The latest service update to MusicMaster Pro Version 8 is now available. You can download Version 8.0.3 by going to Help, Check for Update. In case you missed it, we also released Version 8.0.2 at the beginning of April. Here are the changes that were included in both recent updates:

Version 8.0.3 has four new rules and other changes to make visibility and access better. Let's start with the new Rules:

Song Hour Opener Separation and Song Sweep Opener Separation provide protection at the top of the hour or after your sweep markers to prevent the same song from playing in any of those positions again, either within the same shift or until the specified time has passed. The Keyword Hour Opener Separation and Keyword Sweep Opener Separation rules do the same thing, but for Keywords.

Regardless of whether you have non-music elements inserted at the top of the hour or directly after your sweepers, these rules will provide protection for the very first music element that occurs. All four rules provide added protection at specific points in your log, especially helpful if your air staff does show prep giving them varied music to talk about.

If you use the Manual Assist scheduler, you probably already know that when the replacement window appears, it only includes the songs from the Schedule Order at that time. You can always use the binoculars icon to get the full list. We've adjusted the query so it will automatically have the appropriate category checked. That means if you want to see the full list, you can now just click the binoculars and Okay to get to it.

We've made a couple of items more distinct. You'll see an increased size and weight of the numbers in the Schedule Calendar to make them stand out a bit more. Likewise, we've adjusted the Clock Filter display so the Property column more clearly indicates which of the three filters is being used.

There is an additional indicator in Library Maintenance to tell you which song you are on one in the list. This notation will say "x of y" where "x" is the number on the list and "y" is the total number of songs in the list.

Lognote lookup has had the ability to search in either "Contains" or "Begins With" mode for some time. This has been adjusted so whatever option you choose will be saved for your next search. This applies to both the Clock Editor and Schedule Editor. The change will be saved across both places.

When in the Category Editor, you can now use CTRL-R to move a category to a new position in the list by number rather than only via drag and drop.

In Version 8.0.2, we added better visibility to fields you’ve set to use in the Search Bar. When you open Fields, the default search bar fields will show checks when you have made no other changes to the search fields.

Adjustments have been made to the SACEM DIP4e report to address new standards. The BMI/ASCAP Report has also been adjusted to use the Community Upload format.

The ability to sort by Song Rest in the Schedule Editor replacement window wasn’t working when you clicked on the column header. Thanks to the eagle-eyed users who spotted that.

Finally, changes have been made to improve the reliability of copy and paste functionality in Library Maintenance

You can find the full list of changes under Help, Release notes. Contact your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant with any questions.

Vicky James

The MusicMaster Support Team has expanded yet again! This month, we were pleased to welcome our newest MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant, Vicky James. Vicky brings a wealth of experience in radio, along with an infectious enthusiasm for radio programming and all things MusicMaster. Throughout her career, Vicky enjoyed helping others achieve success with MusicMaster, and now welcomes the opportunity to do this on an even grander scale as part of the MusicMaster support team.

Vicky is a multi-talented programmer and on air personality who understands the musical architecture of radio stations. Vicky has led music scheduling projects at award-winning stations spanning a career of over two decades in several formats and markets from the Carolinas to Ohio.

She got her start in Augusta at WFXA as an intern at 16. From there, she attended Charleston Southern University working part time at WWWZ. She ended up landing her first full time job at WXST as APD/MD and Morning Show Co-Host in Charleston. Vicky was selected as OM/PD at WRBP in Youngstown, OH. She made a move to Columbus, GA to Co-Host Mornings at WFXE of Davis Broadcasting. Setting her sights on Cox Media Greenville, SC she was then chosen as APD/MD and Middays at WJMZ (now Summit Media). She even stopped at Cumulus WTCB as an interim Morning Show Host. After some time to refocus, Vicky never lost focus. She became part-time talent and music assistant to the heritage Gospel station WFMV/WLCZ of Glory Communications in Columbia SC.

Vicky joins MusicMaster with great excitement. She shared, “I am incredibly grateful for this amazing opportunity and I’m humbled to join the team of MusicMaster support experts. I remember being the programmer who called in to get the assistance of support so with this position I totally understand what is expected to help clients get the problem solved. This is going to be great, connecting and building relationships all while doing what was my most favorite part of my day, doing music!"

Vicky shared that over the years her programming philosophy often changed, conforming, and learning the new waves of technology that comes with radio. My advice to programmers would simply be "don’t stop learning if you expect to stick around in radio, you have to evolve and sometimes reinvent your strategy and yourself. Be mindful that at the end of the day the listener is ALWAYS the winner!"

Vicky resides in Aiken, SC and is a Toddler Mom to her handsome son, Colin! She says they spend more days learning the alphabet, counting numbers or "feeding" T-Rex snacks. In her spare time, Vicky loves “starting” DIY projects, trying cool TikTok recipes and running 5K races.

Radiodays Europe: MusicMaster Invites You on a Boat Trip Through Malmö

Radiodays Europe is coming up on May 15th to May 17th. We look forward to a great opportunity to meet in person again during the event – and there is so much more to explore in Malmö, Sweden. Sven and Ellen from MusicMaster’s international distributor ON AIR have organized a boat trip through the historic city center. You’re invited to spend some quality time with the MusicMaster family on Monday late afternoon. So, if you are visiting the Radiodays Europe this year and wish to join us, please let us know. Send an email to office@onair.de or click here for more information.

Shortly, after streaming music services made it possible for radio listeners to hear their favorite songs on demand, the landscape of radio has changed dramatically. Now your audience can hear any song at any time, create their own playlists, and share their playlists with their friends. Most of these services now suggest similar music, leading people to discover new music they’ve never heard before, and often music that your station is not playing.

Once upon a time, listeners had far fewer opportunities to discover new music. The biggest influence was radio. Top 40 radio introduced new songs to the audience. Tight rotations made your audience familiar with the new songs. It didn’t take long for them to decide if they liked a new song. After a certain number of spins, the audience would grow tired of hearing the song.

Before music research became popular, it was nearly impossible to determine if a new song was widely liked, or disliked, by your target audience. It was also difficult to determine when a new song had been played often enough for your target audience to grow tired of hearing it. Research made it possible to dump the ‘stiffs’ quickly and move the hits to a slower rotation category at just the right time.

Now that radio no longer controls new music discovery and the exposure of hit music to the audience, music research has become even more important. New songs added to your rotation can burn a lot faster than before, due to additional listening opportunities from outside sources. You may also be missing out on new music that is quickly becoming a favorite of your listeners.

Watching what other stations are doing using media monitoring services can give you some guidance, but it can also lead you to false assumptions. Your market, and your audience, may have different musical tastes and repeat airplay tolerances. If being local is important to you, your music rotation choices should also be based on local trends.

Is it possible that many formerly local radio stations failed to maintain the audience revenue necessary to support the local programming talent and entertainers necessary to remain profitable and compromised on a national satellite or syndicated provider instead? Perhaps the cure was worse than the disease for these stations. Bottom line revenue cuts are rarely as profitable as top line revenue gains.

I offer these observations simply as food for thought, but I’m always happy to ‘talk radio’ with anyone!

by Paul Ziino

You are editing your log. You double-click on an unscheduled position to look for replacement options but there are none available—all songs in that category violate your unbreakable rules. Now what do you do? You probably click the query icon and change the category to look through. Well, what if that category’s songs all violate unbreakable rules? You have to go through that process all over again.

In Version 8 we have introduced a new feature called Category Fallback Options. This allows you to preset the categories you’ll allow the replacement song window to look in when the original category’s songs don’t pass the unbreakable rules.

Go to Tools/Options, then under Schedule Editor Options select Category Fallback Options. Here you’ll see the list of your categories. Each category allows you to enter a sequence of other categories to look in.

In my example above, if the replacement can’t find an A that passes the unbreakable rules, it’ll go next to category 90. If no 90 passes the unbreakable it’ll fallback to category 80, and if still no song works it’ll fallback to category 70. No longer will we need to re-query in the replacement window, MusicMaster will do it for you!

Notice you can check the box to do this for Replacements (F9) as well as Quick Replacements (Shift-F9).

To get version 8.0 go to Help/Check for Updates and follow the prompts. If your MusicMaster subscription allows for updates, you’ll be able to retrieve the installer right there. Keep in mind, upgrading to version 8.0 does require an automatic database upgrade, so you’ll want to make sure to backup your data first, and verify that all MusicMaster installations are eligible for upgrade before proceeding. We suggest you work with your IT folks to do any upgrades to your software.

by The W.I.Z.A.R.D.

Cooking has undergone a renaissance where adding spices from different cultures or just in different combinations can make all the difference. Perhaps you’ve done some experimenting in the kitchen where you try a new twist on your favorite dishes.

Would you ever consider doing something like that with your MusicMaster data? Would you like to add a little spice to your playlists? Let’s see if you’re ready.

Does this describe you:

You press F9, look through the same list of songs when you have to fill an unscheduled position or just need to do something different. You regret to admit you’re a little bored picking the same songs all the time.

You have lots of music in your library that you don’t play on a regular basis, the proverbial Hold category or category with the songs that came in after the cutoff of your music test.

If either of these fits you, here’s a simple thing you can do to change things up. Go to Tools, Options, Schedule Editor Options and open Replacement Song Options.

The Search Mode will default to F9. The Default Category List will default to Use category of currently scheduled song or element. Change that to Specific Category List. Now pick those categories that have songs that could play and still meet all your programming goals. Okay and close the screen.

In the Editor, where F9 previously would have given you the songs from the original category, now you’ll get the new list you selected. What this ultimately means is that every time you have to fill a position or you want to make a change, you’ll be picking songs that don’t routinely schedule. These songs still fit your format and programming goals. You’ve just given your audience an “oh wow” moment. That’s a win no matter how you look at it.

Should you want the original category, you can always use the binocular icon to change the category list. This change simply brings these perhaps forgotten songs back to your attention to get a little love.

One more thing: When you open Replacement Song Options, there is a drop down there. You’ll find other replacement options listed where you can also configure the settings.

There is so much music that works in your format that doesn’t get regularly played. This is just one way to make it easier to add that spice into your playlist. Cook up a playlist that has your audience craving more.

Should you have any questions or need assistance setting this up, reach out to your Music Scheduling Consultant.