MusicMaster is growing again with the addition of Melanie Ross as Director of Marketing. Her experience in retail sales management and brand support are a welcome addition to our team. You may soon hear from her as she intends to make contact with every MusicMaster user to make sure they are completely satisfied with our products and services. Please join us as we welcome her to the MusicMaster family.
By Drew Bennett
Did you know you can streamline a lot of your workflow between MusicMaster and your automation system? Haven’t you always dreamed of the automation system and the scheduling database talking to one another? How about adding and dropping songs in real time or adding the song to your music scheduler the instant you record it into your automation system? These things can happen for you today and you may have everything you need right now. All you need is a MusicMaster license, a ‘Nexus-Ready’ automation system (Wide Orbit, Enco, Media Touch, etc.), the Nexus Server and your MusicMaster database. Today, we’ll cover some of the great new features you can take advantage of with Nexus and your automation system. (more…)
By Aaron Taylor
We often will get calls or emails in our support department from a user who indicates they’ve attempted to schedule a day part, full day or longer time period and nothing ended up scheduling. Here are the most common culprits, and areas to review in your databases that usually will point to this occurrence. (more…)
WZTI-AM – Milwaukee, WI; Krush Talents; Antenne Vorarlberg – Bregenz, Austria; JACK FM – Berlin, Germany; Drechtstad FM 95.7 – Dordrecht, Netherlands; Omroep Zeeland – Oost Souburg, Netherlands
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.
Las Vegas was the host of another great convention and MusicMaster 5 fans came out strong. Thank you for all of the great and overwhelming responses. We hope to find even more people enjoying the latest version after so many stopped by our booth wanting to upgrade or become a MusicMaster.
We also look forward to this great event every year because of all the great people we get to meet for the first time, being able to see so many old acquaintances, clients, and our very own European MusicMaster team. The location isn’t too bad of an incentive to participate either. It’s Vegas, Baby!!! The events surrounding the convention were amazing this year from the Tim McGraw and Friends taping at the MGM to the NAB after parties.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas isn’t necessarily true this year because optimism is what was heard from many exhibitors compared to the last few years. Many taking with them plenty of positive leads which are definitely a good sign for our industry, its economic recovery, as well as that of our great nation which allows us to participate freely as creative individuals and voices of opinions in the great industry we call broadcasting.
Above, from left to right: Kevin Hopkins (On Air Digital Project Manager), Joe Knapp (President and CEO), Max Mueller (On Air Digital Head of Administration & Finance) and Jesus Rodriguez (Music Scheduling Consultant)
Jacobs Media is the nation’s leading rock consultancy firm. Fred Jacobs created the Classic Rock radio format in 1983. Since then, Jacobs Media has expanded its services to include Rock, Alternative (“The Edge”), and Public Radio.
With a commitment to innovation and customized strategies, the Jacobs Media team of consultants keeps clients aware of new trends, using nationwide online polls, focus groups, and ethnography, going beyond the numbers and observing real people in real life situations. Station services include strategic development, cluster strategy, music management and architecture, production and positioning, personality coaching, and promotional, contesting, and tactical concepts and execution. Jacobs Media’s SmartSuite analytics package helps programmers better understand their stations’ music design and on-air presentation, as well as tracking the competition.
You can contact Keith at 310-452-7126 or keith@jacobsmedia.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: Drag a Query into the EditorDid you know you can drag any query you’ve created into the Editor to fill or change a position? Queries show up on the Query tab of the InfoBar under the music note tab. Left-click and drag the query into the Editor. A single red line means the query will insert a song; a double red line means you’ll overwrite the position. Once you let go of the mouse click, the query will process. If you happen to use a Prompted Query, check out the bigger dialog box that now includes edit helper buttons for Keyword, Attribute and Date type fields.
MusicMaster Enterprise and Changes in 5.0
By Drew Bennett
What is Enterprise? Enterprise is the name for the MusicMaster system that allows you to manage one library of music, but schedule that music in several other scheduling databases. Think of Enterprise as your music library and your scheduling databases can import that music based on parameters you choose and then schedule it. A great example of using Enterprise might be that of a large music network that curates all its music in one MusicMaster Enterprise database and then assigns music based on format to its satellite scheduling databases. Those scheduling databases export logs to the music network’s vast selection of channels or stations. (Read more.)
Looking for Unscheduled Positions and the Manual-Assist Scheduler
by Paul Ziino
After you’ve run the Automatic Scheduler, many programmers will look for the unscheduled positions in their log—positions the Auto-Scheduler was unable to fill due to unbreakable rule violations, lack of options, or manual clock positions. There are several ways to do this. (Read more.)
Allan Gidyk
Operations Manager
Classic Hits, Coast 101.1
St. John’s, NL Canada
“I’ll be first to admit I was kicking and screaming to avoid moving to Windows-based music systems in the early millennium. A speed demon MD in DOS with six logs for two stations to do in advance of a long weekend had no time for click, close, click again. MusicMaster for Windows was my first Windows based system and I love the combination of mouse activity and keyboard shortcuts. All the repetitive functions of editing are available with keystrokes as well as mouse clicks. Using both makes it easy to get into a rhythm checking your logs.
“Favorite features include the Artist Separation wizard. Having the wizard to help set a customized artist sep on all artists is great at keeping the artists with fewer tracks separated. I was happy to see MusicMaster 5 offer the ability to run a projected turnover and schedule density on an attribute like a Sound Code. Very useful in a variety based format. Adding ‘Category Plays’ to the Auto-Platoon function instead of only ‘Move Date’ is another useful MusicMaster 5 addition for me.
“I’m very happy with MusicMaster and the support team. The transition was smooth, complete with custom written files for song imports with what I wanted. An excellent program backed by a great team.”
We have three new videos playing on our homepage now available for viewing: an interview with A-Ware’s Joe Knapp and On Air’s Rainer Eichhorn, a talk with the folks at Power 106 about why they love MusicMaster, and a look at how MediaTouch RealTime Interface works with MusicMaster.
by Paul Ziino
After you’ve run the Automatic Scheduler, many programmers will look for the unscheduled positions in their log—positions the Auto-Scheduler was unable to fill due to unbreakable rule violations, lack of options, or manual clock positions. There are several ways to do this. (more…)
By Drew Bennett
What is Enterprise?
Enterprise is the name for the MusicMaster system that allows you to manage one library of music, but schedule that music in several other scheduling databases. Think of Enterprise as your music library and your scheduling databases can import that music based on parameters you choose and then schedule it. A great example of using Enterprise might be that of a large music network that curates all its music in one MusicMaster Enterprise database and then assigns music based on format to its satellite scheduling databases. Those scheduling databases export logs to the music network’s vast selection of channels or stations. (more…)
Check out this short video of what users in California have to say about MusicMaster, why they love the tool, and what their favorite features are.
1380 KSRV The Bull – Ontario, Oregon; Deutsches Musik Fernsehen – Berlin, Germany; Maria Curie-Sklodowska University – Lublin, Poland; Radio Mango – Kochi, India
The MusicMaster Genius Day 2013 in Berlin, Germany, was a big success. 35 MusicMaster users from different countries came to get new ideas about MusicMaster and had the chance to talk to Scott and Joe from A-Ware as well as Kevin and Justus from ON AIR DIGITAL.
It was great having everybody there in Berlin and having a great party after all the learning and knowledge was exchanged. We know we have the best customers in the world and we are all looking forward to having the next MusicMaster Genius Day very soon.
The 25th Anniversary party was held in March in Berlin, Germany, celebrating the success of On Air and MusicMaster.
Left: Fun at the roulette table.
Right: From left to right, Thomas Roth (ON AIR), Scott Wirt (A-Ware), Joe Knapp (A-Ware), and Rainer Eichhorn (ON AIR).
Mauro Rafarelli, Head of Music of RSI , Rete 2 from Lugano, Switzerland, received the first MusicMaster Lifetime award. He was the first user in Europe to schedule classical music with MusicMaster and opened the door for us in the classical format. We are happy and proud that he has been with us for so long and will continue to support MusicMaster in the future. Thank you again, Mauro!
Right: Mauro Rafarelli (right) accepts his award from A-Ware’s Joe Knapp.
Our Training Library contains short-form walkthroughs and long-form webinars on all aspects of the program. The walkthroughs are all designed to be very short so you can get the information you need quickly. Most are only a couple of minutes long. The webinars are more in-depth looks at various topics. We’ve added a new webinar that explains the various Hour Rotation rules available in the software. In less than 15 minutes you’ll have an overview of the rules and have a better understanding of how each works. Join Paul Ziino for a tour of all the rules and settings so you can take advantage of your music library.
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.
Jacobs Media is the nation’s leading rock consultancy firm. Fred Jacobs created the Classic Rock radio format in 1983. Since then, Jacobs Media has expanded its services to include Rock, Alternative (“The Edge”), and Public Radio.
With a commitment to innovation and customized strategies, the Jacobs Media team of consultants keeps clients aware of new trends, using nationwide online polls, focus groups, and ethnography, going beyond the numbers and observing real people in real life situations. Station services include strategic development; cluster strategy; music management and architecture; production and positioning; personality coaching; promotional, contesting and tactical concepts; and, execution. Jacobs Media’s SmartSuite analytics package helps programmers better understand their stations’ music design and on-air presentation, as well as tracking the competition.
Contact Ralph Cipolla at 248.353.9030 or ralph@jacobsmedia.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: Update Your Min Rest Rules QuicklyWhile your current and recurrent categories may stay the same size, other categories probably fluctuate. That can cause problems with many rules, including Minimum Rest. A setting that is too high will prevent songs from playing; too low and the songs come up too quickly. In the Rule Tree, use the Rule Wizard (magician’s wand) to calculate what the suggested Minimum Rest setting should be. You’ll then be able to implement any of the suggested settings.
MusicMaster “Go To” Guide
By Aaron Taylor
For this article, I thought I’d try to create a reference guide to some other common questions that seem to come up for us on an ongoing basis here at MusicMaster. My hope is that you’ll be able to utilize this as a “Go to Guide” the next time you have one of those “I know you showed me this once” types of questions. (Read more.)
Basic Rotation Rules
By Marianne Burkett
Of all the calls that come my way on a weekly basis, one of the top 5 is “Rotations” and how to improve them. Rotations are a sensitive subject. Program Directors worry about them constantly. Even the slightest changes in your library or clocks can throw your rotations off… so you need to install the correct rules to stop that from happening. (Read more.)
Brad Savage
Brand Manager
Saga
Charlottesville, Virginia
“I’m Brad Savage, Brand Manager for WCNR/Charlottesville, VA (AAA format). I like features like ‘swap’ (F5) to juggle songs within an hour, and also I like the ‘artist history’ dropdown option to study song history not just by title but by artist as well.
“One feature I use a lot is ‘highlighting’ songs (F7) so I can clearly see what I consider to be ‘exclusive’ or ‘lesser familiar’ songs to our format. If I see too many highlighted songs in an hour or clumped together, I can rethink that music sweep… to maximize music discovery and our format’s exclusive songs/artists but still remain cume-friendly!”
The 25th Anniversary party was held in March in Berlin, Germany, celebrating the success of On Air and MusicMaster.
Left: Fun at the roulette table.
Right: From left to right, Thomas Roth (ON AIR), Scott Wirt (A-Ware), Joe Knapp (A-Ware), and Rainer Eichhorn (ON AIR).
