MusicMaster Blog

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.

by Drew Bennett

Next time you schedule, take a look at a section of the Automatic Scheduler that you may not have noticed. In the Options tab you will find Scheduling Session Style. Here, you can change how the scheduling session will be conducted. Schedule Entire Session schedules the category throughout the days selected. Schedule Each Day schedules each day and then moves to the next days selected to schedule. Schedule Each Level schedules the session based on the levels given in Schedule Properties. Schedule Each Hour schedules each individual hour in succession. Those four different methods can change the way your log looks when you schedule a day. Experiment with each of them to find your favorite way to schedule a log.

by Paul Ziino

Gold Recycling can be used to help expand the exposure of a given category. Use it on any category you wish, but for best results, consider only those with a natural turnover greater than 2 days. Gold Recycling "picks up" songs that played during one time frame and "drops them off" during another. Access it via Dataset/Schedule/Gold Recycle. You'll set it up category by category.

Here's a walkthrough video that describes how to implement Gold Recycling.

From time to time, we get calls about the fields that a client sees in their MusicMaster database. One of the great things about MusicMaster Windows is that every database can be customized when you are gettting started, and as your needs evolve. Did you know that you can rename fields to better match your descriptive needs (under DATASET-LIBRARY-FIELDS)? Your Music Scheduling Consultant can help you identify field types you can re purpose for other needs, assist you with understanding what the appropriate type of data that should be entered in each field type is, show you how to “un hide” hidden fields, even work with you to determine if fields may need to be added to your existing database. It is a straight forward process, that can be handled with an exchange of backups.

We are always happy to discuss questions or “bounce ideas back and forth” with you on how best to utilize MusicMaster Windows to its fullest extent!