Modern radio isn’t just about your live shift these days. Program Directors and talent must worry about being an influencer, podcasting, voice tracking multiple stations, maintaining social media posts, and more, all while continuing to schedule their playlists. But what if there was a way to maximize your team so that they can focus on other tasks? You can do that and more with GSelector’s S3, Schedule Subscription Service. There are so many ways our users interpret S3, from Format Captains and master music logs, to having your music log champion build one master playlist for all your company’s HDs. The beauty of S3 is that we maintain local clock structure, including imaging, commercial traffic, and more.
To better understand how you can implement GSelector’s S3, let’s start with understanding the vocabulary and how it works. A Publisher is the one who is curating the playlist and then locking the music log for Subscribers, who have a predetermined profile that, when scheduling their own local logs, will bring in the Publisher’s master log. There’s no wrong way for programmers to define a Subscriber’s profile. Perhaps you only need music for a single daypart? Or the opposite and the Subscriber needs music for all hours except for their syndicated programming. This is all done ahead of time and is a “set it and forget it” workflow.
Starting with the S3 Subscription Manager, which is free for GSelector stations because we still are maintaining a local on-air license, this window features Publisher and Subscriber subtabs. Subscription Managers can include multiple Publishers from multiple GSelector databases, as long as we have network connectivity. Some of our clients have 15+ formats, whereas others keep it simple and only include a single format. Again, S3 is about catering to your operations and needs. Pivoting to the Subscriber side, this is where administrators will outline each station’s specific profile. This isn’t “Top 40” or “Classic Rock.” This is WRCS-HD2 and KRCS-FM because you’ll find that every station has a slightly different programming requirement. There may be a syndicated show on Saturday night or various non-profit programming on Sunday morning. Remember, if you don’t need an S3 Publisher music log, then simply omit a profile for that specific hour(s).
There are a couple different S3 profiles based on your local station’s requirements. Full will override any local clocks and give the Subscriber a full log. Pending on your Trust Level, this could be a full log that’s locked, so a local user cannot wrongly edit anything. Most programmers prefer a Music Only profile so that they maintain a local log, while overriding the music positions with that of the Publisher. There’s also an a la cart Custom option in case you want to include an asset type in addition to music, like Specific Links or Rolling Clocks. Again, we’ve found that most users prefer the Music Only format. Then there’s the Trust Levels. Simply put: No Trust: Local users cannot edit the log in GSelector’s Editor. Total Trust: Local users can edit any and all positions. The numbers, like Trust level: 5, reflect the Trust position as defined by the Publisher’s Clocks. If the Subscriber has a Trust Level: 5 and the Publisher has a clock position Trust Level: 3, then the local programmer can edit that position. If there’s a clock position Trust Level: 9, then the local programmer cannot edit the position because they only have a Trust Level of 5. Other settings include Time Shift and Start / End Dates for a format switch, like Christmas.
Now, let’s focus on the Publisher role. From their local GSelector station, a Publisher would define each Clock’s Trust Level and then schedule normally. When the log is done, they would go to the Scheduler, right click on the desired date range and lock the log. Once a log is locked, it’s ready for the Subscriber, but be aware, it is locked and cannot be edited. If you need to make an edit, simply right click and select “Open For Editing,” make you Editor changes, and then repeat the lock steps.
From the Subscriber’s perspective, they would simply schedule their logs as they normally would and GSelector will automatically bring in the S3 profile. Of course, there is an initial setup connection step under Setup | Station | Interface. Again, that’s a “set it and forget it” workflow. Once the Subscriber brings in the music log, they can operate normally, pending on their defined trust levels, while maintaining local clock structure, imaging, commercial traffic and more.
A couple behaviors to identify: GSelector will only override the Subscriber’s log as defined by the Subscription Manager profile and local clocks. For example, if the Publisher has 15 music positions and the local station has 10 music positions with a Music Only profile, then GSelector will only override the first 10 songs as scheduled by the Publisher. If we have the same 15 Publisher positions and the Subscriber has 20 positions, then GSelector will override the first 15 music positions with the Publisher’s music and then schedule the last 5 locally, based on the station’s Category Groups’ Priority List. If the Subscriber ever needs an override scheduled during an S3 hour, then use Local Blocks, featured within Clocks | Local Blocks.
It’s important to note that these workflows could be manual or automatic with GSelector’s Jobs. Featured within Tools | Configuration | Jobs, these Jobs include multiple options to automatically assign some of these daily tasks. If the Publisher hasn’t locked a log, then send an email to an administrator or simply lock the log for them. Automatically schedule the local Subscriber’s log or again, send the administrator an email if the day wasn’t scheduled or it was scheduled incorrectly. If you choose to, there are enough GSelector jobs so that you can automate your entire operation.
From companywide music logs to time saving micro tasks, maximize your programming with GSelector’s very powerful S3. If you’re looking to see how S3 can cater to your programming, don’t hesitate to reach out to your local RCS contact. Speaking of powerful tools, have you seen the latest enhancements in GSelector 5.1 or Zetta 5.22.1? They’re in Beta now and you can become a Beta user today! Or simply work for us because RCS is hiring a Field Technician Service installer.! Either way, we’ll be back next week for another RCS Live – every Thursday at 11am ET on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch and Twitter Live.