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Feeling like Lewis Hamilton with Arabella 92.9 posted on December 10th, 2014

A unique music mix of “Super Oldies and Austrian Pop” – that’s Arabella 92.9 in Vienna. But not only. Arabella 92.9’s team gets also very creative when it comes to organizing events. One of their “Talk of the town” activities this year was the “Vienna Bobby-Car race”, the largest Formula “Bobby Car” race in town.

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Want to see their listeners dressed like Lewis Hamilton? Check out the party’s pictures.

During our last visit at Arabella 92.9 we’ve had the pleasure to enjoy a cup of coffee with Isabella Kettner (Assistant PD) and Ralph Waldhauser (PD).

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Thanks for joining the MusicMaster family in Austria! Keep on racing…

MusicMaster Programs Chicago’s Finest Rock – One Song At A Time posted on December 9th, 2014

Any good parent knows you’re not supposed to have a favorite child, but MusicMaster founder and CEO, Joe Knapp, does admit to having a favorite MusicMaster radio station, CBS Radio’s WXRT in Chicago.

93xrtWe spent a few days with them this month helping out with their transition to the latest version of MusicMaster RealTime for Windows. This amazing radio station has been playing “free form” rock music since the 1970’s. After all these years, the station is still hand-crafted, one song at a time, by the incredible lineup of air talent under the expert supervision of Program Director, Norm Winer. MusicMaster RealTime is a special log editor developed specifically for use in the studio for just-in-time music scheduling. The original design was created and perfected back in the mid-1980’s at KBCO in Boulder, Colorado with the help of then-PD Dennis Constantine. WXRT in Chicago was one of the very first stations to use the system, and one of very few still using it today. Of course, the system works best when you have air talent who are all perfectly in tune with the music and the audience, which is certainly true for each and every member of the WXRT air staff. The depth of their knowledge of rock music and the Chicago area would take your breath away! Along with Joe Knapp, WXRT’s MusicMaster music scheduling consultant, Drew Bennett, and MusicMaster Marketing Director, Melanie Ross, were also on hand, all bidding a fond farewell to WXRT’s Music Director and Operations Manager, John Farneda, who exits this legendary station after decades of service.

93xrt_groupMusicMaster Vice President, Scott Wirt, even drove down from Milwaukee to help out. He’s pictured here sitting in the main control room where all the magic happens!

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Newcap Genius Days – Toronto and Moncton posted on December 8th, 2014

torontologosThe MusicMaster Genius Sessions were on tour in Eastern Canada with Newcap. First stop was in Toronto at the Boom and Flow studios! Joining Malcolm Sinclair was Steve Jones VP of Programming, Rick Tompkins from Sudbury, Amy Ballard and Dan Youngs from Ottawa, Adam Spencer was in town from Fredericton (we’re still wondering how he scored Leaf tickets), Troy McCallum and Wayne Webster of Boom, and Paul Parhar and Cory Balash of Flow! Super day, amazing food and great people!

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From Toronto it was off to beautiful Moncton for another great day with Joey Arsenault from Fredericton, Kayleigh Butt from St. John’s, Corey Tremere from Charlottetown, Rod Martens from Saint John, Mel Sampson and Paddy Quinn from Miramichi, Anna Zee and Trevor Wallworth of Halifax, and our hosts Adam McLaren and Scotty Mars from Moncton. It was Malcolm’s first time getting Papa John’s pizza because they don’t have one where he lives!

Thanks again to all the amazing folks from Newcap having us visit their stations!

Newcap Genius Days – Edmonton and Vancouver posted on December 7th, 2014

Our MusicMaster team made stops in Canada during the week of November 17th. President / CEO Joe Knapp and Music Scheduling Consultant Jerry Butler visited with Newcap Radio teams in Vancouver and Edmonton for Genius Day Seminars. Staff from numerous Newcap markets were in attendance at both events. President / CEO Joe Knapp worked through various areas of the program answering questions and analyzing individual databases and questions specific to the programming team’s needs.

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Edmonton – Back Row: Jeff Murray, Mark Cappis, Heather Klages, Travis Currah, Kurt Price, Brent Shelton, Johnathan Best, Todd James, Joe Knapp, Stuart McIntosh, John Roberts, Lucas Banack; Front Row: Jordan Rae, Al Thompson, Kathryn Chase, Abbey White, Jackie Rae Greening, Marisa Jodoin, and Stephen Keppler

newcap_6Vancouver – Steve Cassidy, Paul Sereda, Dwayne Bishop, Sandra Klaric, Kat Carter, Paul Kaye, Joe Knapp, Roo Phelps, Rickie Tyler, Casey Clarke, and David Larse

Classic Hip-Hop, Urban AC, and Jack FM posted on December 1st, 2014

By Sean Ross

A lot has happened since I last wrote about the rise of the classic Hip-Hop format, which, if you’re counting, was 19 days ago.

iHeart Media’s WSOL (V101.5) Jacksonville, Fla., segued from its longtime urban AC position to “Throwback hip-hop & R&B,” although it kept the syndicated Steve Harvey Morning Show.

Sister KATZ-FM St. Louis retired a 35-year-old urban AC brand, Majic, to switch to a similar format.

Dallas got the format’s first head-to-head war, sort of, between Cumulus and Radio One. The “sort of” is because Cumulus hasn’t declared a format change. It’s positioning the change at KLIF-FM (Hot 93.3) as a “hip-hop holiday.”

Atlanta got three different classic hip-hop stations, all of them on lower-powered FM translators, courtesy of Cumulus, Radio One, and veteran PD/owner Steve Hegwood. This time, Cumulus did declare a format change.

Cox’s long-running urban AC WCFB (Star 94.5) Orlando is now “celebrating the holidays with throwback hip-hop and R&B.” Star didn’t officially declare a change until Monday, but RadioInsight.com reports that the station has dropped syndicated host Tom Joyner.

Classic hip-hop is now displaying all the hallmarks of a format boom, at least in terms of industry reaction. Several markets end up with more than one. Multiple stations flip within hours of each other, trying to claim the space. Somebody walks away from a more-than-viable franchise to get there before anybody else can. While several of the stations that changed were the second urban ACs in their market, Orlando’s Star was format-exclusive.

If you’re willing to start the clock with WBQT (Hot 96.9) Boston, the “Rhythmic Hot AC” that was built on classic hip-hop, but also plays recurrents and some rhythmic pop, the format boom began 18 months ago. So classic hip-hop has reached the format boom stage at least as quickly as the “adult hits” format that galvanized the industry a decade ago. The original Bob-FM was about 18 months old in Canada when stations began walking away from viable formats on its behalf. The U.S. format frenzy took place about three years in, when oldies WCBS-FM New York became “Jack FM” for two years before returning to the now-renamed “greatest hits” format.

The adult-hits land rush also offers some likely answers to questions about the wisdom of the classic hip-hop version. Is it a viable long-term format? You stopped reading about the adult-hits boom many years ago, but it remains a significant format, especially in the markets where it most made sense in the first place – Cleveland, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, etc. Should somebody blow up a viable station to go there? Not always, especially if you’re iconic of something else, as WCBS-FM was.

New York’s Jack-FM had a particularly awkward transition, alienating those CBS-FM listeners who might actually have enjoyed the new format. By contrast, Star 94.5 is currently doing a very adult-friendly version of the format, with R&B songs that could also play on urban AC these days, and a very mainstream distillation of old-school hip-hop. V101.5 also has some precedent on its side. More than a decade ago, it declared itself “Urban Hot AC,” with fewer ballads and more Gap Band oldies.

Urban AC PDs have wanted to figure out their next move beyond that for years now. The format’s initial attempts to play rap were disastrous – even the generation that grew up with hip-hop seemed to have a different expectation and usage for existing urban AC stations. Gradually, a handful of titles – most of them from the genre’s first decade – began to play on urban AC without incident. But starting fresh is a much more attractive idea to some PDs than figuring out how to segue from Maxwell to 50 Cent, which some urban ACs have tried.

WCFB’s transition, should it be permanent, is likely to raise questions for some about the future viability of traditional urban AC. WCBS-FM may be the guide here, too. It came back two years later and leads the market today. A decade later, the “greatest hits” format has had a great second life in PPM and moved into the ‘80s (and even early ‘90s), regardless of the success of adult hits. In Cleveland, greatest-hits and adult-hits stations rule the market side by side.

The question is what urban AC becomes if there’s another adult format perched below it. Is there still a need to make the existing urban AC format younger and hotter? Or should it now double-down on its original franchise? I’m confident that somebody who grew up with Earth, Wind & Fire, Michael Jackson, Maze, and the Gap Band has not woken up and decided they never liked them. Those listeners grew up glued to radio, and remain its most reliable source of time spent listening today. They don’t mind a little hip-hop, but they’re not looking for a steady diet of Jay Z and SWV.

The happiest possible outcome would be if urban radio emerged with three viable tentpole formats, each spaced 15-20 years apart from each other. When PPM measurement arrived, both mainstream urban and urban AC were often crowded, with some major markets having two of each. Whatever issues PPM may have had in capturing urban radio listening, it has never been kind to any overcrowded format. Three urban formats, each with satisfied P1s who aren’t punching between two identical stations, might have a chance.

As for the long-term prospects of classic hip-hop, I can only say that 19 days later, the listener excitement about hearing these songs on the radio again is even greater. And by week’s end, the classic hip-hop boom is likely to get another boost when comedian Chris Rock’s Top 5 is released. The trailer uses recent hits, but the title stems from a discussion of the top five rappers of all-time. The movie is still five days away from release, but if loving classic hip-hop (and not the newer stuff) is portrayed as a sign of adult malaise, as the premise and the pre-release publicity suggests, oldies and classic rock only thrived after being portrayed that way in The Big Chill. Somebody will get in the car and drive home wanting to hear Eric B & Rakim.

A Happy MusicMaster Station for 20 Years posted on November 25th, 2014

Nicola Albertoni, head of music at Rete3, started as the station’s editor when they still were using the MusicMaster DOS version. He grew up scheduling music with MusicMaster and after all these years he’s still euphoric when it comes to new MusicMaster versions and new features.

nicolaalbertoniThis picture was taken after we discussed the new Optimum Scheduling Goals and the many other great features that are part of MusicMaster V5. As you can see he is a happy camper and so are we. Great station, great people, fun to work with and good friends. What more can you ask for?

Seattle Market Spotlight posted on November 24th, 2014

We are very excited to welcome Entercom/Seattle to the MusicMaster family this month! As this is his “home” market, Aaron Taylor had the opportunity to spend time on site with the programming staff to devise plans for their MMWIN and Wide Orbit integration. Entercom stations in the Seattle market include legendary rocker KISW-FM (with over 40 years in the format) nationally recognized alternative KNDD-FM, country KKWF-FM “The Wolf”, “playing the best of today’s rhythm and old school throwbacks” KHTP-FM “Hot 103.7, and AAA KHTP-HD2 “The Mountain”.

entercom1In the photo left to right, Tony (Co-Host “Fitz In The Morning” KKWF – The Wolf), Tanch (Afternoons, APD/MD KHTP – HOT 103.7), Thee Ted Smith (Afternoon Co-Host of “The Men’s Room” KISW), Garrett Michaels (PD KNDD – 107.7 The End), and Aaron Taylor!

Aaron also stopped by KMPS-FM CBS/Seattle to catch up and visit with longtime MusicMaster client and friend, Program Director Ed Hill. Ed has been using MusicMaster since the 80’s, when it was called MusicScan. KMPS will celebrate 40 years in the country format in Seattle in 2015. The station was also Aaron’s on air home from 1995-2007. Thanks, Ed for being a valued A-Ware client for so many years! Pictured left to right, mid-dayer Cornbread, Aaron Taylor and Program Director Ed Hill.

entercom2Classical KING-FM/Seattle has been in the classical format since 1948, and is noted as being one of the first stations in world to stream their format on the internet. KING-FM uses MusicMaster Enterprise as their master database, which is linked to six scheduling databases for their terrestrial and streaming programming.

From left to right, Bryan Lowe, KING-FM Program Director, Geoffrey Larson, Assistant Music Director Aaron Stoess, Music Director, Aaron Taylor and Maggie Stapleton, Assistant Program Director.

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Critical Listening : Dynamic Flow posted on November 24th, 2014

By Marianne Burkett

I just experienced the pleasure of helping a client go through a process of format concept to completion. The new format sounds terrific and better than he expected. Good sounding radio doesn’t just happen. All the great music in the world, played back to back – won’t sound right if it’s not scheduled correctly.   While discussing the importance of what I term as “Dynamic Flow”, my client visualized it like this: ”Kind of like how awesome and comfortable it is to sit at the seashore and listen to the ocean waves.”…   I indicated, yes…that’s it! I want dynamic texture everywhere in my music log. This is where the rubber meets the road. Here is the main reasoning behind my philosophy: Dynamics in music is critical to a songs success or failure. It’s a very rare instance that you’ll hear a song doesn’t have some kind of dynamic change near the bridge.   If songs sounded the same at the beginning, middle and the end – they’d be downright boring.

So if songs require dynamics to be successful, wouldn’t you think dynamic flow would benefit your format? If you’re listening to your station and it wears you out… you might have a dynamics issue. If you’re listening to your station and you get bored, you might have a dynamics issue.  If you’re listening and it is enjoyable, interesting and ebbs and flows like the tide, you are likely paying attention to dynamics.

Dynamic flow check list:

  1. Ensure you correctly code your music library with power (intensity), tempo, mood, sound coding and gender. I’ve mentioned this in a previous blog “a song without a code is a like a free radical” …it can’t be controlled. So get some control! If you have “average sounding songs” code them with an Average sound code and throw some spice in-between when you can.
  2. Use the analysis tools and rules in MusicMaster to decipher and separate the codes and distribute them evenly. Get out your paintbrush and create a beautiful sound using the correct rules. Run the automatic scheduler and watch MusicMaster create beautiful music.
  3. This may be old school philosophy, but in every quarter hour, you should be able to deliver the different “flavors” of your music library.   Typical drive times around the country vary…ranging anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. Give your listeners a reason to return when they get back in the car or get back to their desk. Unless you’re doing rock blocks or something similar – give the folks the best tasting smorgasbord of music you can cook up.

That’s all for now!

If you have any questions or would like to discuss my philosophy – reach out to me or, get in touch with your Music Scheduling Consultant… we’re always here to help.

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MusicMaster in Spain posted on November 17th, 2014

The most recent MusicMaster training in Spain took place in Barcelona and Madrid. This is the crew of Catalunya Mùsica (below), the classical music station of public broadcaster Catalunya Ràdio in Barcelona. Their daily work focuses on programming mainly Romantic and Classical pieces mixed up with some Contemporary and Baroque.

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Catalunya Mùsica is one of our state of the art projects when it comes to handling big classical music data. The stations catalogue of 80,000 + pieces of music (!) plus tons of meta-data is managed in a MusicMaster Enterprise environment with individual databases for FM, Live-Concerts-only and a Web stream. It’s always very exciting to meet them once in a while trying to make their new ideas work in MusicMaster. What a fantastic crew and great station!

In Madrid we met our long time friends from KISS. The KISS group operates three very successfully networks, KISS FM, HIT FM and KISS TV. This picture (below) was taken during the three day follow-up-training in the station’s tropical garden. From the left: Iván Tenorio (Hit FM), Iván Guillén (Kiss FM), ON AIR’s Thomas Roth, Ana de la Morena (KISS TV) & Ramón Tapias (Head of Programs).

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