MusicMaster Blog

MusicMaster Celebrates 30th Anniversary

From a chilly garage in Wisconsin to palatial radio and television studios worldwide, MusicMaster Scheduling Software has impacted programmers and audiences for 30 years.

To celebrate, MusicMaster will hold a 30th Anniversary worldwide retreat for employees and their spouses in early November in Sanibel, Florida!

Congratulations Joe, Scott and the entire MusicMaster family for 30 great years!

Windows 8.1 and MusicMaster

Are you planning to update to Windows 8.1?  For a problem-free experience, please upgrade your MusicMaster to 5.0sr8 before you update Windows.  If you need to use an older version of MusicMaster with Windows 8.1, please contact your Music Scheduling Consultant first so they can assist you.

MusicMaster Promotes Three Staffers

October brought a change in the weather and new job positions for three MusicMaster employees.

Jill Sorenson, longtime MusicMaster Support Manager, assumes a new role as writer and investigator in the research department. Jill’s title will be W.I.Z.A.R.D., which actually stands for Writer, Investigator Zealously Attacking Research Development.

Familiar MusicMaster friend Paul Ziino has been upped to Support Coordinator, with Matinee Idol Drew Bennett accepting the position of Sales Coordinator.

Good wishes to all!

MusicMaster at the Medientage Munich

This year’s main topic was mobile media and the challenges that result for advertisers and society. Justus Fischer from ON AIR met a lot of radio people from the German-speaking market and had a good time with them at the party, which took place in the Palace of Justice in Munich.
Top picture: Caroline Grazé, Martin Liss (both NRJ) with media consultant Michael Praetorius. Bottom picture: Ralf & Jörg Stingl (BCI) with Stefan Sutor (BLM) and Justus Fischer (ON AIR).

Visiting Radio Seefunk RSF

Radio Seefunk RSF, the station that can be heard in three countries (Germany, Switzerland and Austria), has moved into a brand new building in Konstanz, Germany with a view of the river Rhine. Music director Eberhard Fruck (on the left) shows ON AIR’s Justus Fischer the new studio and office space.

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.

• November 1-2: Broadcast Symposium – Berlin, Germany

MusicMaster Pro-Team: Greg Mack

Greg Mack has over 30 years experience in the radio and music industries. Greg is sometimes referred to as the “Godfather” of Hip-Hop and Rap Radio, although his roots are classic rock…he’s also programmed Country and Western as well as Spanish Formats. Starting his career in San Antonio, Texas in 1975 at KTSA/KTFM, Greg worked his way into other markets such as Corpus Christi (KEYS-AM/KZFM-FM) and Houston (KMJQ-Majic 102) before moving to Los Angeles. It was at the heritage station KDAY-1580AM in 1983 that Greg Mack developed the radio format that is now known variously as “Hip-Hop”, “Rap”, and/or “Rhythmic”.

On the basis of major market programming and ratings success at such Los Angeles stations as KDAY and KJLH, Greg formed his own communications company, MacKNificent Broadcasting, LLC, to provide the corporate base for his programming, consulting, and business interests.

MacKNificent Broadcasting, LLC also provides music and programming consulting to various stations in large and medium sized markets and has been instrumental in the development of a movie based on his industry experience as well as his memoirs. Greg has been featured and/or mentioned in several film and television documentaries chronicling the history and development of the Rap and Hip-Hop music genre.

You can contact Greg at (559) 472-3210 or gregmack321@gmail.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.

See the complete MusicMaster Pro-Team Roster.

Quick Tip: Making AutoComplete Even Faster

AutoComplete starts to fill the field in so you do less typing and are more likely to avoid spelling mistakes. To set it up, you go to Dataset, Library, Fields. Let’s use Title field as an example. You’ll click on that field then under the Properties, Editing section, you’ll set AutoComplete to Yes. In Library Maintenance, you’ll also want to click on the “Auto” icon to make this work.

This is all great, but if your database is really large, you may be getting lots of matches that aren’t relevant. In other words, you’re still typing lots of letters to get to the Title you need. Here’s how to make AutoComplete even faster: Use the AutoLinkGroup option. This is done in pairs to optimize the matching. We’re going to match Artist and Title. Go back to Dataset, Library, Fields and in both of the Artist and Title fields, you’ll add “1” to the AutoLinkGroup. You can have up to three AutoLinkGroups. Now when you type a Title in, it will know which Artist you are working with and only do AutoComplete on the Titles from that Artist! This can greatly speed up your AutoComplete if you have an Oldies or Classical database where you have thousands of titles. For instance, if you linked Artist and Title you could type in “Beatles” and instead of seeing all the songs that start with “P” it might show “Paperback Writer” right away.

Recent Feature Articles From the MusicMaster Blog

A Crash Course in Printed Log Designs
By Paul Ziino

We are asked often how to edit or create a printed log design. Today we present a crash course in Printed Log Designs. For starters, go to Dataset/Schedule/Print Logs. For testing purposes, make sure you select a few valid hours—hours that have been scheduled—at the top of the Schedule Print screen. To create a new design, click the “New” button. (Read more.)

Uncovering Hidden Database Issues Using the Song List Editor
By Marianne Burkett

Some days, a client call about one thing turns into a fact finding mission about a completely different issue. Let’s take the call I received this morning from PD Bob. Initially, he’d called about changing one hour in his assignment grid for just one day. We went through the steps in changing the grid, unscheduling that hour to reset the clock template, and rescheduling the one hour. I was thinking …okay, that was a quick call. (Read more.)

Music Master of the Month

Kate Buick
Program Director of the New HOT 92.3 & UP! 93.1
Fredericton, New Brunswick

“The number one thing I love about MusicMaster is the customer service. I have launched three radio stations in the past two years, and with each station there are unique issues that you encounter in regards to the set up of scheduling and rules. I went to school for journalism, and the rules aspect of programming really has been taught to me by Paul Ziino of MusicMaster. He has walked me through how to set up my MusicMaster and has then customized it to my needs. Most recently we went from using Scott Studios to Wide Orbit, and Paul helped us along to make sure the transition was smooth.”

Welcome to MusicMaster

Radio Laguna 93,7 – Belgrade, Serbia; BLACK FM – Budapest, Hungary; Radio Signal – Novi Sad, Serbia; MTV Russia – Moscow, Russia; MTV Africa – Johannesburg, South Africa; WHKQ-FM – Maitland, FL; CHVN-FM – Winnipeg, MB;
CFAM-AM – Altona, MB; CILT-FM – Edmonton, AB; CJSL-AM, CKSE-FM – Estevan, SK; CFXO-FM, CKUV-FM, CHRB-AM – High River, AB; CILG-FM, CHAB-FM – Moose Jaw, SK; CKMW-FM – Morden, MB; CFRY-AM – Portage la Prairie, MB; CJYM-AM – Rosetown, SK; CKSW-AM, CIMG-FM, CKFI-FM – Swift Current, SK; CKQV-FM – Vermilion Bay, ON; CFSL-AM – Weyburn, SK; CFEQ-FM – Winnipeg, MB

New Service Release Available

A new service release is now available. Run Help, Check for Update to get 5.0sr8. Among the changes: In the History Browser, the spin count column can now be displayed as a percentage of the total spins in the current reporting time frame. This version will allow you to close the Dayparting Editor dialog by using the Escape key even if the focus is on the dropdown list of dayparts. Several new Special History reports have been added for our new friends in Italy and the Netherlands. For our Canadian friends, if you need to review your Emerging Artist percentages, you’ll be able to do that in the revised CRTC Self-Assessment report.

Please contact your Music Scheduling Consultant if you have any questions about the changes or need assistance installing this latest service release.

I Like Music Partnership

I Like Music will be a new partner in the MusicMaster network to provide extended service to our clients. Andy and James and their team are in charge of delivering all new audio and data to the BBC and over 100 private radio stations in the UK.

Rainer Eichhorn, from our world-wide distribution company ON AIR DIGTAL, says, “With this new cooperation we will offer our customers the chance to not only receive every new song with audio and metadata right into their MusicMaster, but it will also give them the ability to enhance their existing data and complete it with the best metadata tags that I have seen so far. As soon as the integration is completed we will give detailed information to see how perfect that match is. We are very much interested in giving our customers the best possible tools to make as much use out of their MusicMaster as possible.”

James Derrick, Rainer Eichhorn, Andy Hill at the offices of I like Music in London, UK

Integration & Cooperation with 42NET in Hungary

From this fall on we’ll join forces with 42NET in Hungary. Karoly Karakas and his team are going to offer MusicMaster in their market, training customers and showing the upcoming highly comfortable integration between their 42NET Radio Automation and MusicMaster.

42NET is a full broadcast system provider based in Budapest offering Radio Automation, News- and Social Media solutions. You can have a look at their full portfolio of products & services on their website.

IBC 2013 Round-up

Our aim of this year’s trip to Amsterdam was to meet and to strengthen the relationship not only with customers but also with our partners from around the world. Main topic: redesigning our mutual workflows and interfaces to match the requirements for the years to come. Integrating seamless interaction is still the challenge.

We spent a lot of time at the booth from our new sales and integration partner in Hungary 42NET. They introduced their brand-new 42NET automation system.

We enjoyed one of the most beautiful booths at IBC, MusicMaster integration partner DAVID Systems.

And on Saturday evening, we had a fantastic dinner with our 5Tools partners Greg & Cesco from Stirlitz, Raoul from Wedel Software, and Andrea and Rainer from On Air.

We have had a chance to see first hand all the cool ideas and designs our Broadcasting Partners have come up with, and we are thankful for the support and trust we receive from them. This really is a business with character and spirit, and at IBC we have seen a lot of this.

MusicMaster at the Broadcast Symposium in Berlin

The Broadcast Symposium is back in Berlin with two days packed with interesting sessions and workshops. Friday the 1^st of November is the workshop day:  “Myths and the big unanswered questions about music in radio” or “We love music strategy – Music management works”, with Justus Fischer from ON AIR, Holger Lachmann from RTL Germany, Ivan Antala from Radio Expres in Slovakia and Christoph Pöschl from Brand Support. “Chill-Ativity!” – new ways to learn creativity with Peter Dollack and Andreas Roffeis from 2brains/Austria, “Spice up your day!” – 100% Morningshow with John Ment from Radio Hamburg – winner of “Deutscher Radiopreis”.

On Saturday the 2^nd of November it’s time for some sessions with “Hall of Fame – Ideas from different markets” or the “G6 Summit – The presidents or just the big round”. Six of the most successful radio program directors will discuss and exchange their philosophies, their ideas and their crisis.

The event takes place at the music and lifestyle hotel “nhow” in Berlin, Germany. Special room rates are available under the heading “Broadcast Symposium”. Reservations at +49-30-290299-0.

Benefit from the “Early Bird” of 350 € per participant plus VAT or the special group rates (on request).

Happy Birthday Sky Radio

Sky Radio in the Netherlands just celebrated its 25th year of broadcasting. We were invited to their huge birthday party and enjoyed many live acts like Birdy, Alain Clark, and James Blunt. Below, Frank Kok (right) from our MusicMaster partner Top of Mind in the Netherlands congratulates Uunco Cerfontaine (left) from Sky Radio.

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.

• November 1-2: Broadcast Symposium – Berlin, Germany

MusicMaster Pro-Team: Dave Lange

He is recognized across the country as a leading expert in all forms of radio programming. While Dave’s worked successfully with all formats from News Talk to Active Rock he specializes in the Rock formats including Classic Rock, Classic Hits, Active Rock, Mainstream Rock and Alternative.

Dave Lange has an extensive programming, consulting and senior management background, spanning nearly 30 years. Serving as Senior VP of Programming for Clear Channel preceded by Programming VP assignments with Capstar and AMFM.

His “hands-on” programming background includes Chicago (WCKG), Pittsburgh (WDVE), Miami (WSHE), Grand Rapids (WLAV) and Lansing Michigan.

You can contact Dave at 574-273-0559 or DLange210@att.net.

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.

See the complete MusicMaster Pro-Team Roster.

Quick Tip: History Browser, Included Hours

The Time Period tab of the History Browser has a configuration for each of the 168 hours in a week. You may overlook that when you’re running reports, but here’s a reason to consider changing that: Have you ever wondered what the distribution of an artist or attribute is during a core listening time? By using the Included Hours option, you can make sure the report you generate is only looking at the times you want to include. Simply double-click (or use the space-bar) on the hour. It’s a simple toggle on/off so your first click will remove the hour from consideration; another click will include it again.

Recent Feature Articles From the MusicMaster Blog

Integrating MusicMaster with Play MPE
By Aaron Taylor

Play MPE is a content distribution system that is available to the radio industry. Many in the industry use it as a “one stop shop” for all new content needed for their stations. In addition to the actual song or video, Play MPE makes available to its users additional data that can be useful in their programming. We’ll discuss how to obtain this information and integrate it into MusicMaster in this article. (Read more.)

What’s New in the Info Bar for 5.0
By Drew Bennett

Your first question after reading the title of this article might have been as simple as, “What the heck is an Info Bar?” The Info Bar is a quick navigation tool that allows you fast access to Library Maintenance, Clocks and Schedules. At the bottom of the Info Bar are three icons or tabs for these sections of the software. The Info Bar’s drag and drop feature comes in handy quite often. It allows you to drag songs to categories when moving them, it allows you to add a category to a clock and it allows you to drop a category right into a log you’re scheduling. There’s more to the Info Bar, though, and the arrival of 5.0 brings new features. (Read more.)

Music Master of the Month

Joshua Kral
Network Operations
The Nashville Network (TNN)/Luken Communications
Nashville, TN

“TNN chose MusicMaster because of its compatibility with other automation systems. Since we’re a television network, we were struggling to find a good solution to automate the music video scheduling that would also work with our in-house automation.

“I tend to rely on the dayparting feature. Since I use MusicMaster to schedule music videos for television rather than radio, I have to be able to sort through our extensive library to schedule the videos that meet a certain programs’ criteria. I’ve created unique categories and use dayparting to determine what time of day each video is allowed to air. This is a good way to keep our ‘Heavy Hitters’ rotating through prime viewing hours. It’s like I’m making mix tapes for everyone who watches us. I love it.

“Personally, I think anyone who sets out to start spreading the music THEY love and feel compelled to share is worth admiring. My dream job is to work as a Music Supervisor for a film company, and do original music scoring.”