MusicMaster Blog
The MusicMaster Experience posted on March 31st, 2014
By Marianne Burkett
I get this question a lot from normal folk. “Exactly, what is it that you do?” By normal folk, I’m referring to people who reside out of the sphere of Broadcasting.
My answer varies depending on the individual asking the question, but I often say: “I help radio sound better”. MusicMaster is indeed software that enables its users to get the best music or video logs possible. What we do is difficult to explain…even to musicians.
Working as a “Music Scheduling Consultant” for MusicMaster entails much more than just knowing what the software does and how to solve issues. All the Music Scheduling Consultants at MusicMaster…and nearly everyone else at the company, has a pretty extensive background in radio. At a recent meeting where we were celebrating our 30th year in business – we went around the room and were asked at which markets we worked. For me, it’s a loaded question. I’ve lived in so many cities and worked at so many stations, it’s almost embarrassing… town to town, up and down the dial. Small to Large markets and multi formats. My name has changed multiple times as well. The name you know me by now, is my legal name. No more alias names for me unless I’m doing an air shift or voice-tracking.
At MusicMaster, there are those in the company that understand computer languages, but mostly we speak a language that is unique to radio. Segue is NOT a contraption you ride around on while sight-seeing. A “segue” is when one song or element or conversation ends and another begins. A spot is not something we clean off a tie or the carpet. A spot is a commercial. BMI is NOT Body Mass Index. BMI is Broadcast Music, Inc. I could go on ad infinitum with the comparisons.
As a Music Scheduling Consultant at MusicMaster, I have been asked to teach “newbies” to the industry how to program music, what the rules mean, and I’ve even explained what a Sound Code is to a new Programmer and how to think of their media (song or video) in a completely stripped down way. I call those sessions Radio 101 and they are reserved for a person who has never even begun to think about how music or video channels are programmed. From newbies to seasoned Broadcast Consultants our goals is to help them achieve their programming goals, whatever those goals may be. We are like a warm coat on a cold morning, for the Program Director or Music Director has been given a directive from above that they simply don’t understand. We happily give the best solutions we know, based on objective and subjective knowledge. Most of all, the job of Music Scheduling Consultant is extremely gratifying, especially when the stations we work with report #1 ratings status or significant improvement and they include us in the company email about the success. We’re on the team. We’re on your team.
I’m so proud to be a member of the MusicMaster team and even prouder to work with so many great programmers and consultants around the globe… and being an integral part of their success.
We’d love to hear from you about your success as well. Contact your Music Scheduling Consultant or send me an email and I’ll put you in touch with the right person.