Schedule songs by day and time

[matteolop]

I also had an order from my editor to always have the same clock and categories for 24/7/365.
So the same thing also applies to Jingles/Sweepers/IDs or other things.

In the global category "Jingles" or "Sweeper" I would already put all my "Jingles" or "Sweepers" that I have in the archive, ready to use, but only if we are in that season of the year.

So, I could tell him for example: my 10 Christmas Jingles must play only and exclusively in the month of December.
And another 10 Summer Jingles only and exclusively in the month of August.

This could be done conveniently via grid to enable the months/days/times allowed for broadcasting.

All these things, (JINGLES or SWEEPER or IDs) will have a single generic TAG (to make us understand that we are not treating them as songs or commercials) applied, and will be in a single "JINGLES" category, but the real and proper "enabling" for broadcasting, must be done by me and by RadioBOSS through specific options and priorities.

At the moment there are objective limits.

And I think that here the TAGS are not really needed.
I would use the TAGS for other things, like the ones I mentioned before.

 

[matteolop]

So at first we need to determine if Tags is sufficient for this purpose and if it's not, maybe it can be improved, and only in case it's not possible, then add new feature.

For me they are not enough, sorry. I vote to improve and implement other solutions.
Let's see what other users say

 

[tomimatko]

I can explain how it works for me. Maybe I just don’t have a better idea for organizing playlists?

I also use tags to organize jingles by day and time, but to me that method seems quite complicated and hard to manage.
For example, in my Playlist Generator, I have a lot of presets that are basically the same, only differing by the jingles. This means I have an overwhelming number of presets.
So, for instance, I have a "Pop New" preset with general jingles, then the same preset with the same name but with jingles for the weekend, then the same preset with jingles for night, then the same preset with jingles for Friday, then again the same preset for Monday, and so on.
That means instead of having 20 presets, I have 120 due to the different jingles.
Of course, when I add them to the scheduler, I have to be very careful which preset I’m using because most of them are the same, only differing by the jingles.

If there was a way to assign jingles/songs by day and time, then I would only need one preset, and I could set the jingles for morning, Friday, weekend, etc., to play at the appropriate times. I could even give a higher rating so that type of jingle would appear a bit more frequently during the specified time. To me, this seems much simpler and more manageable.

On the other hand, I have some songs that, because of their hard lyrics, should only play at night, or some songs I would prefer to play only on Fridays, Mondays... for example. I don’t see a way to organize this through tags. If there is a way, I think it’s some complicated workaround, and it all comes down to easy assigning time and day to certain jingles or songs in the track tool. For example, if I don’t assign a time, it plays continuously; if I assign a time, it only plays then.

I’m not sure, but I think most radio software has the capability to specify time and day, and if it wasn’t necessary, they wouldn’t have it. And I think organizing by tags is not an equivalent substitute.

 

[tomimatko]

I'd like others to join the discussion as well so we can determine whether it's really necessary and whether the tag is an equivalent replacement.

Personally, I really miss this feature.

 

[djsoft]

I know that I could do the rotations, as you suggest, with the use of the TAGs, but already working for another local and web radio, I find it better to always use the same categories with all the songs "potentially" enabled and ready to play in that category and in that portion of Clock.
But not always, therefore, it comes to mind in August for the summer, in December for Christmas etc..
So I could already set forced limits on certain songs or jingles, in which I specify (via a grid, the months/days/times allowed for broadcasting) and stop.

This makes sense as this will work automatically using a single template. Partially, it's possible already if you use track start/end dates - the track will only be selected by Playlist Generator in those dates. This may be extended to allow more gradual control. Probably will happen in the future updates.

So, I could tell him for example: my 10 Christmas Jingles must play only and exclusively in the month of December.
And another 10 Summer Jingles only and exclusively in the month of August.

You can do it with Start Date and End Date fields - can be edited in Track Tool or Music Library.

 

[djsoft]

I also use tags to organize jingles by day and time, but to me that method seems quite complicated and hard to manage.
For example, in my Playlist Generator, I have a lot of presets that are basically the same, only differing by the jingles. This means I have an overwhelming number of presets.
So, for instance, I have a "Pop New" preset with general jingles, then the same preset with the same name but with jingles for the weekend, then the same preset with jingles for night, then the same preset with jingles for Friday, then again the same preset for Monday, and so on.
That means instead of having 20 presets, I have 120 due to the different jingles.
Of course, when I add them to the scheduler, I have to be very careful which preset I’m using because most of them are the same, only differing by the jingles.

Yes, this can be solved by either using a sort of parametric playlist templates, or adding more fields for tracks to control when they can air. I think the second approach would be easier to use and understand - probably something about this will be added in the next major update.