Start your Conclave Summer Learning Conference off right with MusicMaster Genius Day in Minneapolis on July 18! Our expert staff will teach you how to make the most out of MusicMaster. You'll walk away with new creative workflows and ideas for improving your rotations to get the edge over your competition.

We'll also provide a working lunch, where you'll be joined by Author and Branding guru Kipper McGee, "The Unconsultant" Keith Hill, and Paige Nienaber, VP/Fun 'N Games for Clifton Radio and C.P.R., radio's first-ever promotional consultancy. The trio will host a special presentation on "The Next Next Chapter for Brandwidth" (see image below).

The Genius Day is FREE and recommended for all users of any experience level. Even if you and your staff are not planning to stay for the Conclave, we encourage you to stop by just for the day. Click the link below for more information or to RSVP.

Recently, we introduced the MusicMaster ProTeam, a group of experienced broadcast consultants who are available to assist MusicMaster clients with programming advice. While they may offer services covering many aspects of station success, we’ve handpicked each for the ProTeam based on their in-depth knowledge of MusicMaster and programming strategies. 

This month, we’d like to introduce you to yet another member of the team: John Lund of Lund Media Group. Assisting broadcasters for the past 20+ years, Lund Media Group provides programming, music consulting, operational guidance, sales assistance, and research to commercial and public radio stations throughout North America and overseas. The firm has a successful track record with stations in all market sizes and with all mainstream formats. In addition, Lund Media has provided research and consulting services to American Forces Radio and Television stations worldwide.

Lund Media also publishes the broadcast newsletter, the Lundletter. The Lundletter is a weekly publication that is read by more than 9,700 broadcasters; it’s the most-read programming/management media newsletter in the nation.

Lund Media’s goal is to assist music and spoken word stations get more listeners, keep them listening longer, and increase revenue. To learn more about how John can help you meet those goals, visit his website, or contact him directly at john@lundradio.com or 650-692-7777. For a sneak peek of John's insight, scroll ahead to find his article on "Music Scheduling Perfection".

In this advanced MusicMaster "Master Class" we show you how to create your own toolbar buttons to launch websites or applications. You can even link their actions to your data, for example, opening up the selected artist's Wikipedia entry in the MusicMaster web browser. You can always contact your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant to add custom buttons for you, but if you'd like to take a crack at it yourself, here's everything you need to know.

Categories, Clocks and Rules make up the music software’s architecture. You divide your music into categories (currents, recurrents and gold). You create a clock where the same category is not scheduled back to back. Then you have rules that prevent the same song repeating in the next few hours. This basic system will get your music scheduled, but will not necessarily increase your audience. How do you improve the music architecture in order to impact your audience and attract more listeners?

Categories
Music research shows music values fall into a pyramid where a small number of songs test at the top of the pyramid with universal appeal in familiarity and passion; these are the songs that people want to hear most often. Next, there is a larger number of songs going down the pyramid that are OK to play, but not that often. Play the songs at the top of the pyramid in every quarter hour to attract cume. The lower in the pyramid songs are valuable as they extend time spent listening giving your radio station the “variety” image.

Divide your music categories into levels that include “Powers” – your target’s favorite songs – and “Secondaries” – the songs your target likes but are not their favorites. Secondaries should be divided by familiarity and likeability. Stations playing currents should also divide them the same way. Lund Media recommends dividing your music categories by era and by song value. We provide this essential service to radio stations in all market sizes to sound terrific while attracting more listeners.

Clocks
Design your clocks knowing that your station attracts new cume every quarter hour, and each quarter hour reflects the essence of your station in terms of song value and era. You don’t want a quarter hour with all songs from the same category. Never schedule two Secondaries back to back; schedule them next to a power.

In current music formats, schedule an unfamiliar Secondary either after an imaging piece which introduces it, or have your air talent backsell it. Lund Media recommends devising clocks with the same quota of song categories for every hour and following the same sequence of categories to give your radio station consistency. For the morning show and special music features, remove Secondaries and focus on the Powers.

Rules
Rules help deal with repetition. Remember Bill Murray and his alarm clock in the movie “Groundhog Day”? You don’t want the same song played every day at the same time. “Horizontal separation” is one key rule to establish. Next, set-up your “vertical separation” rule to avoid the song being repeated in the next few hours. The exception is in CHR where Powers repeat in the next hour due to their rotations and appeal to a high cuming audience.

“Back to back” rules are your next order of priority. Typically, you don’t want two same-tempo songs back to back as you want to give your station the “variety” feel. Your format determines exceptions to this rule, like being the “station that rocks” or the “station playing relaxing favorites.” Finally, you want to take into account artist genre (e.g., country, dance, alternative, etc.). Obviously, this is only for mainstream formatted radio stations that have broad appeal.

Your music software should be working perfectly in all these areas, and your radio station will achieve longer listening spans with a solid structure in scheduling music.

Are you playing the right songs? Does your library and software need analysis and a tune-up? Is your music software working perfectly? The music programming doctors at Lund Media can provide your station with an exam and surgery (if needed) to perfect your music library and software. This is a cost-efficient fix for the primary benefit music stations provide their listeners: great music!! Contact John Lund for more info and a timetable for making your station’s music ---- PERFECT.