MusicMaster Blog

Music Master of the Month

Payam Razi
Editor in Chief – Music
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Prague, Czech Republic

“Running a 24/7 news/music radio station is a heavy task and requires a high level of program flexibility, especially when there is a time and location difference between the station and the audience.

“Since 2008, I have been in charge as the music director of ‘Radio Farda’ at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague, Czech Republic, and we have been using MusicMaster as our primary scheduling program. Throughout these years this accurate and enhanced scheduling program has allowed us to easily categorize our 5,000 songs and more than 500 weekly content elements, creating a variety of clocks for specific hours and days, producing weekly and monthly cultural contests in an orderly manner to broadcast over 14 hours of lively and popular music programs on a daily basis.

“The ‘Analysis’ feature has significantly helped us with our monthly music report and the ‘Rule Tree’ has allowed us to easily control our different music genres and categories and maintaining a diverse and impressive program.”

Facebook Shout Out Contest

Radio stations have always run contests and given away prizes to lucky listeners. But who runs a contest for the radio stations? We do! Introducing the MusicMaster Facebook Shout-Out challenge!

It’s simple and fun, and a great way to show off your awesome talents and accomplishments to thousands of music programmers all around the world. Just post a story about your station on the MusicMaster Facebook page along with a picture or video. Each month, we will select the one with the most Likes as the winner!

The prizes will vary from month-to-month, but there will always be something cool and unique. This month we’re giving away a free copy of MusicMaster Personal Edition worth $295. Use it to start your own Internet radio station, or just to put together great music mixes for your home or parties. So get MusicMaster on your Speed Dial and be ready for your chance to win!

MusicMaster Names New Music Scheduling Consultant

MusicMaster announced recently that radio programming veteran, Jerry Butler, has joined the team to enhance sales and support.

Butler comes with a wealth of over 25 years of experience within the radio and media industry, having most recently programmed WRUF-FM, WRUF-AM, WRUF-TV, WUFT-FM, and WUFT-TV in Gainesville, Florida.

Jerry joins as a Music Scheduling Consultant to complement the ongoing international growth of MusicMaster’s extensive catalog of music scheduling software. Butler will assume his new duties June 5, 2014.

President, Joe Knapp, adds, “With the blessing of a rapidly-expanding and highly successful business comes the wonderful problem of being under-staffed. The trick is finding people who will fit perfectly into the team and hit the ground running. We are very fortunate to have found Jerry Butler. His passion and enthusiasm will fit right in here. Before long, I expect he will be part of the reason for our next round of expansion!”

MusicMaster was founded by Joe Knapp in 1983 and continues to be the world’s largest Windows-based music scheduling software for radio and television stations.

Radio Interactive International Radio Summit

MusicMaster 2020 Vision – Music Scheduling Innovations for the Future

MusicMaster Team Worldwide joined hundreds of broadcast professionals at the annual Radio Interactive International Radio Summit May 7-8 in Toronto, Ontario.

MusicMaster President, Joe Knapp, along with VP/CTO, Scott Wirt, and a contingent of our scheduling experts participated in various panels and presentations during the event.

On Wednesday, May 7, Sales Coordinator, Drew Bennett (above) joined Joe and Scott to reveal new versions of our World Class Software during the MusicMaster 2020 Vision – Music Scheduling Innovations for the Future presentation. Drew shared details about MusicMaster Professional (PRO), MusicMaster Limited Edition (LT), MusicMaster Personal Edition (PE), and MusicMaster Client Server (CS).

The Radio Consultants’ Roundtable

On Thursday, May 8, MusicMaster mastermind, Joe Knapp (below) sat with a prestigious group during The Radio Consultants’ Roundtable to share insight about radio’s future. Hundreds of attendees crammed the presentation hall vying to spend a few minutes in a small group conversation with Joe.

Other industry panelists included Clive Dickens, Dir Digital & Innovation, Southern Cross Austereo; Fred Jacobs, President, Jacobs Media; Helene Plouffe, Radio Programming Monitoring Analyst, CRTC; Jeff Vidler, President, Audience Insights; Jeff McHugh, Consultant, The Randy Lane Co.; Liz Janik, President, Media Mix Inc.; Lynn Asselin, Sr. Radio Analyst, CRTC; Raj Shoan, CRTC Commissioner; Rich Elwood, President, A Funny Thing Productions; Steve Reynolds, President, The Reynolds Group; Warren Kurtzman, President & COO, Coleman Insights.

CMW Award Winners

Congratulations to all of the CMW Award Winners who use MusicMaster!

MUSIC DIRECTOR MAJOR MARKET
LYNCH – X929 (CFEX) – CALGARY
Harvard Broadcasting

MUSIC DIRECTOR SMALL MARKET
JEFF WINSKELL – SUN FM (CHSU) – KELOWNA
Bell Media

ON AIR TALENT OF THE YEAR MAJOR MARKET
ROGER DARREN & MARILYN – CHUM FM – TORONTO
Bell Media

ON AIR TALENT SECONDARY MARKET
TUCKER & SARAH – 97.5 VIRGIN RADIO (CIQM) – LONDON
Bell Media

PROGRAM DIRECTOR MAJOR MARKET
AL FORD – SONIC 102.9 (CHDI) – EDMONTON
Rogers

PROGRAM DIRECTOR SECONDARY MARKET
WENDY DUFF – CHYM FM – KITCHENER
Rogers

NewCap Q&A

During CMW this year, MusicMaster’s President Joe Knapp had the chance to meet with NewCap programmers from across the country (shown above).  It was a great Q&A session held at the Hard Rock in downtown Toronto.

Malcolm Sinclair, Steve Jones, Joe Knapp, and Melanie Ross

The 360° Radio Experience at BroadcastAsia2014

MusicMaster Visits Harvard Broadcasting/Saskatchewan

After a warm welcome by Harvard General Manager, Jason Huschi, and a wonderful staff, the MusicMaster Genius Day team now knows why the Regina city slogan is, “I Love Regina”.

Ten excellent music programmers gathered Monday, May 12 for a day of tips and tricks with MusicMaster President, Joe Knapp.

Harvard stations represented were 96.3 CRUZ-FM of Saskatoon, GX94 and Fox-FM of Yorkton; and The Wolf 104.9 and My92.1 of Regina.

Harvard advanced their expertise of MusicMaster products, and MusicMaster gained some expertise about CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders!

MusicMaster President, Joe Knapp with Harvard/Regina GM, Jason Huschi

Tuesday, May 13 was a special day for all involved at the palatial Harvard of Edmonton Broadcast Center.

Harvard Broadcasting/Alberta Celebrates with MusicMaster

Ten MusicMaster master-minds joined Joe Knapp for personal consultation.

During the festivities, Harvard General Manager—Edmonton, Tamara Konrad, presented a homemade cake to celebrate the newly-crowned Major Market Music Director of the Year, Chris Lynch, of X92.9 in Calgary.

Programmers were in attendance from 100.7 The River in Red Deer, 100.5 CRUZ-FM and Mix 103.7 in Fort McMurray, X92.9 in Calgary, and Hot 107 and 95.7 CRUZ-FM in Edmonton.

Harvard General Manager—Edmonton, Tamara Konrad, welcomes MusicMaster President, Joe Knapp.

MusicMaster European Get Together Tour Recap

The Big Easy

MusicMaster Team Worldwide visited the joint convention of the Louisiana/Mississippi Broadcasters. The Hilton New Orleans Riverside, seated on the beautiful Mississippi River, offered the sights, sounds, smells and culture of “The Crescent City”.

MusicMaster’s Aaron Taylor, Drew Bennett, and Shane Finch joined automation partners, ENCO and Wide Orbit to show attendees the latest in music scheduling technology.

Above, Shane, Drew and Aaron steal a rare quiet moment to show appreciation to convention organizers, Polly Prince Johnson, LAB President/CEO, and Angelice Tyson, LAB Manager of Business Development.

MusicMaster Sales Coordinator, Drew Bennett, provides a personal demonstration to a Louisiana broadcaster, and future MusicMaster client. If you would enjoy seeing how MusicMaster can change the sound of your radio or television station, visit the MusicMaster website.

Shane shares a laugh with Jay Dardenne, Louisiana Lt. Governor. Dardenne made a presentation about the economic and cultural impact of Louisiana. Dardenne also delighted the crowd by sharing his Louisiana music bracket, where he determined the best song of influence was the classic “You Are My Sunshine” by former Governor Jimmy Davis.

New Service Release Coming Soon

No one will think it’s bad luck to put this 13 into place.  We’re very close to releasing 5.0sr13 and there are some features we know you’ll want to use right away.  Watch our Twitter and Facebook feeds for the official release date.

In the meantime, we’ll share the highlights with you.  The first is one we’ve had many, many requests for:  the ability to clone hours outside the Schedule Editor.  Check out the new Clone Hours option on the Schedule menu.  You’ll pick the start date/time and the date/time where you want to copy to.  It’s that easy!

Another new Schedule feature is a Fail Alert in  the Editor.  You’ll have multiple choices including a box, an audio warning and pop-up box that will appear when you click on a song that fails either a breakable or unbreakable rule.

We know there are many users who don’t normally use the Automatic Schedule, so we’ve adjusted the History Purge feature so it can be activated when you open the Schedule Calendar.  If prompted, it can be run there, updating not only the history but also advancing the last scheduled date.

Finally, we’ve also added the capability of library queries and song lists being available for a specific user as long as you are using system security.

CHUM-FM Visit

During Canadian Music Week 2014, the MusicMaster crew had the opportunity to visit Bell Media Toronto, home of CHUM-FM, Virgin, TSN Sports Radio 1050 and News Talk 1010, CFRB.  Housed in an amazing historical building at Duncan and Richmond in downtown Toronto, formerly the Tip Top Tailors warehouse built in 1914, it was a blast to spend time with their programming teams!

From left to right: David Corey, Stefanie Simrod, Malcolm Sinclair, Sue Mills, Amanda Logan, Lisa Grossi, Justin Dumont, Joe Knapp

In the Footsteps of the Beatles

Sean Ross on MusicMaster

Handicapping The Summer Song of 2014: This Ain’t the Summer of One

If you don’t like the contenders for Summer Song of 2014, just wait. They’ll change. If this column had been written in March, the leading candidate would have been Katy Perry’s “Birthday.” WWCK Flint, Mich., PD Jerry Noble led the charge, and he has a track record with these things, after early support of both “All Summer Long” and “Blurred Lines.” Now it’s looking like just another Perry hit. (Read more.)

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.

• June 17-20: BroadcastAsia2014 – Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
• August 6-7: Texas Association of Broadcasters Convention & Tradeshow – Austin, TX
• September 10-12: 2014 Radio Show – Indianapolis, IN
• September 11-16: IBC2014 – Amsterdam, Netherlands
• September 25-28: Central Canada Broadcast Engineers Conference – Barrie, Ontario
• October 15-17: Broadcast India Show 2014 – Mumbai, India
• October 21-23: Wisconsin Broadcasters Clinic – Madison, WI
• October 26-28: WABE Convention – Edmonton, Alberta

MusicMaster Pro-Team: Alan Burns

Alan Burns & Associates helps radio stations increase ratings by providing custom strategies, music plans, morning show development, marketing/promotion ideas, and the training of your staff. We consult all forms of AC and CHR: from Mainstream, Soft, Modern, Gold AC and Hot AC, to Mainstream and Rhythmic CHR.

Company principals are founder Alan Burns, and Sr. VP Jeff Johnson who has been with AB&A since 1987.

Alan Burns & Associates is a small firm that specializes in precise custom strategies and close, personal attention to our limited client list. Our task is to help each client formulate – then execute – the one strategy that will result in success. We help radio stations increase ratings by providing custom strategies, music plans, morning show development, marketing/promotion ideas, and the training of your staff. We consult all forms of AC and CHR: from Mainstream, Soft, Modern, Gold AC and Hot AC, to Mainstream and Rhythmic CHR.

Alan Burns & Associates is proud to have helped hundreds of AC and CHR stations succeed in even the toughest of market circumstances. The result of our accumulated knowledge, experience, and skills is successful clients. A few of the radio stations we have helped win include great stations like Z100 New York, WBMX Boston, and WSHH Pittsburgh.

Contact Alan Burns at 251-980-7070 or alan@burnsradio.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: Category Spins Analysis

In a perfect world, every song in a category would get the same number of spins. Of course, once you put your rules in place to achieve the sound you’re after, that becomes more difficult. It’s likely you have songs that play a little slower or faster than the average, but how do you know which? There’s a simple report you can review to give you this information and more.

Under Analysis, select Special Library Reports. When that screen opens, use the drop down to pick the Category Spins Analysis. Check off the category you wish to review. Not only will you see category information like how many days the song has been in the category and how many plays it has, but you’ll also see the Average Spins per Day and Turnover. It’s the Turnover number that tells you how often the song plays on average. This is calculated by taking the Category Days and dividing it by the Category Plays. The number is in days. On a fast-rotating category, you might see a number like .20, meaning it averages five plays per day (5 x .20 = 1.00). On slow-rotating categories, you might see a number greater than 1.00, indicating how many days before the next play.

Used in combination with the Analysis, Turnover number for Mean Turnover, you can begin to evaluate which songs are playing more or less often. It’s just another tool in your arsenal to understand how your music is rotating in MusicMaster.

Recent Feature Articles From the MusicMaster Blog

Exploring the Help menu in MusicMaster
By Aaron Taylor

In this article, we’ll cover the sections in the help menu of MusicMaster and the information and resources available in each subsection. If you’ve not done so in the past, we invite you now to take a trip with us through the MusicMaster HELP resources. (Read more.)

Computer Failure Doesn’t have to be the End Of The World
By Jesus Rodriguez

We hope you never have to experience this, but we probably all know someone who has dealt with a computer failure. This can feel like an end of the world scenario to you because of the years of work that may have been lost. Here are some lessons that can save you if this happens. (Read more.)

Welcome to MusicMaster

KUPD-FM, KUPD-HD2 – Guadalupe, AZ; WDAC-HD1, WDAC-HD2, WBYN-FM – Lancaster, PA; CHHR-FM, CKZZ-FM, CISL-AM – Richmond, BC;
107.1 FM – Miami, FL; SGS Entertainment – Woodbury, MN; Where You Are Radio Network – Barrie, ON
Family Radio: KEDR-FM – Bay City, TX; KEAF-FM – Fort Smith, AR; KTXB-FM – Beaumont, TX; KYFR-AM – Shenandoah, IA; KIFR-FM – Fort Dodge, IA; KDFR-FM – Des Moines, IA; KBFR-FM – Bismarck, ND; KKAA-AM – Aberdeen, SD; KQFR-FM – Rapid City, SD; KQKD-AM – Redfield, SD; KPOR-FM – Emporia, KS; WBFR-FM – Birmingham, AL; WJCH-FM – Joliet, IL; WMWK-FM – Milwaukee, WI; WBMD-AM – Baltimore, MD; WCTF-AM – Vernon, CT; WCUE-AM – Cuyahoga Falls, OH;
WEFR-FM – Erie, PA; WFBF-FM – Buffalo, NY; WFME-FM – Mount Kisco, NY; WFRH-FM – Kingston, NY; WFRJ-FM – Johnstown, PA; WFRS-FM – Smithtown, NY; WFSI-AM – Baltimore, MD; WKDN-AM – Philadelphia, PA; WKDN-FM – State College, PA; WOFR-FM – Schoolcraft, MI; WOTL-FM – Toledo, OH; WUFR-FM – Bedford, PA; WYTN-FM – Youngstown, OH; WFCH-FM – Charleston, SC; WFRC-FM – Columbus, GA;
WFRP-FM – Americus, GA; WJFR-FM – Jacksonville, FL; WMFL-FM – Florida City, FL; WWFR-FM – Stuart, FL; KPHF-FM – Phoenix, AZ; KFRD-FM – Butte, MT; KFRW-FM – Great Falls, MT; KFRY-FM – Pueblo, CO; KUFR-FM – Salt Lake City, UT; KXFR-FM – Socorro, NM; KARR-AM – Kirkland, WA; KJVH-FM; Longview, WA; KPFR-FM – Pine Grove, OR; KQFE-FM – Springfield, OR; KYOR-FM – Newport, OR;
KEAR-AM – San Francisco, CA; KEAR-FM – Sacramento, CA; KEBR-AM – Rocklin, CA; KECR-AM – El Cajon, CA; KEFR-FM – Le Grand, CA; KFNO-FM – Fresno, CA; KFRB-FM – Bakersfield, CA; KFRJ-FM – China Lake, CA; KFRP-FM – Coalinga, CA; KFRS-FM – Soledad, CA; KHAP-FM – Chico, CA; KPRA-FM – Ukiah, CA; KFRN-AM – Long Beach, CA