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A General Question

What is the name of the program music stations use for their song libraries? Is it the same one that they use to play songs on the air?
 
I believe many automation systems come with their own scheduling software, but as mentioned above, Selector is usually used instead.
 
IIRC, Clear Channel actually bought Prophet Systems, whose "Wizard" evolved into the "NexGen" system used at some of my stations (to play songs & programming over the air, & do simple production on its audio editor). I've gotten used to it over the years, & have lost more than a few co-workers to bigger stations that were looking for producer/board-op types who were already trained in NexGen.
 
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Prophet. IMO its the BEST automation system out there. On air, programming, production, etc, It rocks!

Maestro - piece of crap!
 
I've grown attached to NexGen myself. At some of my previous stations, Scott systems & AudioVault were added, but I didn't stay long enough to learn much. Does anyone with experience in these (or other systems) have any comparisons or opinions to share?

Hypothetical situations:
1. No budget. Best cheapo or freeware system?
2. No limits. What's the best out there, & why?
 
We're part of the Clear Channel network in New Zealand "The Radio Network"

Like someone added Clear Channel has bought Prophet systems and hence we have all upgraded from Wizzard or Wave Station to Nexgen. The best system I've used, and if you can't afford the real thing, you barely loose anything on Nexgen 101!

In fact it's so good, our rival company Canwest's "RadioWorks" has bought into Nexgen for their 50 odd stations too! I hope Clear Channel charged em' good!

When I worked for RadioWorks we used an RCS system called Master Control. I'm not sure how common that is in the states, it does most things Nexgen can, but no 'wizzard editor'. So you either get the phone call right the first time or your stuck. It does however let you audition song 'hooks' on the fly which is great for teasing music for next hour. I've talked to Prophet Systems and they say they're looking into it as an upgrade.
 
Just to clear this up...

Clear Channel did not buy prophet systems, they ended up with Prophet Systems after Capstar/AMFM bought them prior to Clear Channel's takeover of the AMFM properties.

That said, Jacor and the Capstar properties of AMFM all pretty much used prophet.

At the time, RCS Master Control was preferred by Jacor, however, the wancast/remote voicetrack capability of Prophet made it the winner.

If I had to go the free route:

1) Rivendell---on Linux, it's free, open source and so is the OS. Linux is darn near bulletproof in it's reliability. Almost boring to own a Linux machine...no excitement like crashes and stuff.
2) Deltatrax---pretty decent stuff!

If I had unlimited cash:

1) I'd outfit my stations with NexGen, w/backup server and local workstations for full redundancy.
Prophet makes the best automation system there is, their support wins hands DOWN. I've worked with 7 or 8 different flavors of automation. Prophet tastes better.
 
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