MusicMaster Blog

Welcome to MusicMaster

• WNED-FM – Buffalo, NY
• WHPZ-FM WHPD-FM WHME-FM – South Bend, IN
• Domradio – Cologne, Germany

Congratulations, Kiss FM Select!

As the first station in Germany, Kiss FM Select started their interactive Facebook radio format using MusicMaster and the interactive add-on mLive. In combination with the play out system from Zenon Media, KISS FM Select listeners are now able to vote for their favorite songs, offered to them through the MusicMaster Scheduling software that gives the station full control over their format and the listeners all the fun of interacting with their station.

Check it out at facebook.com/988kissfm, and please contact us if you want to know more about MusicMaster and mLive!

4.0sr25 is Available

For users of 4.0, the latest service release is now available.  Select Help, Check for Update to get 4.0sr25.

NAB Show 2012

We have a long tradition of showing off our latest products at the NAB Show. Here’s Joe Knapp, A-Ware’s President and CEO, along with Rainer Eichhorn, On Air’s General Manager, showing off Air Play and an early version of MusicMaster in the late 90s. This year the tradition continues as our North American and International teams will be in Las Vegas again for the NAB Show, April 14-18, to show off the all new MusicMaster Version 5.

If you would like to schedule a specific time for a personal tour, we would be happy to arrange it. Contact Mark Bolke with your day and time preference. You’ll find us in the Central Hall, Booth #1131, near the west-side entrance.

Industry Event Calendar

If you are planning to attend any of these upcoming events let us know. We would love the opportunity to say hello, share a cup of coffee, or help with any questions you may be having.

• April 14-19: NAB Show – Las Vegas, NV
• April 27-28: World Radio Summit – Los Angeles, CA
• July 17-20: The Conclave Learning Conference – Minneapolis, MN

MusicMaster Pro-Team: Jeff Johnson

Jeff Johnson is the Senior Vice President of Alan Burns & Associates, and has been with the company 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 Jeff Johnson at (410) 647-6666 or jeff@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 Mark Bolke Vice President/COO at (651) 405-9119 or Mark@MusicMaster.com.

See the complete MusicMaster Pro-Team Roster.

Quick Tip: History Browser on Coding Fields

You’ve likely opened the History Browser and done a report to see who your most played artist or title was over a given period of time.  Have you considered doing the same thing for your coding fields, like gender or tempo?  When you open the History Browser, set the Display Mode to one of your coding fields.  Once displayed, configure the bottom graph to show Air Time or Spins Density.  You’ll now see how much of the time frame is taken up by the each code.  This is a great way to make sure you are maintaining your overall programming goals.

Recent Feature Articles From the MusicMaster Blog

MusicMaster 5.0 Feature Spotlight – Category QuickMove
By Aaron Taylor

Here is a very exciting new option available to you in the latest version of MusicMaster, we call it Category QuickMove.  In a nutshell, it allows you to quickly make category changes of elements in a faster, much simpler drag and drop fashion than in previous versions of MusicMaster Windows. Instead of calling up a large list of the categories you need to work with by a query or perhaps a category group, you can now just simply go to DATASET-LIBRARY-QUICKMOVE to make those weekly category moves and changes. (Read more.)

Drawing a Blank with BMI/ASCAP Reports
By Drew Bennett

One of the most common issues we hear about are clients who have been tasked with generating a BMI or ASCAP report and they can’t seem to find data in the log they generate. When running any Special History Report in MusicMaster, it’s important to check every setting before generating the log. It can save you heartache and time with BMI or ASCAP. (Read more.)

Music Master of the Month

Mike O’Reilly
Program Director
KFMB San Diego

Some of the things Mike likes best about MusicMaster: “Being able to copy and paste in & out of Excel is huge!  I’ve been working with Drew Bennett on developing customized import / Library Sync definition files for Jack FM and it’s saved me a ton of time pulling in outside data from BDS.  Also being able to set up rule groups separately for the editor and scheduler allow me to consistently deliver Jack’s signature sound in San Diego.  Auto-Platooning is my next feature to lock down.”

MusicMaster 5.0

With all due respect to Paul Desmond, we want you to Take Five—MusicMaster 5.0 that is.  Take 5.0 to new places with new features including:

• Scheduling Goals that concentrate on rotations
• Category QuickMove to quickly move songs from one category to another
• An InfoBar that displays more critical information on your categories and displays your lognotes
• Look for the additional information on your Schedule Calendar display including what’s been exported, reconciled and any day-specific notes
• Enhanced short-cuts swapping and replacing songs in the Schedule Editor
• More choices on the Editor Results Panel, like Song Segue where you’ll confirm the last time the two songs played next to each other
• Combined history graphs for your keywords
• A Turnover graph that allows you to select only certain hours, perfect for analyzing special shows or eliminating network plays

It would take us a bit longer than five to tell you about all the new enhancements, so check out the What’s New in 5.0 bulletin in our support center or contact your Music Scheduling Consultant for more information about the ways we’ve made MusicMaster even better.

Welcome to MusicMaster

Radio Eins – Potsdam, Germany
Radio Fritz – Potsdam, Germany
Antenne Brandenburg – Potsdam, Germany
Liferadio Tirol – Innsbruck, Austria
Media-plan – Zagreb, Croatia
DRadio Wissen – Cologne, Germany
Antenne Thüringen – Weimar, Germany
Top40 – Weimar, Germany
WWAV-FM, WMXZ-FM, WFFY-FM, WHWY-FM – Destin, FL
The Mormon Channel – Salt Lake City, UT
musicfm – Budapest, Hungary
Domradio – Cologne, Germany
RTL 102.5 – Cologno Monzese, Italy
Radio Narodni – Zagreb, Croatia
Fireplay – Zagreb, Croatia

Radiodays Europe

On Air’s Rainer Eichhorn and Thomas Roth will be showing the brand new MusicMaster Version 5 at Radiodays Europe, March 15-16, in Barcelona, Spain. The show is sold out, but if you already have tickets, please stop by at our booth (#9) in the CCCB exhibition area or get in touch with Rainer or Thomas if you want to fix an appointment right away.

Radiodays Europe is the meeting point for all radio in Europe, bringing together European private and public radios. Over 750 participants from over 45 countries will attend this year’s conference in Barcelona.

Industry Event Calendar

If you are planning to attend any of these upcoming events let us know. We would love the opportunity to say hello, share a cup of coffee, or help with any questions you may be having.

• March 9-16: SXSW – Austin, TX
• March 15-16: Radiodays Europe – Barcelona, Spain
• March 21-22: Hispanic Radio Conference – San Diego, CA
• March 21-25: Canadian Music Week – Toronto, ON
• April 14-19: NAB Show – Las Vegas, NV
• April 27-28: World Radio Summit – Los Angeles, CA
• July 17-20: The Conclave Learning Conference –  Minneapolis, MN

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 Mark Bolke Vice President/COO at (651) 405-9119 or Mark@MusicMaster.com.

See the complete MusicMaster Pro-Team Roster.

Quick Tip: New InfoBar Options

With 5.0, you can now display more information on your categories.  Go to Tools, Options, Library Editor Options and configure the Infobar Options to show song count, slot count or the average runtime of the category.  Once enabled, you’ll see this information after the name of your category.  The example here shows the number of songs in each category.

Recent Feature Articles From the MusicMaster Blog

Random Clock Elements
by Paul Ziino

MusicMaster can randomly choose from a list of categories in a clock position when a Random element is set up. (Read more.)

Customizing MusicMaster
by Marianne Burkett

When you start using MusicMaster after having worked with other scheduling software, you may or may not be aware of all the choices you have about colors, layout, font sizes and embedding your logo into the software.  Yes, all things are possible and it’s very fun to play at setting it up. (Read more.)

Music Master of the Month

George Bougioukhliampos
Presentation Scheduler
MTV Greece

As a presentation scheduler I found MusicMaster to be an amazing tool in my hands. I used to work with another software before, and the truth is that this one is better by all comparisons!

We’re talking about a very smart software that with the proper preparation can run on autopilot, and that is very important for any presentation scheduler because it gives them more time to imagine the flow and be more creative.

One more thing I truly like about MusicMaster is the ability to create your own layout depending on your needs and what’s convenient for you.

I hope to have the opportunity in the future to meet a lot of people who work with MusicMaster who can improve our ideas and offer tips on how to make my use of the software more perfect!