MusicMaster Blog

by Paul Ziino

When you are in the replacement window of the schedule editor you have three display options: Show all available songs, Hide Unbreakable failures, and Show only perfect songs…these are noted by the flag icons. When in “Hide Unbreakable” or “Show only perfect” mode, by default MusicMaster will display the ten most-rested songs that meet those criteria. If more than ten are available, you’ll see the “+ More” button which will give you an additional ten songs that meet the criteria each time you click “+ More”, until all songs are displayed. But did you know you can change how many songs will be displayed to start with, and how many more will be displayed with each click of “+ More”? (more…)

by Drew Bennett

Let’s say your automation system puts all of your songs in the same category and you have to add that category name to every song you enter into your database. Did you know that you can set the default value for that field so you don’t have to type in that information when you add a new song? Go to Dataset, Library, Fields. Locate the field to which you want to add the default value and click on it. In the properties column on the right, locate the Default Value field and add in the default value in the space to the right. Click OK. You’re done! You’ll never have to fill that field again. MusicMaster does it for you. Happy Scheduling!

By Drew Bennett

Category groups are exactly what they sounds like; groups of categories in your database. To make a category group, go to Dataset, Library, Categories. When the Category Editor shows, choose the Groups button on the right hand side of the screen. Choose New to create a new group and give the group a name. Hit OK. Now put a check mark next to any category you want to include in this group and then choose OK again. You’ve successfully created a category group. Now you’ll find this group at the bottom of your category list in the info bar and you can use it for other things as well. Try using groups to schedule pass orders so you don’t have to check on and off categories as you schedule multiple passes. Try using it in the Query box to search through those grouped categories only. Happy scheduling!

Here is a handy daily “report card” for your MusicMaster database.

The Recap Report is a graphic display of how the program did in relation to the rules that you have set up.

There are three types of Recap Reports you can view: Rule Stats, Goal Stats and Category Stats.

Here is a brief description of each:

Rule Stats
This display gives you detailed information on each rule that was tested.

Goal Stats
This report is activated when you use Optimum Goal Scheduling. You can sort by any of the column headers that you have.

When using Optimum Goals Scheduling, you’ll see one entry for each category where that Goal is used.

Category Stats
This graph gives you information on how far into the search depth the scheduler had to go to find the songs it scheduled

There are other options to view the Thinking file, Print the Recap Report, or Copy it to a clip board or Word document (as an example).

You can view this report immediately after a scheduling run via DATASET-SCHEDULE-RECAP REPORT. You can also make this report open each time following an Automatic Scheduling run by selecting RUN RECAP REPORT AFTER SCHEDULING on the OPTIONS tab of the Automatic Scheduler.

by Paul Ziino

Want to know who is logged into your database? Go to Tools/User List. This will indicate every open connection to the database. You may be surprised–sometimes people login and forget to logout, and this will prevent you from making a successful backup!

By Drew Bennett

Let’s say you work for a cluster of radio stations that focus on similar formats. For instance, you might have an oldies station and a classic rock station in the same building and those two stations might share a few songs or artists between them. MusicMaster offers a feature that allows you to test over multiple databases, ensuring that you don’t play the same song or even the same artists on both stations at once. Cool! Here’s how to set it up: (more…)

By Marianne Burkett

Can you program randomly – with control, using only one clock in your assignment grid? Yes! Using MusicMaster’s various clock elements – like Migrating & Proportional positions or using “Format Lists”, you can control category usage and turnovers in addition to having a clock that is not predictable! Take a look at the possibilities available to you. Search the Help section, or call your Music Scheduling Consultant for guidance.

by Drew Bennett

Did you know that MusicMaster tackles some of the most common issues and questions you might have right there in the software? What if you want to schedule an A to Z weekend or a Top 500 Countdown? How can you evaluate your own data? How do you make a Weekly Spins Report in the History Browser? These and other issues are tackled in the Help Section of the software under Contents, Tutorials. In there you can find step by step setup instructions for some of the most common questions about music scheduling.

by Paul Ziino

When you are in Library Maintenance, click the third icon from the right "Show Balloon Tips". This comes in handy when looking at coding in your library. For example, when Show Balloon Tips is activated, you are able to hover on your sound code field for a given song, and a balloon will appear that details what each code assigned to that song means. For example, instead of just seeing BP in the field, the balloon will indicate B=Ballad and P=Pop–or whatever codes are assigned. In a multi-keyword field such as Artist Keywords, instead of seeing only the primary/first keyword assigned, when hovering your mouse on the field the balloon will display all the Artist Keywords assigned to the song. For example, instead of only seeing the primary keyword of BEATLES, the balloon will contain all the keywords assigned to that song: LENNON, McCARTNEY, HARRISON, and STARR.

By Aaron Taylor

Here are a few quick tips on the Clock Format Assignment Grid.

To see which hours a particular clock is active, either click on one instance of the clock on your grid (remember the one with the YELLOW clock is the one that is currently active and MusicMaster is using to Schedule with…) OR use the drop list in the upper left hand corner to select a clock from the list. The hours that the clock you have selected are active will be highlighted in the lighter color on the grid.

To change a clock designation for a particular hour, you can simply type the clock code into the hour(s) space (if you know it) or again, select it from the drop down list.

You can copy/paste and highliight and add/change to multiple hous in the grid (a huge time saver if you are creating a pattern on alternate days, for example)…

The replace clock utility (see the magnifying glass with the two red arrows at the top) is a quick way to swap out all instances of a particular clock across the entire grid with another clock of your choice.