So, you have your GSelector Priority List nice and organized, but you’re curious about the Rotation Rules Window, a very powerful area that includes customizable scheduling techniques. Many users simply don’t spend enough time working within this window or they’re wrongly intimidated by the available options. This week, we dedicated an RCS Live session to better understand what is happening in Rotation Rules Window. Aside from tips and tricks, we also clarified each rule and identified options to work smarter, not harder, within this window.
Let’s start with where users can find the Rotation Rules Window. There’s a global location found within Goals | Priorities or attribute specific within Goals | Balance | {Attribute subtab} | Blue or white/green missing quarter hour icon: Rotation Rules Window. Remember that each Rotation Rule Window is specific to the categories assigned via a Priority List. For example, if your Gold category is assigned to the “Gold” Priority List, then if you highlight the “Gold” Priority List and open the Rotation Rules Window, you’ll see the assigned Gold category and it’s corresponding rules.
Aside from Grouping Dayparts (Setup | Dayparts | Definition | Group), we reviewed how to double click on the window header to maximize or restore the size. Also note the F3 to copy the cell or F8 to copy and paste the entire row. Programmers can utilize the Filter to isolate any desired fields, as well as the Grouping dropdown to combine similar metadata. It’s extremely important to make sure users are familiar with the Show Assigned Values checkbox. Since most users typically inherit a GSelector database, most likely there are already values saved within the Rotation Rules Window. However, if you want to add additional rules, these unused fields may be hidden due to the checked Show Assigned Values. Remember, as a piece of software, GSelector will only do what you tell it to do. So, if you’re telling GSelector to only show the assigned values, then GSelector will not display the countless available fields. If you’re looking to implement new rules, open the Rotation Rules Window, uncheck Show Assigned Values, perhaps filter by the specific attribute and add your rule values.
Next, we broke down each column rule. Of course, each of these are more elaborated via GSelector’s F1 Dynamic Help guide, but we’ll briefly summarize them here. Spread Goals will determine when GSelector should “ignore” the score and reset the element’s score to 100. Min Sep, or Minimum Separation, is a classic scheduling rule, defining how much time must go by before the field is allowed to schedule again. Max Sep, or Maximum Separation, is the reverse: how long something can wait until it has to be scheduled. Note the difference of time duration versus Max Skip, which acts as a count. Daypart Rotation will control how long GSelector will hold an element out of a daypart before returning to the originally scheduled daypart. Hour Rotation behaves similar, with the specific hour, but it’s very important to remember that GSelector will rotate the hour as defined by its corresponding daypart. For example, if PM Drive is from 3pm – 7pm and the Hour Rotation is set to 2, then if a song was scheduled at 3pm, GSelector must schedule it within 4pm, 5pm or 6pm two additional times before scheduling it again in the 3pm hour. Days Out of Daypart and Days Out of Hour both represent the value in which an element can schedule before it must return to the original scheduled daypart or hour.
Then we have Play Window, which is controlled by the number of previous spins and a time value. For example, if there’s a Play Window of 1 spin and a plus/minus of 4 hours, if a song was scheduled for Wednesday at 12pm, then on Thursday, GSelector cannot schedule the next spin between 8am and 4pm because it falls within the +/- play window. Yesterday, Prior Day and Past Day all perform in similar methods. Essentially, don’t schedule Yesterday: Monday 12pm and Today: Tuesday 12pm or Prior Day: Wednesday at 12pm. Versus don’t schedule Monday 11:50am and Tuesday 12:02pm, which technically isn’t the same hour, but programmers agree, those spins are too close together. Past Day simply allows the programmer to look back at and score 7 full days past the original scheduled date. Users can define their Days of the Week via Setup | Station | Day of the Week.
Since GSelector is doing the heavy lifting during the scheduling process, it’s common for programmers to leave some flexibility within the Rotation Rules Window. Use the Goals | Balance to get real live rotations and apply some of those values within specific dayparts. Just because an Hour Rotation of 5 works for the six hour Overnight, doesn’t mean it’s going to blindly work for the four hour PM Drive.
Finally, we answered some user driven questions like scheduling two identical songs, with one featuring a “Built In Intro (Setup | Station | Features | Attributes | Enable Song Identification).” Or how to setup sweepers within a Spot Block, known as Interstitials. Schedule Traffic Load positions, then include a desired sweeper and return to the final traffic load position.
We just announced all the first quarter RCS Live topics, so set your reminders for RCS Live every Thursday at 11am ET on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch and Twitter Live. If you’re looking to utilize the latest and greatest RCS features, you can become a beta user! Zetta 5.21.2 and GSelector 5.0 are in Beta right now, so reach out to your local RCS contact to find out about becoming a Beta user. From music and traffic logs, to automation, remote capabilities, cloud, news, streaming and more, RCS is your radio integration solution.