Music Scheduling

Most programmers know how important it is to get the math right in music rotations. And few would argue against playing the right songs as judged and expected by the target audience. Right? Right....

Many programmers and music directors spend hours and hours coding songs. The effort is time well spent because it takes time to really analyze the songs but let's simplify it by taking steps to...

When a station conducts an analysis of its music system, the first priority should be examining how songs are rotating. A large library can sound like just a handful of songs if they play...

Every single thing that happens on-air is important. For music stations, that's particularly true for song segues. How songs fit together is critical to the listening experience. Pay attention to this detail to create...

Scheduling music for a radio station is an art. There are many ways to express art based on the vision of the artist. Some music artists, particularly in the Variety Hits format (Jack-FM, Bob-FM)...

Armies are highly organized machines that depend on leadership to manage complex operations. They organize troops into platoons that can be activated at any time. This concept can be applied to music scheduling. Smart...

Radio programmers either love or hate the idea of packeting songs in a music scheduling system. And there are good reasons for both emotions. This article explains how, when and why packeting songs is a...

Setting attributes and codes in music scheduling software is tedious and time-consuming. It’s also confusing to many programmers. There are so many options, and we want to use all the power of the software...

It would be nice that every problem had a simple solution, like a cause and effect. Problems would be so easy to trace. But radio programming isn't like that. It's more complex. That's why...

The ratings are in. There is a TSL (time spent listening) problem. The cume went up, but average quarter hours are down. Management wants an explanation. The first thought is to examine the music...