May 2017

Welcome to MusicMaster!

New From the MusicMaster Blog

by Jesus Rodriguez - As you probably already know MusicMaster is the most customizable scheduling software in the industry. Whether it’s a particular layout design, specific additional fields, print designs, multi user personalization, you name it!

In this blog I’d like you to think out side the box and about how else you can use MusicMaster in your everyday life whether it’s for your day-to-day work or other things.

You may not know but during my down time I take part in a series of mix shows that range in a variety of formats from CHR, Country, Urban, Rock/Alternative, Latin, Classic Rock, and more. Trying to keep an inventory check of all of my music and music videos by simply searching my hard drive of over 25 years of doing this can be a nightmare especially when I need to find specific items that fit specific stations or events. Shown below you see a screen shot of some of my music inventory. I used a yes/no field that allows me to select the items I think would be good for a bar/club, live gig, etc. I took it a step further to keep track if I have the music video for the song because yup you guessed I love mixing music videos to be more interactive at my gigs. You also use an attribute field to do the same thing.

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Category Groups for Auto-Scheduling

by Paul Ziino - I’ve been working with a new customer lately. The programmers at these stations like to schedule in passes. First pass they schedule all the currents, then edit and review. Second pass they schedule their recurrents, then edit and review. Third pass is the rest of their music, then edit and review. And their fourth pass is of all the non-music categories.

To make this easier, we built Category Groups. This is done via Dataset/Library/Categories, then click Groups and New. Name the group (Pass 1), check the categories to be included in that first pass and click OK. Create another new group (Pass 2), and so on. No need to create a category group for the non-music categories—that one is built-in.

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Quick Tip: Color Coding Clocks

You probably would recognize many traffic signs even without the words: a red octagon, a yellow triangle. The color association helps us remember what the icon is. That same logic can be applied to your clocks in MusicMaster. If you go to Tools, Options, Display Colors, you can set the colors for various clock elements. When you display the pie chart in a clock, these will be used. If you've colored your categories, those colors will also appear. That combination means with a quick glance of your pie chart you'll know where your Hot category is and where the stopsets occur in the hour.

Using Optimum Goal Scheduling^TM

When you're using Optimum Goal Scheduling^TM in conjunction with your rules, think of the unbreakable rule as your bare minimum setting and the goal as a way to get even more. Rather than just looking at the most rested songs to find the first one that happens to pass all your rules, Optimum Goal Scheduling^TM looks at all the passable songs in your search depth. Based on the goals you've selected, MusicMaster assigns a weighted score to each song to help break the tie and pick the very best song. This not only saves you editing time, but also gives you an edge. Your competitors won't know how you're doing it! Watch the video below for more information on using Optimum Goals. For additional help, please contact your MSC or read more in our blog.

Join Us at Broadcast Asia 2017

This year's Broadcast Asia show is just days away! From May 23 - 25, the team from MusicMaster's international distributor, ON AIR, will be present in the German pavilion. You can visit the MusicMaster Meeting Point at booth # 4H2-07 and get your hands on the latest software.

If you would like to schedule an appointment ahead of the show, please let us know what day and time would be most convenient for you to meet. We are looking forward to seeing you in Singapore!

Contact ON AIR

A First for MusicMaster: NAB Shanghai

For the first time, MusicMaster's international distributor ON AIR will attend the spinoff of the NAB Show in Shanghai. More than 200 companies and broadcast professionals will come to demonstrate and experience innovative technology, learn the latest trends, and network with global business and technology leaders. ON AIR's Rainer Eichhorn will be available on the floor for short meetings and chats. If you want to get in touch with him during the show, feel free to arrange an appointment.

Mark Your Calendars for Conclave Genius Day

MusicMaster will be kicking off Conclave 2017 in Minneapolis with a Genius Day. The workshop will take place on Wednesday, July 26 from 9am to 4pm, on site at the Conclave convention hotel (Doubletree by Hilton). Watch future newsletters for more details and the announcement of our special guest speaker. Mark your calendars or RSVP to be sure you don't miss this special learning opportunity.

Registration and Info

What Happened in Vegas: NAB 2017

In April, the MusicMaster crew joined hundreds of thousands of broadcast professionals from around the world in Vegas for the annual NAB convention. This year, we had a lot of new things to talk about, including the mobile-friendly MusicMaster App, the browser-based CS Web Client, and major updates to our CS and Pro Editions. To learn more about these coming releases, check out this page.

You may have also seen our reps in the booths of our Nexus Integration partners Wide Orbit, Enco and Broadcast Electronics, providing demonstrations of the real-time exchange with MusicMaster. Of course, our team also had the opportunity to connect with many of our other integration partners during the show, including OMT/iMediaTouch,Digispot, Netia, DAVID Systems, mAirList, SciSys, BSI (Simian\Op-X), Arrakis Systems, DJBRadio (Digital DJ), Paravel Systems (Rivendell). We were also joined by Gilberto Mariano of Informa, MusicMaster's Brazilian representative and creator of MusicMaster-integrated playout system, InfoAudio.

We enjoyed meeting many new faces and catching up with current users. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our Hospitality Suite party and provided such great company. As usual, the NAB was a wonderful celebration of the broadcast community and a launching point for new and exciting opportunities ahead.


MusicMaster's Shane Finch, Laurie Knapp, Scott Wirt, Informa's Gilberto Mariano, and MusicMaster Founder Joe Knapp	Fellow Cleveland boys and Z100 Founders, Frank Foti and Joe Knapp	Informa's Director Gilberto Mariano with MusicMaster's Melanie Knapp and Jeff Schroeder and ON AIR's Rainer Eichhorn


MusicMaster's Paul Ziino with WGBH Engineer Jon Frank	Alceu Calciolari, CEO and Partner of Sol Panamby Group, Informa's Gilberto Mariano, and Danilo Brandão Fuin, Commercial Director of Nova Brasil	Edimarcia e Sidnei Rufino from Linksetrf with Gilberto Mariano


TV Serra Dourada's Sebastião, Djalma, Murilo and José Antonio with Gilberto Mariano	A die hard pair of metalheads: Paul Ziino (MusicMaster) and Matt Kellogg (Streamguys)	MusicMaster's Shane Finch with a special VIP guest at the Wide Orbit cocktail party


Torben Weibert (center), creator of mAirList Radio Automation, showed off new enhancements to the Nexus Integration between mAirList and MusicMaster.	After the show wrapped, some of the MusicMaster team took a day trip to the Valley of Fire, where Jeff Schroder captured this portrait of Shane Finch and Malcolm Sinclair.

West Coast Station Tour

Just as soon as the NAB Show in Vegas wound down, our team was gearing up for the Worldwide Radio Summit in Hollywood. On their way to the conference, MusicMaster's Shane Finch and Jesus Rodriguez hit the road and visited as many stations as they could between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Here are some of the highlights from their tour:


MusicMaster's Jesus Rodriguez and Shane Finch with PD Dave Beasing and Engineer Terry Grieger from 100.3 The Sound	MusicMaster's Jesus Rodriguez works with Antonio Cuvarrubias, PD of Radio Centro 93.9 LA	Jesus Rodriguez with Radio Centro’s PD, Antonio Cuvarrubias


Jesus Rodriguez with DJ Skee from DASH Radio	Jesus with Liberman Broadcasting Programmers Paco and Ernesto Morales


Rebecca Lopez and Eman Coquia from Power 106 with Jesus Rodriguez	Jimmy Steal, Power 106 PD and Emmis VP of Programming, with Jesus Rodriguez


Marker Broadcasting in Palm Desert. OM Dave Hamilton, jock Ralph Squillace, and owner Todd Marker	Jesus Rodriguez working with Juan Carlos Hidalgo, one of the Spanish Broadcasting System's VPs of Programming	Jesus with Music Specialist Edgar Pineda and JJ Ayala of Univision


Syndicated Univision Morning Show Host Raul “El Bueno” & Andres Maldonado “El Feo” with Jesus	Univision Research Team of "Nando & JJ" with Jesus

Highlights from the Worldwide Radio Summit

Early this May, radio professionals convened at the W Hotel in Hollywood for the seventh annual All Access Worldwide Radio Summit. The conference was the largest and most attended yet, and featured networking events, awards, vendor presentations, and cutting edge presentations from broadcast leaders. MusicMaster's Founder and President Joe Knapp took part in one such panel presentation on the topic of playlist generation and the diversity of listener expectations.

Panel speakers included (from left to right) Ed Kershaw (Chief Commercial Officer, 7digital), Cat Thomas (VP/Programming, Cumulus), Beata Murphy (APD/MD of KIIS-FM, Los Angeles), Joe Knapp (Founder/President, MusicMaster), and Kurt Hansen (CEO, AccuRadio.com, Publisher of "RAIN: Radio and Internet News"), and was moderated by Ralph Simon (CEO, Mobilium Global)

During the panel, Joe Knapp shared the story of how he got his start, from his early days building his first illegal radio station in his bedroom at the age of eleven, through his work as an engineer and studio builder, to developing the music scheduling software we know and love. Joe also described how MusicMaster evolved from simply being an "electronic version of the manual card file systems" to a system that could help curate a perfect playlist through Optimum Goal Scheduling^TM. Joe shared: "I remembered from actually being on the air and using a card file, that if I dug from the front of the card file until I found a song that worked, that might not necessarily be the best song to play right now." He added: "Optimum Goal Scheduling^TM came out of trying to make the computer think more like a person, to actually evaluate every song before making a decision, and try to find the best possible song for each position." Click on the video below to watch more.

Another highlight of the Worldwide Radio Summit was the MusicMaster Genius Day. An incredible group of programmers and radio professionals joined us for a day of discussion and learning led by MusicMaster's Drew Bennett. The group tackled some in-depth strategies from all aspects of MusicMaster, from customizing the library to using Optimum Goals to creating special reports. MusicMaster Founder/President Joe Knapp fielded questions during a lunchtime presentation. As always, our team learned just as much from our attendees, who shared insight into their workflows and ideas for making MusicMaster even better. Our next Genius Day will be on July 26 in Minneapolis at the Conclave. If you're planning to attend, you can RSVP here.

Hollywood Genius Day attendees with the MusicMaster team.


MusicMaster's Drew Bennett with Dave Beasing, PD of Entercom's The Sound 100.3, Los Angeles	(In foreground) Wayne Stamm, GM at 2NURFM from The University of Newcastle, Australia	MusicMaster's Melanie Knapp and Joshua Fleeger, PA at The Sound 100.3


Danny North (left) and Daniel “DC” Calderon (right) from Dash Radio with MusicMaster's Jesus Rodriguez	Sam Zniber, consultant and VP of Radio Intelligence

Finally, the Worldwide Radio Summit afforded our team the opportunity to catch up with old friends and greet new ones at the MusicMaster Meeting Point. There were plenty of networking opportunities and insightful sessions to go around. Congratulations to our friends at All Access for yet another successful WWRS!


MusicMaster's Drew Bennett with consultant Kris Jones	MusicMaster's Jesus Rodriguez with Alexandre Hovoruski, Director Artistico of Radio for JBFM in Brazil

Every Winner a Client: MusicMaster at Canadian Music Week

This month, MusicMaster's Malcolm Sinclair traveled to Canadian Music Week, the annual industry conference and music festival held over ten days in Toronto, Ontario. During the show, Malcolm had a chance to catch up with many MusicMaster users and partners, including those pictured below.


Malcolm with two of Canada’s radio legends: Greg Simpson (Radio Programmer/CMW Facilitator) and Brad Gibb (Two-time Canadian Program Director of the Year winner and PD of FM96, Country 104 and 103.1 Fresh Radio, London, ON)	Paul Larche, President of Larche Communications, and Mora Austin, Vice President


Malcolm cracking up with Jeff Winskell, Regional Program Director at Bell Media.	Malcolm is hangin’ with Harvard: specifically, Christian Hall (Program Director of X92.9) and Andrew Skwarek (Host at 100.5 CRUZ-FM). Congrats to Christian on his 2017 Canadian Program Director of the Year award!

A major highlight of CMW was the 2017 Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Awards. We're happy to report that, once again, every award-winner is also a MusicMaster user. Congratulations to all of the winners and thanks for making MusicMaster part of your strategy for success!

2017 Award Winners

MUSIC DIRECTOR MAJOR
Lynch – X929 – Calgary
Wayne Webster – Boom 97.3 – Toronto

MUSIC DIRECTOR SECONDARY
Barry Stewart – Live 105/Hot Country 103.5 – Halifax

MUSIC DIRECTOR SMALL
Scott McGregor – 98.1 The Bridge – Lethbridge

ON AIR MAJOR
Garner Andrews – Sonic 102.9 – Edmonton

ON AIR SECONDARY
Biggs & Barr – HTZ-FM – St. Catharines

PROGRAM DIRECTOR MAJOR
Christian Hall – X929 – Calgary

PROGRAM DIRECTOR SECONDARY
Sarah Cummings – K-Lite/105.7 EZ Rock – Hamilton/St. Catharines

PROGRAM DIRECTOR SMALL
Jenn Dalen – Real Country 95.5 – Red Deer

STATION SMALL
99.9 Sun FM – Kelowna

STATION COUNTRY
BX93 – London

STATION CHR
99.9 Virgin Radio – Toronto

STATION AC
98.1 CHFI – Toronto

STATION ROCK
INDIE 88 – Toronto

STATION CLASSIC GOLD
Boom 97.3 – Toronto

STATION MEDIUM
104.9 The Wolf – Regina

Rebecca Lopez - Programming Assistant - Power106, Los Angeles, CA

Rebecca shares: “I have been at Power106 for 2 years now, working as the programming assistant. I started out as an intern in the Programming Department and was fortunate enough to be able to join thePower106 team and work with Jimmy Steal and Eman Coquia. From the moment I stepped foot in Power106, I was interested in all things radio and music and wanted to learn how everything works at the station, especially music. I work alongside E-man, who is the Music Director at Power106, and he taught me everything I need to know and more on MusicMaster. I have been scheduling music for Power106 for about 2 months now, and although I am not an expert, the tools that MusicMaster offers makes the learning process easier. Currently, in Hip Hop there are a few top artists that have more than one song that we play, therefore the artist keyword and artist highlights in MusicMaster are a huge help in making sure I balance out the music correctly and don't play three Drake songs in a row. Thank you to the MusicMaster team and I look forward to working and building with you more in the future.”

Paul Ziino
VP of Sales and Support
Darien, WI

Paul Ziino began his journey with MusicMaster in 2002 as a member of the sales and support team. After many years of outstanding service, Paul was promoted to Support Coordinator in 2013 and Support Manager in 2015. This year, Paul’s role expanded to managing the entire MusicMaster MSC team as VP of Sales and Support.

Paul began his radio career in college at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (WSUW-FM) in 1992. He produced and hosted a nighttime metal show, which gave him the dream opportunity to meet his favorite bands. Some of his fondest memories include having dinner with Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, hanging with Megadeth, meeting Van Halen, and splitting a beer with "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott after a Pantera show.

From 1994, Paul (in tie-dye) with his radio colleagues from the show he produced on WSUW in Whitewater called "The Darkest Hours."

After college, Paul worked for six years at WLKG-FM in Lake Geneva, WI, starting as a night jock and later becoming morning sidekick. Paul says: “I’ve never laughed so hard in my life, all the stunts we’d pull. The highlight was when the station owner called us into his office to let us know we'd beaten all the other morning shows that could be heard in the market--we were located within a listening range of Milwaukee, Chicago, Madison, and Rockford--so that was a huge deal for us.”

Paul married his childhood sweetheart, Nichole, in October of 1997. The pair actually met on the school bus when Paul was in sixth grade and Nichole was in fourth! The day after returning from his honeymoon, Paul was bumped to Program/Music/Production Director at WLKG.

In 2002, Paul joined the MusicMaster team. He recalls: “I came to MusicMaster thinking this would just be one quick stop on my way to the next radio gig. Turns out I'm here to stay!” What Paul enjoys most about working at MusicMaster is the people: both his colleagues and the customers he serves. He says: “I get to work with some great people and have developed some real friendships over the years. When a customer calls because they trust and value my opinion, that makes my day. It's pretty cool to work for a company with people who are all passionate about what we do. No one here is just going through the motions, and I think that shows.”

On his days off, Paul enjoys spending time with his wife and their dog. The happy couple, who celebrate their 20th Anniversary this year, enjoy shopping, traveling, house-hunting and attending state fairs together.

Paul’s advice for the radio industry is to “work smarter, not harder.” He adds, “Heck, that’s my best advice for anyone in any industry!” The MusicMaster team is happy to have Paul onboard, “working smart” and proving to be a successful leader as our new Vice President of Sales and Support.