MusicMaster Blog

Welcome to MusicMaster

KCLB-FM, KDGL-FM, and KKUU-HD2 – Palm Springs, CA; WEZY – Racine, WI; MDR1 Radio Sachsen – Dresden, Germany;

MusicMaster 5.0 SR-10 is now Available

A new service release for MusicMaster 5.0 is now available. Use Check for Updates on the MusicMaster Help menu to upgrade your software to SR-10.

New in this release, we’ve added Special History Reports for NPR Digital Services Composer 2 and Composer Pro. NPR Digital Services is the new name for Public Interactive.

If you’re on a version of MusicMaster prior to 5.0, please call us to discuss all the new features available in version 5 and how you can get it.

MusicMaster Goes Asia

After making a successful debut in the Hong Kong market over the last two years, in 2014 we will focus on more countries in Asia. This week, Rainer Eichhorn of ON AIR Digital started a long tour of MusicMaster presentations and meetings at radio stations in Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Macao. This effort will go on through 2014 with more countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and India. The current version of MusicMaster will enable radio as well as TV stations in Asia to improve their rotations and benefit from the easy workflow of MusicMaster.

We are looking forward to 2014 and the meetings with radio talents all over Asia!

Fun Christmas Dinner in Berlin

ON AIR’s yearly Christmas dinner took place at ‘Kochende Welten’, an artsy loft in the very particular suburb of Wedding in Berlin. The motto: DO YOUR OWN COOKING! All the preparing, cutting, seasoning, and grilling was done by us, the dinner guests.

The team of ‘chefs’ was truly international. Our friends from Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands were joined by MusicMaster’s Joe Knapp and Melanie Ross, who flew over from Dallas. Fortunately and worthy of mention, the eating was done by us as well.

Above: Two chefs, Joe Knapp & Rainer Eichhorn

Above: The busy girls, Gabi Seidel (On Air) & Melanie Ross (MusicMaster)

Above: the gang from MusicMaster, On Air, and Swiss Media Partners working the day after the party in Berlin.  They are all so committed! Front row: Matthieu, Joe, Gabi, Rainer, Max, and Michael; back row: Jean Claude, Andi, and Kevin.

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.

• January 30-31: South Carolina Broadcasters – Columbia, SC
• February 5: RAIN Summit – New York, NY
• February 9-10: Salon de Le Radio – Paris, France
• February 18-22: Country Radio Seminar – Nashville, TN
• February 22-25: National Religious Broadcasters – Nashville, TN
• 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

MusicMaster Pro-Team: Mark Patric

Mark Patric is the APD and MD of 93.7 JRfm in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Along with his 16 years of major market broadcast experience he has also worked as a music scheduling consultant and music research adviser for Albright and O’Malley Consulting for the past 10 years.

Contact Mark Patric at 604-575-1226 or magmedia@telus.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: Rule Group Availability

In the Rule Tree, the Rule Group option allows you to really customize when and how rules are applied.  You’ll find this option under Special Rule Tree Items.  When you drag it to your Rule Tree, you’ll have several set-up options, including Availability.  Options here include always tested, tested only by the auto scheduler, tested only by the schedule editor and never tested.

There are reasons you’d pick something other than “always”.  You might want the auto scheduler to adhere to your tight rules, but when you’re editing, you’re more lenient.  That can work well if you have some leeway and want to mix up any patterns that might result because of your rules.  You might want to test only in the editor so you don’t do something silly while you’re replacing songs.  For instance, most programmers don’t have many rules on their current category.  Putting some “safeguard” rules in place and using the “test only in editor” setting will prevent you from violating those safeguards while you edit.

We’ve received our fair share of questions about the “never” option.  Typically this is used when you want to suspend the rules for special programming.  Why delete and then have to re-enter all those rules?  Using this option makes it a quick job to remove rules from testing but save all the settings for future use.

Consider how you schedule and edit to determine if using one of these Availability options is right for you.

Recent Feature Articles From the MusicMaster Blog

Song Tags 101
By Marianne Burkett

Whether it’s an artist introducing a new song or the station voice introducing an artist, I frequently get calls from clients who’d like to attach song tags to some or all songs or just add tags to songs in specific categories at certain times in their databases.  This can be done in a variety of ways in MusicMaster.  Which way you will approach this will depend on your individual goals. (Read more.)

Trivia
By Paul Ziino

There are two types of Trivia in MusicMaster: Song Trivia and Keyword Trivia.  Song Trivia is specific to one song in the database.  Keyword Trivia is specific to a given keyword in the database. (Read more.)

How Automation Systems and Music Schedulers Talk to One Another
By Drew Bennett

Automation systems and music schedulers share the same client in many cases. Both software companies rely on one another, to a degree, to ‘get the station on the air.’ If the automation system doesn’t have a log to play, there’s no music. If the music scheduler can’t export its log to the automation system, there’s no music then either. So, in most cases, the music scheduler and the automation system rely on one another to get the job done for you. (Read more.)

Music Master of the Month

Matt Wilson
General Manager
KWHQ-FM – KSRM Inc.
Soldotna, Alaska

“We added MusicMaster in 2009, and since then, it’s been a crucial tool at our station. I’ve spent some time on other programs and felt at home with MusicMaster. The interface is easy to use and understand and really allows you to customize your product.

“One of my most used functions before I schedule is the schedule order and arrange tool. This allows the rotations to change up each session and provides a great blend to our format

“If you are looking for user-friendly program packed full with the tools to make your station stand out in your market, then add MusicMaster to your station staff.”