It’s time for another installment of RCS Live and this week we broke down some of the benefits of having an Enterprise Music Scheduler. First, what does an Enterprise mean? Per GSelector, think of it as a single database that houses multiple stations that can share metadata. In this video, we presented a couple users tips and tricks to maximize your station’s enterprise workflows.
First, we started by outlining different areas in GSelector that users can switch between stations. Think of your GSelector database as an island. All the stations inside that island are the people and they all can talk amongst themselves or per the metaphor, share metadata. Users can switch between stations by going to Stations | Selecting the desired station. GSelector will open that station for the user to work and then they can switch back via the same dropdown. If there’s another market, for VPs of Programming or other administrators, GSelector can connect to another database via Tools | Servers | Remote Service Hosts and define the description of the external GSelector database and the IP address of its server. Continuing the island metaphor, Remote Service Hosts act as a boat to travel between markets or databases to maintain active communication. Users can also jump between markets via File | Connect to Remote Service Host, which will close and reopen GSelector to allow the user to open their desired database and subsequent station.
GSelector also features Global or Station Specific attributes so that the user can either share certain attributes or isolate desired scheduling coding. Each attribute can be set via Setup | Station | Features | Attributes. Then within each Song metadata cart, anything to the left will be considered as a Global Attribute and anything to right will be station specific. In the video, we used Beyoncé as an example. We could use the Global Attribute Vocal: Female because we know that no matter what the format is, Beyoncé will always be Vocal: Female. Whereas, her songs could be interpreted as Sound Code: Pop on a Hip-Hop station vs. Sound Code: R&B on an AC station. If you are stuck understanding where that line is inside of GSelector, use the History window as a guide. Obviously, those are showing the spins of the open station, not every station in the database. Although, that can be found under the Analysis tab. If you wanted to copy an element across stations, utilize the Library | Songs | Multi-Station tab, which allows programmers to activate an element on a desired station(s), as well as copy the attributes and then save the asset in a specific category. Users can also copy many aspects of GSelector from one station to another. Make a note of the two folders with arrows icon marked “Copy to…” throughout GSelector. Just a couple examples, users can duplicate Clocks, Priority Lists, etc…
Programmers can also schedule multiple stations in a single session without having to close and reopen another station. The Scheduler | Multi Station tab will allow users to highlight their desired date range and stations. Click on the Schedule icon and GSelector will schedule each station’s logs, based on their regular defined scheduling process. Make a note of the Conflict Checker. This is used when you have elements that are shared across stations that perhaps you want to make sure a listener, who is tuning around the dial, isn’t hearing the same song on both of your stations. The Conflict Checker Settings will define the criteria you would like GSelector to consider as a “Conflict.” The threshold has the option to define a conflict of two songs via an overlap, two elements in the Same Hour, Adjacent Hour or a Custom Time Window. The Conflict Checker can also isolate conflicts based on Song, Title, Artist, Album, and/or Vocalists. From the administrator perspective, there are three workflows: Find will simply display the conflicts as defined by the Conflict Checker Settings, allowing the user to simply identify any conflicts or print the conflicts, both physical or as an PDF export, by going to File | Print. Fix will automatically let GSelector choose a new song based on a score and the station priority order from Tools | Administration | Security | Organizations and the up or down blue arrows on the right hand side. The last option, Fix Interactively, will run the Conflict Checker and then prompt the user to decide what element they wish to change.
If you want to search the entire database, GSelector is equipped with an Advanced Search option that will search not only the station loaded, but the entire database, allowing you to see the “big picture.” For example, if you wanted to see songs that were active or inactive, you would search for the Attribute: Active and True for the station and the Advanced Search will show all songs that are active, with the blue circle, in the database. Or, switch the Attribute: Active, False for the station and it will display all the elements not active on that open station with an orange square. Note the green plus icon to add additional fields and the black X at the top right of the Advanced Search to close this window.
But what happens when an administrator needs to review a certain change that was made in the database? Not just the single station, perhaps an unknown change that occurred within a database? Administrators can use GSelector’s User Activity to review all documented changes that are made within a GSelector database. These can be identified by a user, timestamp and asset alteration. At the bottom, users can further define their search based on numerous variables.
We’re still looking for GSelector 4.9.0 and Zetta 5.20.1 Beta users! If you’re interested in getting the latest and greatest from RCS, reach out to your local RCS office and let them know you would like to become a Beta power user. RSVP to the Events on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/RCSSoundSoftware and don’t forget to send us your “work from home” photos for some RCS goodies and we’ll see you live next Thursday at 11am ET.