MusicMaster Blog

by Paul Ziino

When you need to make a copy of a clock, simply go to Dataset/Clocks/Format Clocks. Highlight the clock you wish to copy, then click the Copy button on the right. Now you’ll assign a new clock code and description to the copy. Don’t know what code is available? Just type "??" and press Enter–MusicMaster will assign a code for you.

The trick here is to highlight the clock to be copied. The check box to the left of each clock is used for mass printing, deleting, and exporting. You’ll notice that if you check one clock and then click Copy, MusicMaster will do so for whatever clock is highlighted–generally that’s the first clock in your list.

by Paul Ziino

Dataset/Schedule/QuickView. Use this to see where you have unscheduled positions lingering in your logs. Green means no unscheduled items, yellow with a number indicates how many unscheduled items occur in that hour. Double-click on it, and MusicMaster takes you to that hour in your schedule editor so you can edit, fill, or delete that position. There's also a shortcut for Schedule QuickView in the Schedule Editor–it's seventh from the right between Load Editor Layout and Vicinity Viewer.

By Drew Bennett

You can take a look at every decision MusicMaster made when it scheduled your last session. It’s called the Thinking Process and to turn it on, you will head to Dataset, Scheduler, Automatic Scheduler, Options and choose “Save Thinking Process to Disk.” Once you’ve scheduled your session, find the Thinking Process button in the Recap Report by choosing Dataset, Schedule, Recap Report. You can also find Thinking_Process.txt in the directory with your database file. Inside, you will see a log of every decision MusicMaster made when it scheduled the last session. It’s a great way to identify problems during the scheduling session. Maybe you have several unscheduled positions but no clue as to why they happened. The Thinking Process will show you what rules passed and failed for that position making it much easier to identify a problem. Happy scheduling!

Marianne Burkett

Need to make a change across all clocks to the text of a specific lognote? Fastest way to do this is in DATASET-CLOCKS-LOGNOTE TEXT. (más…)

I had a client email the question this morning: Is there a Core Artist report in MusicMaster for Windows? Depending on your perspective, there are a few ways to generate that report with a few simple clicks. If you’d like to have the report depend on frequency of plays – use the History Browser’s Artist rank and spins report (Dataset/Analysis/History Browser). If you’d like the report to depend on number of Titles each artist has – use your Library Analysis report on the artist field. Just bring up your Active Music Categories group and right click on the artist field and select “Library Analysis”. This will give you an instant report from top to bottom of the Artists with the most to least songs.

If it’s been awhile since you’ve started working with MusicMaster or installed the application on your computer, its a good idea to check from time to time and verify you are running the latest release version. The MusicMaster email newsletter will announce when a new service release is available, but you can check for the latest version anytime in the application by clicking HELP-CHECK FOR UPDATE. Click through the NEXT menu in the Software Upgrade Wizard window to see if there is a new version that you can download and install. You’ll need to remember to close the MusicMaster application completely after the download of the update is finished before running the update. If the program indicates you’ll need to restart your machine for the changes to take effect, please do that at your earliest convenience. Also make sure to update all other machines in your facility to this version as soon as possible.

If you want to learn about what’s new in the version you just updated to, check HELP-RELEASE NOTES. Past the system requirements section, you’ll be able to read everything that is included in this new service release. As always if you have any questions about a feature or functionality in the update, or you encounter an issue along the way, reach out to us for help!

by Paul Ziino

Here’s a quick tip for an easy way to search your database. Go to View/Search Bar and make sure it is checked. Via the Search Bar you can do a "contains any of" query in the Primary and Secondary fields of the data, without having to open a new query box.

For example: type LOVE in the search bar and press Enter to receive a list of all songs with LOVE in the Primary or Secondary fields of the data (typically Title and Artist, this can be set under Dataset/Library/Fields. For more info, search for Primary Field in the online Help). You’ll get titles such as "Love Walks In", "Looking for a New Love", "I Knew I Loved You", and artists including Loverboy, G. Love and Special Sauce, and Dana Glover.

by Paul Ziino

Many radio stations offer a “No Repeat Workday”. And when they do, they rely on MusicMaster to make sure this happens without any glitches. Here’s how to set up No Repeat in MusicMaster.

First you’ll open your Rule Tree (Dataset/Rule Tree, or click the lightning bolt icon). No Repeat is a “Song/History Rule” so click the + next to that folder under Available Rule Types. No Repeat is the second option there. You can drag that rule into the appropriate Unbreakable folder on the left side of the tree. Note: You could make it breakable, but that would allow MusicMaster to violate the rule, thus not guaranteeing no song will repeat.

Once you’ve dropped the rule into position the Rule Properties box will open. This is where you establish the parameters of this rule. First, you’ll indicate a description. This is where you’ll name the rule, for example “Monday”.

The Time Restriction box is where you indicate the hours this no repeat zone applies. Note: place an X in the hours where this no repeat zone applies. Once that’s established, click the “Save as new Restriction” icon, name it accordingly and click OK. A Monday 9-5 No Repeat will look like this…

Click Apply and then OK on the No Repeat rule properties when finished.

You will want a unique No Repeat rule for each no repeat zone. So if you require a no repeat workday Monday through Friday, you’ll need to turn on the rule 5 times—once for each day—and set the time restrictions accordingly.

There are many applications for No Repeat. You could use No Repeat for a featured program such as “Get the Led Out” where at 9pm each day you play a block of songs by Led Zeppelin. You want to make sure not to repeat any song within the week, so you could set up your No Repeat Time Restriction like this…You can open an hour into halves or quarters by right-clicking on that hour in the Time Restriction box and clicking on Hour Mode. In this example, we have a no repeat zone from 9:00-9:30pm every day of the week.

Another application might be protecting drive times so that songs that played in morning drive today will not play in afternoon drive today or tomorrow’s morning drive. If today is Monday, here is what that time restriction would look like…Just remember you’d want to set up a different no repeat rule for each zone. So for weekday drive protection you would need to activate that rule 10 times—one for each day’s morning and another for each day’s afternoon drive.

These are just a few of the ways No Repeat can be put to work for you. Of course if you have any questions on setting up No Repeat, you can refer to the Help section of MusicMaster or contact your Music Scheduling Consultant.

by Marianne Burkett

From time to time, most people go to their Primary Care Doctor for a physical exam, take the car in for servicing or have their home HVAC inspected – just to be sure there isn’t a problem lurking. In the same vein, it’s also wise to take a critical look at your MusicMaster database every so often. (más…)

by Drew Bennett

Today, I want to let you in on an interesting rule in the MusicMaster for Windows Rule Tree. It’s called, Shift Pattern Rotation and it may change the way you schedule your bigger categories. Why? Because it’s so cool!

In your Rule Tree, look at the Available Rules folders on the right side of the screen and locate the Shift Pattern Rotation rule inside the Hour Rotation Rules folder under Song/History Rules. (Hint: It’s the second rule from the bottom.)

Let’s decide if the Shift Pattern Rotation rule is right for you by taking a look at the properties of the rule to find out what it does. To see the properties of a rule, pull it over to a Breakable or Unbreakable folder in your Rule Tree.

When the properties box pops up, you can see how we are able to set up the rule. The Shift Pattern Rotation rule tests songs to make sure they schedule within the shift pattern that you define within the rule. To set the pattern you want your songs to follow, click on the numbered boxes in the rule. As you click the boxes, they will move to the Shift Pattern line. The order they in which they appear are in the order that will be used to move the songs through your shifts. Basically, you are restricting the songs to only play in the shift that follows the last shift they played in within this pattern. Cool, huh!
This is how I set up my rule. I only have 8 shifts defined in my Shift Editor so I don’t need to include the 9th box in my pattern.

Don’t forget to set your shifts in the Shift Editor. You can find the Shift Editor by choosing the Shift Editor button from within the rule properties. You can also find Shift Editor by going to Dataset, Schedule, Shift Editor or through the Related button in the Rule Tree.

See? I have 8 shifts defined in the Shift Editor and that is why I used 8 boxes in my Shift Pattern rule. Keep in mind, however, that you do not necessarily have to use all of your shifts in the rule. For instance, if you don’t want to consider Overnights when creating the pattern in the rule, leave out the shift number that corresponds with your Overnight shift. Also, any play that occurs in a blank shift will not be counted against the test as it is configured.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, ‘What about dayparted songs within the category?’ Dayparted songs are handled a bit differently when it comes to the Shift Pattern Rotation rule and it’s because of their limited ability to rotate. When MusicMaster comes to a dayparted song that must be tested for Shift Rotation, it will determine the number of shifts that song is allowed to play in. If that number is one or zero, the rule is disabled for this song, otherwise, the song would have no opportunity to play. If the number of shifts the song can play in is less than or equal to the number of plays requested in the rule properties, then the actual number of plays in other shifts required for that song will be the maximum number possible minus one.

For control on how your songs schedule through your shifts, consider using the Shift Pattern Rotation rule on your larger Gold categories. It’s a great way to space your plays evenly throughout your shifts.