We are very proud to introduce the three newest members of our growing MusicMaster family. Recently, Amanda Bender joined our accounting and administrative department as Assistant to the Controller. In our Support department, Jill Roen has joined us as a MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant. And in Europe, our international distributor ON AIR has welcomed Sven Zimmerman as a Product Specialist. Get to know each of them below!

Jill Roen
MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant

Jill Roen began her career working in talk radio as a producer and sidekick. She made the move to music radio where, she said, "I was incredibly lucky to spend many years at a single great radio station, KS95/KSTP-FM in Minneapolis. I learned from some of the best and brightest people in the business. I wore many different hats over the years, covering copywriting, production, producing, on-air, marketing, Assistant Program Director, and my favorite role...Music Director."

Now at MusicMaster, Jill shared, "I am excited to help clients get the most out of MusicMaster and make their music logs sing! I am passionate about the art of putting together great music logs so I feel like this job is a perfect fit for me!" MusicMaster CEO Laurie Knapp commented, "As our support team was expanding, Jill fit right in! She not only knows how to create winning programming with MusicMaster, but she also knows how to provide outstanding customer service and show others the way."

Naturally, Jill has always been a fan of MusicMaster - even having used it back in the DOS days. "MusicMaster can do just about anything you can dream of. It’s also incredibly customizable. All kinds of programmers have all kinds of different ideas about how they want to use the program. I’m excited to turn my enthusiasm for MusicMaster from the customer viewpoint, to the employee viewpoint!"

When asked what advice she has for radio stations and programmers today, Jill shared, "Radio today has more challenges than ever, but it is still a great industry. My advice is to have a clear picture and vision of what you want your radio station to be. Put everything you do through that filter and make sure it all fits that vision. Then put your blinders on and go! And no matter what challenges you face, remember why you got into this great business. Find the joy and have fun!"

When not at work, Jill said she enjoys "running (slowly, but smiling), hiking, singing in community choirs, reading, bowling (yes, I own my own ball and shoes), watching hours of HGTV to get ideas for home improvement projects and hanging out with friends. I like to try things that scare me just a little, like jumping off the top of the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas and running a half-marathon. Running a full marathon is still on my to do list. Stay tuned to see if I get it done!"

Amanda Bender
Assistant to the Controller

Amanda Bender's official role is Assistant to Controller, helping to support many of our accounting and administrative needs. Amanda said, "My goal at MusicMaster is utilize my skills and work with colleagues to streamline processes and procedures as well as assist where needed."

Prior to joining MusicMaster, Amanda spent the last 15 years working in the Convention Industry. She started in a Call Center and worked her way to Housing Executive, where she handled large, key accounts for her company. "In this role, I wore many hats including Hotel Management, Registration, Onsite presence, Contracts, Accounting, and special requests such as suites and meeting space."

Joining MusicMaster was a perfect pivot for Amanda. She shared, "I have always loved music and the background stories and behind the scenes that go with a song or album. Listening to live music is one of my favorite pastimes. When a position came available at MusicMaster that would allow me to have a work life balance along with access to music, I knew this was right for me."

Of her passion for live music, Amanda added, "When I see a concert, I always make sure I have amazing seats on the floor. My favorite artist is George Strait. I have seen him several times in concert, however, the most memorable was in Las Vegas. Not only, did we sit front row, we had a meet and greet! To date, I still can’t believe one of my dreams came true. Now, if I could only meet Eric Church!"

When asked what she likes most about working at MusicMaster, Amanda replied, "Amazing culture, within and outside of the company! A key factor that lead me to MusicMaster was the family atmosphere. You are not just a number like a corporation but work for a company that genuinely cares for their employees. When speaking with MusicMaster customers, I find them enthusiastic about the MusicMaster product and how it makes their life so much better. I’m honored to work for a company that has such happy customers and employees."

MusicMaster Controller Liz Standerfer commented: "Amanda has been a great addition, and asset, to the MusicMaster team. Her ability to assist staff in multiple departments with complicated projects, and her attention to detail, is a testament as to why she was recruited. I look forward to working with Amanda for a very long time."

In addition to listening to music, Amanda shared she enjoys spending her free time with family and friends. "We have a 3-year-old lab mix, Millie, that brings us much joy. My husband and I love traveling (pre-Covid, of course) and trying different kinds of foods. I love the outdoors, especially the pool during the summer."

Sven Zimmerman
Product Specialist - ON AIR

Born and raised in the south of Germany, Sven Zimmerman is the newest addition for MusicMaster's international distributor, ON AIR. His new role is taking care of customer relations as a MusicMaster Product Specialist. For over a decade previously, Sven worked as a music and program strategiest, both for FM stations as well as IP-based businesses like web channels and in-store radio platforms. Sven said, "My passion for radio started more than 30 years ago. At the beginning, more in using a microphone, in the meantime, behind the scenes."

Sven's vision for his new role is "being a sparring partner for passionate MusicMaster lovers from all over the world. MusicMaster is a kind of “magic box” with thousands of tricks that help everybody to find a personal “magic scheduling moment” while using the software. I’m looking forward to meeting more and more users, sharing experiences, hearing feedback, holding discussions, and exchanging ideas."

Sven also shared, "I like traveling all over the world and can hopefelly get back to it soon – and I'm always feeling impressed when hearing a station, thousands of miles away from home, which schedules its playlists with MusicMaster."

by MusicMaster Support Consultant Brian Wheeler

For years, we at MusicMaster have provided you, our beloved MusicMaster users with tips and tricks, thoughts and concepts, schemes and strategies to get the most out of your MusicMaster experience.

Now it’s your turn. If you had one thought, one idea, one tip or trick that you could share with MusicMaster users around the world, what would it be? Here’s your chance to shine! We’re now taking your submissions at contest@musicmaster.com.

You have until February 11th to get your ideas submitted to us. We’ll then select the three best submissions (as selected by a panel of judges) and share them with our MusicMaster family around the globe. The top selection will also win a fabulous prize from my prize closet! Here’s just a sample of some of the available prizes (we’ll try to tailor a prize to your tastes):

Our grand prize winner will be announced on February 22nd, at which time we’ll also share the top three tips in our February article. Get those ideas submitted! We’re looking forward to seeing creative MusicMaster minds at work!

Legal note: by submitting a blog tip, you agree to let us use your name, call letters/company in our winner’s blog post. Please clearly notate in your submission if you wish to remain anonymous and we’ll be happy to honor that request. For transparency reasons, we request that those who wish to be eligible to win a prize allow us to share who you are.

This article was republished with permission from the weekly broadcast newsletter The Lundletter, written by John Lund and presented by the Lund Media Group, a consulting member of the MusicMaster ProTeam.

Groundhog Day is February 2. In the classic comedy movie, “Groundhog Day,” Bill Murray awakens every day to Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe” on a clock radio. After awakening to the same song several times, Bill Murray eventually throws the radio against the wall. In the movie, he experiences the same day over and over.

Do your listeners hear the same songs at the same time every day? We call this music scheduling situation “stacking”, when you examine your song history and find songs are being scheduled in the same hour over several weeks.

You can avoid this occurrence by taking the following ten steps:

1. Prioritize the order of scheduling of your categories. Power categories should schedule first before your Secondary rotation.

2. Power and Secondary currents should be an odd number. Normally you do not want more than 5 Power currents and no less than 3 songs. Secondary currents should be fewer than 15 songs. This is based on playing music 24/7.

3. Other than “Yesterday Song,” your Power Currents in your first round of scheduling should not have any rules to prevent them from being scheduled. You want your currents to have the minimum amount of rules so they rotate often to gain familiarity.

4. Develop an alternate clock for each daypart, where the clock placement changes for the Power and Secondary currents. The clock should alternate every other hour and the next day it should flip flop alternating with the other clock.

5. For stations not scheduling music 24/7, utilize the “AutoBurn” function where each day at 1 or 2 AM you would skip one song in the category and then return to picking the first song available. Read More About AutoBurn in MusicMaster.

6. Set up your scheduling hierarchy so your Power categories are scheduled first and then your smallest categories in Secondary next. The larger Secondary and feature songs should be scheduled last.

7. Utilize your “Yesterday Song” and “Prior Day” rules and in the larger categories your “Daypart rotation” rule.

8. It’s good to “Shuffle” several times a month. Click Here to watch a video on how to shuffle categories in MusicMater.

9. Review your song history maps frequently. Relax your rules so they don’t force your music scheduling software to “stack.”

10. Avoid overusing “dayparting” as once the “daypart restriction” is lifted the song may get scheduled in the first hour after the restriction was lifted.

By reducing “stacking,” you can maximize the songs in your library and not give listeners the perception that you have a limited library.

About Lund Media Assisting broadcasters for the past 20+ years, the Lund Media Group provides programming, music consulting, operational guidance, sales assistance, and research to commercial and public radio stations throughout North America and overseas. The firm has a successful track record with stations in all market sizes and with all mainstream formats. Read more about Lund Media Group on our ProTeam page or on their website: LundMedia.com. You can also contact John Lund at john@lundradio.com.

The Lundletter, from which this article was re-published, is read by more than 9,700 broadcasters; it’s the most-read programming/management media newsletter in the nation. Click Here to subscribe.