You can easily schedule audio events with your favorite pre-recorded shows using the Scheduling Tool. Before you can schedule an event, make sure you have a Playlist or MultiTrack ready to insert into the Event you are creating.


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Tip: You may have access to 1 or more Live365 stations. See our Dashboard Navigation article to learn more about selecting the station which you want to work with. Once on that Station's Overview page, you can then follow along.


Click on the Events tab in the Station Menu.


To create an event, click on the "Create Event" button in the bottom right corner of the Events pane.

Schedule MultiTrack Files


There are two ways to schedule a MultiTrack:

  1. Create an event directly using the MultiTrack media type as a source.

  2. Add the MultiTrack into a Playlist among other tracks from your library, then schedule the event with the new playlist as a source.

    a) Click on the Schedule tab in the Station Menu. Next, select Playlists from the drop-down menu.
    b) Click on the orange "Add Playlist" button located in the upper right corner of the Playlists pane.
    c) Insert the playlist's details and save it. Then, click on the new playlist to add tracks.
    d) Add your MultiTrack to the Playlist among other tracks that you wish to play in the event.

    e) Navigate back to the Events tab and click on the "Create Event" button, then create the event with the new playlist as a source.


Description of each of the event editor options and fields:


This window is the same as when you are scheduling regular Playlists or ClockWheels. However, we wanted to cover the details within this article as well.


Title - Give your Event a title. Your Event titles are not visible to your listeners. This will help you navigate your Schedule.


Start Time - Check the Event Start date and time. Note that the system needs about 30 minutes to get tracks queued up for the event. You should schedule events at least 30 minutes from the current time if you are programming for the same day as the Event.


Duration - Select a duration for your Event. Make sure the Event is long enough to fit the desired Playlist or MultiTrack. If the Event duration is longer than the Playlist or MultiTrack, they will loop to fill the Event slot (given that looping the material satisfies the DMCA rules).


Source - Select whether you will be populating the Event with a Playlist, MultiTrack, or ClockWheel. (Read more about the ClockWheels feature here.)


Scheduling - Select Strict or Flexible Event type. Strict Event types will start at the exact specified Event start time. They might cut off the previous track in the middle if the Event start time has been reached. Flexible Event types will delay their starts until the previous track has finished. (You can read more about strict versus flexible Events here.)


Crossfade - Check this option if you would like for the scheduled tracks to crossfade, based on the Duration, Type, and Fade in/out parameters that you set in Streaming ➡ AutoDJ ➡ Crossfade. This feature is disabled for the MultiTrack media type.


Recurring - You can select the days that you would like to have the scheduled event play. Click the check box next to "Recurring" to open the options pane. You will see a checkmark next to the day you originally selected. If applicable, check each day that you would like the "Source" (Playlist, MultiTrack, or ClockWheel) to run. You can read more about Recurring Events here.


Until - When you click to start a recurring event, you will be prompted for a "Repeat Until" date for your scheduled event. Click in the box to open the calendar, where you will be able to select the time and date the event will end.  




There are a couple of error notifications related to MultiTrack events.


The DMCA rules and checks apply to markers inside the MultiTrack files. If your scheduled Event does not pass the DMCA check, an error notification will be displayed at the top right of the event window. If your Event passes the DMCA check, your Scheduler will show the Event you have just created.

 

If the Music markers of a MultiTrack do not have complete metadata (Title, Artist, and Album), then the following error notification will be displayed when attempting to create an event:


If you are using ads inside the MultiTrack, the playback duration of the file is not automatically modified. You will need to add up the number of minutes of ads you have placed in order to find the total event duration.



Updates and notes for the scheduler


While these updates and notes are covered in the main Scheduling Events article, we wanted to include them here for quick reference.


2021 Update: There are no options for editing existing events with this current version of the Scheduler. Our developers are looking into bringing more event editor options to the interface in the future. We have intentionally restricted editing at this time because it was causing major issues with stations' programming and playback. There are several concerns and technical limitations as to why we locked down making changes that would affect existing scheduled events. 

Here are the scenarios that we aim to avoid:

- Scheduled events overlapping each other.
- Multiple instances of an event running at the same time.
- Recurring events which disappear when editing an existing series of events.
- Silence due to database conflicts resulting from editing events.

It's all in the name of a more resilient platform. Editing the events or files that comprise existing events brought havoc to the database systems behind the scenes of our broadcasters' stations.


Note: We recommend against having too many back-to-back Events in your schedule, especially if they have flexible starts. It can cause problems for troubleshooting and ad insertion. We recommend having at least 1 hour of gap in your schedule per 24 hours of programming. You can do this during an off-peak time.

This concludes the series of MultiTrack help articles. We hope you now have a great understanding of how the feature works. If you have any questions at all, please email our Support team at any time: [email protected]


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