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.”