salon de la Radio in Paris. The three days of France’s main radio industry event were spiced-up with dozens of panels, workshops, and an award show.

We really enjoy attending this first international show of the year. It always feels great to spend some days in this very unique metropolis, and meeting good friends feels even better. ON AIR’s Thomas Roth and Mathieu Habegger from SwissMediaPartners visited the FIP crew at Radio France and longtime MusicMaster station Radio Classique. They also spent pleasant moments with Christie, Isabelle and Alexandre from Netia (top picture, below) and Dominique Wenger from Zenon Media. (bottom picture, below).

CABSAT Dubai

Come and visit MusicMaster at Cabsat in Dubai, March 11-13. You will find us with our friends of AVC in Hall 8, Stand C8/30. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Radiodays Europe 2014 in Dublin

Justus Fischer from ON AIR is going to attend Europe’s biggest radio industry event on March 23-25. We are sure it’s going to be an exciting show again. This year’s list of speakers and panelists reads like the “who’s who” of the international radio business. Check out more details and the program at the event’s website, and feel free to contact Justus during a coffee break for a brief update on MusicMaster’s upcoming line of new versions!

CMT Genius Day Recap

Our president Joe Knapp visited the CMT studios in Nashville to host a MusicMaster Genius Day during CRS week. Members of the MusicMaster support team were also on hand to give tips, tricks and pointers for scheduling both a radio station and a television station with MusicMaster. We enjoyed a tour of the CMT studios where we met more staff, took some snapshots of the studios and got a great sense of how one of the best television stations in the country operates. Stacey Cato, Donna Edmonds, Brian Bayley and Joanna Bednarz worked all day with us and their hospitality remains unmatched! We look forward to visiting again and watching CMT for all the great changes we made together in their MusicMaster databases!

Thanks, Lydia!

It is with great sadness that we are announcing the retirement of our receptionist and office assistant, Lydia Leitzke.

Lydia has been with us for over fourteen years, since back in July 1999. She began working at MusicMaster as a receptionist and was the first voice everyone heard when calling into the corporate office. She later moved into a combined role at MusicMaster and was a tremendous help to Susan Averbeck with the daily office functions.

Although we will all miss Lydia, she has given her full devotion to MusicMaster and has earned the opportunity to enjoy more time with her family and grandchildren. We wish Lydia all the best in her retirement!

Daylight Saving Time

Can we count you in amongst those who are ready to shove Winter out the door?  We’d like to replace talk of the polar vortex with blooming flowers.  The switch to Daylight Saving Time on Sunday, March 9, 2014, for our US and Canadian friends will start us down the road to warmer weather.

With MusicMaster, springing ahead is as simple as making sure your computer is up-to-date because that’s where MusicMaster takes its cue.  Go to Help, System Information and it will indicate at the top of the screen when this will affect your data.  Should you be in a location that doesn’t follow Daylight Saving Time, you can turn this off by going to Tools, Options, Additional Properties and setting the Schedule, IgnoreDST option to 1.  Remember to check with your automation system to make sure they will accept a 23 hour log.

Industry Event Calendar

There are industry events and conventions every month around the world. We always appreciate meeting our customers and finding out how MusicMaster is working for them. If you’re planning on attending any of these events, let us know. We’d love to meet with you if possible.

• March 10-11: Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Conference – Miami, FL
• March 11-13: CABSAT – Dubai, UAE
• March 23-25: Radiodays Europe – Dublin, Ireland
• April 2-4: All Access Worldwide Radio Summit – Hollywood, CA
• April 6-10: NAB – Las Vegas, NV
• May 6-10: Canadian Music Week – Toronto, ON
• June 17-20: BroadcastAsia2014 – Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

MusicMaster Pro-Team: Mark St. John

Mark consults radio stations in major, medium and small markets with multiple format experience. Mark took over Zapoleon Media Strategies in 2011 when founder Guy Zapoleon joined Clear Channel Media. Mark programmed legendary Top 40 WAVA Washington, where personalities Don and Mike started; served as VP/Programming for The Dittman Group; as well as programming Top 40 I-95 Birmingham, putting together morning team of Mark and Brian. Mark, his wife Betsy and two cats live on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

You can contact Mark at (281) 647-9222 or mark@zapoleon.com.

The MusicMaster Pro-Team is comprised of experienced broadcast consultants and programmers who are available to assist MusicMaster clients with programming advice. Their services are available under this cost effective program with no long term commitment required, and can be added to your existing software support plan. Information on each MusicMaster Pro-Team member is available below. If you would like to retain the services of one of the MusicMaster Pro-Team members or have questions about the specifics of the program contact Joe Knapp, President/CEO at +1 (262) 786-6519 or JoeKnapp@A-Ware.com.

Quick Tip: Moving a Specific Number of Songs

We know your Tuesdays can get a bit hectic with music meetings, adding new music and moving existing music around your database.  If you’re moving a specific number of songs from one category to another, here’s a way to know exactly how many songs you’ve selected.  Holding your SHIFT key down, click on the pointer column for the songs you wish to move.  If you look at the bottom of your screen where it lists the number of songs and the category name, you’ll also see “Selected” followed by a number.  This number will update as you click or unclick on songs.

Recent Feature Articles From the MusicMaster Blog

Replacement Song Options
By Paul Ziino

There are lots of ways to make your MusicMaster database your own. Today we’re going to look at ways you can customize the Replacement Song Options. (Read more.)

Spotlight on the Keyword Separation Wizard
By Aaron Taylor

As your format evolves, the competitive situation changes or you receive new research data, it often become necessary to make significant changes in your MusicMaster database. Fairly obvious items that need attention in these circumstances include revision of your clocks and assignment grid, adjustments to your Rule Tree and expansion or contraction of the size of your categories. (Read more.)

Music Master of the Month

Megan Phillips
Director of Music Scheduling
Timeless Cool Custom Programming
Bellevue, WA

“I would NOT be able to do my job without MusicMaster. With so many different stations, markets, and program directors, there are a million different requests I get for quirky ways to schedule a station. MusicMaster’s rule options are limitless. And if I can’t find a rule to suit the request at hand, I place a quick phone call to Aaron Taylor, and I have a solution!

Aaron Taylor with Megan Phillips at KPLZ (Star 101.5) Seattle

“Having worked with MSDOS Selector extensively before, MusicMaster is HANDS DOWN the better option, and I tell our clients this when they are deciding what scheduling system to go with.  There is just SO much more that can be done with MusicMaster. Since I schedule so many stations each week, it is essential that I am able to set up a rule tree that I can trust to get the job done.  Aaron has been incredibly helpful in teaching me what all can be done with the rules and coding of music. Meticulous scheduling is what I am hired to do, and without MusicMaster, there is no way that I could accomplish this.

“It has been amazing to see over the past years what a difference scheduling with Music Master has made in actual ratings!  It pays to take the time to learn all that MusicMaster has to offer and to utilize it!”