Your Music Scheduling

[lilburncommunityradio]

Hello all,
What program do you use, to put together music clocks?, Or maybe the question is for those of you part 15 programmers, HOW do you put together lists that will rotate the different dayparts? I have seen some great programs, but I dont want to spend massive money for a program, cause at this time I dont have it. Just wondering, what some of you do. It takes forever to load "BY HAND" lists into zara radio, for the different times of day, so is it Music1, or someother way maybe Im missing? HELP!!! Thanks Jesse.. "Legends 93.5 fm" Duluth ga

 

[RadioMan203]

I know many Part 15 operators use ZaraRadio for automated audio playback but I'm personally unfamiliar with it's scheduler. Keep in mind if you're looking for the free version you'll need to locate a download for version 1.6.2 or below.

I've been a happy user of StationPlaylist broadcast automation which can be bundled with their companion scheduler. There are several different versions depending on your budget and desired features. Stationplaylist Creator allows you to not only generate schedules but define music clocks for each hour if desired.

I've heard of people using Winamp along with Tobasco's Amazing Clock Wheel.

Hope that gives you a start.

 

[Marathon Don]

Station Playlist Creator is the weapon of choice here at Radio 252. We've been happy users since we launched the station 4 years ago. Like many, we experimented with lots of products, including Zara, before we finally committed to SPL. Zara is just too fiddly and techie-complex. Tobasco's Clock Wheel always crashed on the box I had at the time. The SPL scheduler is versatile and works very well. You can use SPL Creator to build lists for Winamp and then upgrade to the SPL Studio player at a later date.

 

[jim8230]

I don't know...we've been using Zara for over three years without a hiccup. Once you know how to program it...it works great.

 

[Desert Ear]

Same here, for Zara. Been using it for over a year without one problem.
And, when I have a question, my e-mails are always answered.

DE

 

[friendlee]

I use Zara for my playback but use Clockwheel for my scheduler and a little program written by a friend to break the Clockwheel list into 7-song playlists which Zara plays back to keep my music "locked" to the clock. This way I always hear an image cut right before the news at the top of the hour, power gold coming out of the news, a selection from the psychedelic era about 20 past, an instrumental about 20 to and so forth. Timed events are played out of Zara. There may be other ways to do it but this works well for me and has for over five years now.

Friend

 

[lilburncommunityradio]

I LOVE ZARA.. No complaints about it.. I was mainly asking about the building and scheduling of playlists.. Music 1 Looks like a interesting service, but I didnt know IF anyone used something they really really like. Station playlist looks ok, but also complicated.. Just asking if it truly is. Looking for something that isnt hard to learn, yet will build the lists I am looking to. Thanks to all.

 

[RadioMan203]

Station playlist looks ok, but also complicated..

Have you tried the demo or are you just going by what you see on the screenshots? I think it's a very versatile program and, in all honesty, not really all that difficult. If I can teach high school students how to program rotations and playlists and create schedules I think you may have the wrong impression of the program.

Besides the built-in online help there's a great support group on Yahoo!Groups that has many people answering questions and offering tips regarding operating both the playout and scheduler application.

 

[WPHA]

I've had the free Zara running here for several years, now. No problems. It runs and runs! It's cool to tell my family and friends that visit, that I have my own (albeit very tiny) radio station in my guestroom closet! When the time announcement plays (approx. every 15 minutes) they get a big kick out of it.

I just like it, because when I'm engrossed in a project, I don't look at the clock very often... so this is helpful!

(Personal views, not related to my employer.)

 

[LibertyNT]

I did a painstaking way to make a format clock with Zara, but it was totally worth it.

Just organize your music into appropriate folders
ex. A Records 1965-1985 Top 25

and schedule them into zara as random tracks,
works well.

 

[Groove1670]

Another thumbs up for Stationplaylist. Scheduler voicetracking. Has everything you need. Set it and forget it.

 

[WRPO]

We have been using Station Playlist for over a year at WRPO..it works great and (I am told) very easy to use. After fumbling around with several other systems for the past 10 years, this is the best one we have found. Try the free download testand I know you'll love it.

 

[Scott1]

I and a few other ex radio guys launched an online incarnation of our local Top 40 legend KISN Radio in February with Station Playlist Creator and Studio Pro. We couldn't be happier. I had been playing with DRS2006 for about 5 years previously and we'd planned on launching KISN with DRS until realizing we couldn't export metadata except through the proprietary DRS encoder, which doesn't support the desired AAC+ format. Having to reinvent the wheel with different automation was a nightmare at the time, but in hindsight it was the best setback we could have encountered, because it led us to Station Playlist. The DRS music scheduler is absolutely awful (unless you like hearing ABBA and The Archies multiple times an hour) but the rotation through the library we're getting with SPL is amazing. You can hear SPL in action at www.goodguyradio.com.