Radio Automation OptionsJoel Willer / KXULAaron Read / WEOS

More than just a computer and sound card…and why a Winamp playlist doesn't (usually) cut it !

Why do you need automation? Your listeners demand 24/7/365 operation. You need the freedom to de-air live staff that are

being disciplined. Sometimes you gotta lay on the smackdown.

Protect against 73.561 time-share challenges. Technically only @ license-renewal, but can be referenced from any

time between renewals!

Can also be used to enhance live DJ operation, and reduce CD theft impact.

Why do people hate (hate, hate,

HATE) automation? Because a lot of stations do it very badly!

Reduce playlist diversity and to lay off staff.When done cheaply/poorly, it sounds like crap. It requires approximately 1 hour of work for

every 3 - 8 hours of programming. Think about how much work that means every day.

When done right it can sound exactly like your live DJ’s. In some cases, better!

Just how much automation do you need? Determined by various factors:

Format of your station. More genre diversity = Exponentially more work.

Size of your music library. Rip CD’s in house or outsource? Moondogdigital.com

Man-hours available now & long-term. Expect to spend several hours every week just on updating.

Budget for hardware, maintenance & upgrades. The piper is always paid! See next slide…

Piper is always paid?

Cannot treat this like a desktop PC project where you get the cheapest HW/SW you can scrounge.

This is a mission-critical application that must run reliably 24 / 7 / 365 and be used by many people!

Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy! Multiple, mirrored hard drives (RAID) Regular, off-site DVD-ROM backups UPS / Battery backups Redundant hardware (on hot or warm standby)

Ideally – can be switched to remotely via cellphone/wireless internet or will switch automatically.

If it can possibly fail at the worst possible time, it will!

On the other hand:What’s the cost of failure? What does each minute of dead air (automation failure)

cost your station? Underwriting make goods? Lost listeners / indirect impact at fundraisers? College admins’ respect / indirect impact with annual budget? Other factors?

Commercial & big pubradio stations spend a lot on automation because every minute of downtime can cost them $1000’s or more. May not cost your station as much. If you shut down for overnights and weekends anyways, the cost

per minute of dead air is probably a lot less.

Holy #$%&!!! Why is AudioVault so EXPENSIVE?!?!?…or Enco, or Prophet, or Dalet, or Google (formerly Scott Systems)

Like many things in radio, you don’t really pay for the equipment or software itself – you pay for the SERVICE! Adapting to new paradigms: ContentDepot, AAC vs. MP3 When your automation system barfs hard at 3:00am in a

snowstorm…or when your genius techie wizard student graduates and nobody after him/her knows how all this stuff works? The bigger companies are the ones you can call for help.

Updating to new Operating Systems / User Conditions Not every vendor is automatically going to have the best

service plan for your station just because they’re expensive – ask stations similar to yours for advice & happy/horror stories.

Examples: I’m Completely Broke. $0 aka FREE! Winamp Radio Scheduler

http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details/138768 Freeware Visual Basic plugin for Winamp Very basic, but surprising features for freeware. It can schedule

playlists, jingles/legal ID’s, and have heavy rotation. No voicetracking ability; this cannot realistically sound like a live DJ is in the

station. No live-assist ability, either. Good if you’re “testing the waters”, or don’t care too much about how it

sounds; you just want something on the air. Requires an innate knowledge of Winamp playlists to really set up right, though.

Software is free, but don’t be too cheap with your computer…it’s gotta be reliable enough to run 24/7/365.

ZERO tech support!!!

I’m Merely a Cheap S.O.B. $100 - $1000 range JockeyPro LT

http://www.11software.com Is the cheapest ($99) automation software that has some form of

voicetracking ability. Also has playlist scheduling/dayparting. Also has decent live-assist functionality

Has quirks – will not play improperly encoded MP3’s, won’t play anything but MP3’s or WAV’s. Requires you to set InQ/OutQ points for every track you load (this is something you really should do anyways, but it’s very tedious at first)

Historically, 11software has poor track record on tech support. “Turn-key” systems offered, but specs are a little shady.

Good choice for a station that has one or two professional employees, a very involved faculty advisor, and/or a good track record of skilled students, to help keep the automation updated and running.

I’m Merely a Cheap SOB. $100 - $1000 range Raduga ($150-$1000)

Doesn’t offer much over WRS but costs a lot more. Tech Support is minimal, software is “buggy” (won’t play MP3’s if wrong encoding algorithm was used)

Arrakis – Digilink Xtreme ($100/month) Pretty cheap, but Arrakis’ track record for quality is not good.

MegaSeg ($250) Gets high praise from users, runs on a Mac (plus or minus?).

Really more of a DJ-style program than a radio station automation program.

Many others (OTSjuke, Spacial Audio SAM, etc etc etc)

I have some money...not much$1000 - $10000 range This is an awkward range, it’s not cheap, but there’s a

limit to functionality & support you’ll get. BSI’s Simian - http://www.bsiusa.com

Generally has all the functionality of the “big boys”; voicetracking, live-assist, dayparting, scheduling, etc.

They do offer good “Turn-key” systems. Some find it clunky and hard to use…especially to set up.

Others say it’s “bulletproof” once set up. Support is much better than freeware, but it may or may not be

enough for your needs. Probably not enough if you don’t have a fulltime manager or very

involved faculty advisor. Wireready - http://www.wireready.com

I have some money...not much$1000 - $10000 range Audiovault, Enco & others may have sub-$10k versions, but these

are hard-core systems being stripped down to make it cost less. Probably overkill and/or too complicated for your needs, but lacks the top-notch service.

One exception: Enco & PRSS ContentDepot requires an automation system to work. So if you don’t

have a compatible one, PRSS will provide you with a very basic Enco system. (as part of what you pay to be a PRSS member)

This is barely an “automation” system, though. In some ways it’s less functional than WRS. However, for not too much extra money you can get a more functional Enco.

Moral of the story: if you are thinking of getting pubradio programming and don’t have automation, consider Enco!

I have mad money! $10000 - $50000+ Audiovault, Enco, Prophet Systems, Dalet, Google

Automation (aka Scott Systems), etc All excellent systems, but be sure you need all the features they

offer…otherwise it could just be too complicated for lightly-trained staff to use and (more importantly) maintain.

Fortunately, all have knowledgeable sales staffs – call them up and explain your situation, if they’re right or not right for you, they’ll tell you honestly.

FYI – Prophet was created specifically for Clear Channel stations; with their giant sell-off of their stations, support may or may not wane. Either way it was designed for CC’s needs (esp. sharing of commercials and voicetracking across CC stations in different markets) which may or may not line up with your needs.

Final Thoughts

Questions – tell us your situation, we’ll try and recommend a good place to start.

One last thing: don’t look at your budget and say “We can’t afford to do this.” Look at your broadcast needs and decide if you can’t afford not to do this…and then figure out how to raise funds or cut costs accordingly.

Aaron Read & Joel Willer can both be reached via the CBI listserv. Sign up at www.askcbi.org

Aaron’s blog : www.friedbagels.com/blog