This question came from a webcaster using SAMBroadcaster, but what I talk about below applies to all broadcast and webcast automation systems. The playout sytems get no ‘timing’ information about the length of songs or programs from M1 at all. They just get the playlist with the order of things to be played. Sso, if the first thing is a 3 minute song and the second thing is a 1 hour program and the third thing is a 3 minute songs…all will be played in order.
To schedule long form programs, things that are an hour or longer with M1 that will then be played properly by your automation system, there are a few things to know:
— the longest “length/runtime” you can enter into a music or non-music ‘card’ in M1 is 80 minutes. That is also the maximum amout of content time that can be added to a format clock. Adding that much content to a clock makes it look weird but it does work.
–if you need to schedule a 2 hour program, here’s how
to do it:
1) make a Category for the program and add one Card to it. Give the card a 1-hour length. Do this only because it makes one full, neat looking clock. the broadcast/webcast “timing”, remember is not
controlled by M1. The automatin system will only get the cart number or filename to play and it plays it. It makes no difference if M1 has the length of the file as 1 hour or one minute.
2) Make one format clock and add the one Category to it.
3) On the Clock Hour Schedule grid, click this clock into the starting hour slot. in the next hour slot after that, click in the (no clock selected) field.
4) in the next slot, enter the Clock you want that will follow the program.
So, if the program starts at noon, you enter the Program Clock in the noon slot, you enter (no clock selected) in the 1pm slot and you enter your next clock in the 2pm slot. Music 1 will schedule the program, The playout system will pick it up and begin playing it at noon…the audio track will run two hours….automation will then
play whatever M1 has scheduled to follow the program.
Now, if you have a show that runs 90 minutes then you’ll need an extra and special clock. In this clock, you enter only 30 minutes or so of content. It will appear on the clock that the 30 minutes “begins” at the top of the hour of course. But, in webcast/broadcast application, it will begin at the bottom of the hour. Like this:
1) You have a Category with one Card on it. this card is for the 90 minute show. You have, however entered only 60 minutes into the Length, to obtain a nice “look” on the screen.
2) You create a clock for this Category.
3) You create another clock and add about 30 minutes’ content to it.
4) The program starts at noon, so you click the 90 minute program clock into the noon slot on the Hour Clock Schedule grid.
5) you click the 30-minute clock into the 1pm slot on the Clock Schedule Grid.
As you schedule with M1, it will appear visually that the content in the 1pm hour will be starting at the ‘top’ of the hour. But in your actual broadcast the first unit in the 1pm hour will follow the end of
the program that began at noon and runs 90 minutes. Thus, the next content, in the 1pm hour, will actually begin broadcast at 1:30.
Also about long form programs: Many broadcasters and webcasters have long form programs that run every day or on the same days every week and sometimes several times a day. You can add as
many cards/programs to the program Category as need be. All of them will be scheduled in rank order and all will rotate the same way units in other categories do.