Missed spot-automatic notification

[Randy Lahey]

In the past few years, we have let a ton of staff go for economic reasons (haven't we all). Now it is at the point that on one of our stations, our only live person is our morning guy, so from Friday @9am to Monday @ 530am there is essentially nobody in the control room.

Because of this, if a spot is missing, we don't usually know about it until we print the report the next day, or in the case of a weekend, on Monday. This can be a problem if the spot that missed was only to run during the weekend, as make-goods can't fix the problem as the event is already finished. The client is mad and basically nothing can be done.

This day and age, you'd think there may be some sort of automatic notification that could be sent out to traffic/creative/production, if something is missing. A short text or email would be the easiest way.

I'm using Scott Studios(AS32).

Is there anything like this available?

What about for other automation systems?

Also, I know we're not the only company with bare bones staff. How do you guys deal with this?

Randy.

 

[Sgeirk]

Scott Studios' Merge32 program will tell you what carts are missing audio when you merge a log, furthermore, if you traffic system is setup for automatic reconciliation, it can be handled automatically.

 

[TomT]

Simian will also show missed spots (e.g.--scheduled spots that don't have an audio file in the searched folders) as well as outdated spots (the audio file is there, but the stop date has passed).

 

[ChiefOperator]

iMediatouch will list missing contracts/bumped events when the logs are merged. We can also read the "out" log, which will show failed events. However, we will usually know about a spot problem only during reconciliation.

We've had a problem similiar to yours. A spot is missing and we aren't aware of it until the logs are reconcilied. I know of no way to receive immediate notification.

 

[boiseengineer]

Back to SS32.
One of the jobs of whomever's doing production should be to generate a missing cart report from Merge32.
Dispatch should be set up to inventory the air machines on a schedule.

 

[TomT]

Actually, this would need to be done for each day's log. Even for a small station, there would be copy changes that would be difficult to keep up with by memory. As long as the system is able to catch outdated copy (or missing copy), then a daily check would avoid missing spots.

 

[OttoM]

You're all missing Randy's point.

We're VERY aware of the log checking functions built into practically every automation system - what's needed is a way to send out an alert when the ACTUAL spot is missed. It's not brain surgery.

 

[boiseengineer]

There is a GPI closure for a Q-fail. But this is active for all elements.

From the SS32 manual:
On the SS32 Configuration page in “System”
Cue up Failures;
When an Item fails to queue (File not found, end date etc…), you can specify
SS32 to notify or retry the events.
• Warning Output Pin; if an item fails to queue, it will activate a pin on the
GPI to notify an operator.


Somebody could write a script that runs maybe once an hour to read the Aired Log and filter/compair it to the SKD like log reconciliation. But then it would have to know where in the log the SS32 was and not compare it to the SKD past that time. Suppose you could look for key words such as “Jumpby” associated with commercials.

From the SS32 manual:
Aired Log Q-FAIL
When an event fails to cue, the into field in the label (on air) will be replaced with
a 2-letter error code--which will also appear in the Q-FAIL *.AIR log entry as
"Why (xx)". The error codes are as follows:
• UK = Unknown reason
• SD = Start Date out of range
• SH = Start Hour out of range
• ED = End Date out of range
• EH = End Hour out of range
• OR = file is an Old-style Rotation
• BH = Bad Header (cannot be parsed)
• EF = (most likely) an Empty File
• NF = file Not Found
• BR = Bad Rotation (bad table or no usable entry in it)
• AP = APT not authorized
• NS = File Type Not Supported

With SS32, if you check to see that the spot's there it's probably not going to be missed.
You’ll miss a spot if there's a problem with the way the log's been built or some kind of equipment failure.