Public Blog

We released some small Composer Pro updates, most small updates related to usability and design, and including 2 fun small features:

• Name that guide: You can now name your program guide something other than just “Program Guide”. This is especially helpful if you have multiple signals. Click Program Guide Wizard.
• Feed programs up next. In addition to feeding the next program, you will be able to list more programs up next.
• New parameter 9: Number of upcoming programs to show:
  • NOTE: Use only when parameter 1 is set to “2″.
  • This parameter can be left blank.
  • Displays up to 5 upcoming programs

We’re scheduling some Composer Pro training on Monday Aug 16, 2 PM ET. We’ll review entering and editing schedules, playlist import and more. Let us know if you’re interested in joining this session or a future one.

And let us know if you’re interested in training/review sessions for other services as well.

We’ve updated the user guide for Composer Pro to reflect some of the recent upgrades and changes. If you don’t have a recent copy, now’s a good time to download a new version. It’s also accessible from your Composer Pro admin screen.

We’re also planning some training sessions, if you’re new to Composer Pro, or would like a refresher, please let me know.

You may have heard about the new option for syndicated programs in Composer Pro and Basic. We’re collecting playlists for syndicated programs for SoundExchange reporting, and with Pro, this also means you’ll also be able to display syndicated program playlists (for the programs that are currently providing them to us).

To accommodate this change, we updated the way the add program options work. We also did our best to make sure your existing syndicated programs are now marked properly, but we may have missed a few here and there.

To make sure syndicated programs are entered correctly in your Program Guide, please check the following.

Program drop down: This contains a list of all programs currently in use on your program guide. Syndicated programs are listed in red, see below.

We have also made a few other Composer Pro™ updates, including:

• Editing the export format to match the SX format: Now you can import the playlist file that you export without having to make quite so many changes.
• Re-ordering the Add Song Manually fields so that the SX required fields are listed together.
• Streamlining the way you enter syndicated programs into your program schedule.
• Creating a link to the most current playlist within the last 24 hours:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wfcr/guide.guidemain?action=viewMostRecentPlaylist

We’re thrilled to roll out a new, much-requested, Composer Pro™ feature  — the ability to import all playlists for a full day from one single file!

• Go to add a playlist for the desired day, and click on the new link/icon “Import Full Day“ at the top of each column, right below the date.
• Follow the steps, and import one playlist file, formatted as usual.
• You will see individual playlists added for each program that day.
• You can edit those individual playlist as usual.
• You can still add an individual playlist for any program that does not have one.

Syndicated Show Playlists

As you know, as part of SoundExchange, we’re starting to collect playlist information for syndicated programs, in addition to C24, for reporting purposes.

And since we have it, we thought it would be nice to share it.  We’ll be able to start making these playlists available for your listeners to browse and search from your Composer Pro program guide soon.

The initial list is not complete of course, but it’s not bad. We’ll of course continue to work with program producers to collect more and more playlist data.

For the most current list, see the Sound Exchange Blog.

As you may know, we have an exciting new Composer Pro feature in the works, based on your feedback.. It’s the ability to import a full day’s worth of playlists from just one file!

We’re getting there, but we need some help testing - if you’d like to help test and get a sneak a preview, please let me know.

Thanks!

Suzanne

We continue to improve Public Interactive Composer Pro based on your needs and feedback. Here are a few new features in the works right now.

Improving Playlist Import

Filters: We recently updated the playlist import filters for Composer Pro and continue to think about ways to make this task easier for stations. Here is the current complete list of playlist import filters:

• Music Master
• Music Librarian
• Music Director
• Selector
• SoundExchange
• Generic tab delimited text

We’re also currently starting to work on an option to import a full day’s worth of playlist information from one file. Stay tuned!

We’re also working on a few smaller updates, like updating the order of the Add Song Manually fields so that the SX required fields are listed together and improving the way you enter syndicated programs into your schedule.

Syndicated Show Playlists

In Composer Pro, we recently updated the playlist import filters for Music Master and Music Librarian to match more recent versions (as well as older ones) and added an option for Selector.

We also added a new format - you can also now import playlist information in the standard SoundExchange playlist format!

Current complete list of playlist import filters:

• Music Master
• Music Librarian
• Music Director
• Selector
• SoundExchange
• Generic tab delimited text

Interested in importing your playlist information in other formats? Have ideas about other ways to import playlist data? Let us know!