Powergold Forum / Powergold Forums / FAQ

Total Plays

weskeene — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:07:53 GMT

You may have noticed a field on the song information screen called Total Plays. This field shows all plays for a given song, since it's inception into the system. This number is calculated by the scheduler and is not editable.

One interesting note about this field: it is not based on history. If you maintain a small history (by limiting the day range Powergold uses in Schedule Settings), the Total Plays number will be unaffected by this. This is normally good behavior but there may be situations where you would prefer that number to follow what is actually in history.

Please contact Powergold support if this is the case for your station. We have a very quick utility that will align the Total Plays number with what is currently in history and we would be happy to help you.

Automation Command Scheduler

weskeene — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:29:02 GMT

Powergold’s advanced clock system allows for a wide variety of non-music events to be placed side by side with songs. These non-music events can do everything from forcing an up tempo song at the top of an hour, to scheduling artist blocks, to automation commands. This article focuses on the last of these commands, and specifically how Powergold’s automation command schedules can make the interface between Powergold and your automation system more robust, trouble-free, and less error prone.

Music Director’s and Program Director’s think in terms of music and imaging, primarily. The main purpose of adjusting a clock from their perspective is to alter the flow of music or imaging elements to achieve a particular programming goal. Unfortunately, life isn’t always as simple as just programming music and imaging categories and then running schedules. Automation commands are a way of life in today’s computerized playout environment. These commands are put in Powergold clocks to achieve features like keeping an automation system running right on time (such as ENCO’s BRANCH commands), and satellite source switching for syndicated programming. Putting these commands directly into Powergold clocks poses no harm, but in many cases there is an alternative that keeps those commands behind the scenes and out of your clocks. Enter the automation command scheduler.

Automation command schedules allow users to build a completely autonomous set of schedules where commands are “superimposed” onto an existing schedule using 24 by 7, song by song granularity. This allows you to say I need a command at 3am only to run before the first song, and only on Monday’s schedule. This command would be placed into a command schedule, placed relative to song positions and never be seen again by MD’s or PD’s looking at their clocks. This simplification not only makes your clocks look cleaner, but it also reduces the possibility of an inadvertent deletion of the command or misplacement of it.

Of course, seldom would you have a command schedule consisting of just one command. Rather, you would plan out your programming week and build a command schedule that accounts for as many automation commands as you can think of for each hour of each day. Once you are finished the schedule can be renamed to something easy for you to remember, like “ENCO – Standard”. Multiple schedules can be created and managed using the Automation Command Schedule editor found on the edit menu at the top of the main Powergold window. These schedules can be “subbed” in and out for special purpose programming at different times of year, and even used to create a copy to prepare for a new automation system without losing your existing command schedule.

Command schedules work by looking at each song position in your Powergold music schedule and then determining if a command needs to be inserted at the position we are looking at. This happens after all music editing is completed, right when the automation output file is created. You never see these commands in a music log, and you never have to touch the schedules once they are created unless you change programming, or automation systems.

The editor has a variety of features built to make your life easier. A few of them are: a) printing an hour’s command schedule to a text file, b) printing an entire command schedule (24/7 worth of commands) to file, and c) copying one hours schedule to any other hour (even one on a different day, and even to multiple hours at a time). Using these tools it is easy to rapidly build a comprehensive command schedule, even if it’s highly complex and repetitive from hour to hour.

Keep in mind, the goal is to remove command positions from your programming clocks, if at all possible. For the most part this is easy, but you may encounter situations where it isn’t possible (or desirable) to put the command into a schedule. This doesn’t pose a problem for Powergold, as it will simply layer the command schedule onto your existing music schedule.

One note of caution: since these command schedules are behind the scenes, it can be easy to forget they are there. If you decide to use automation command schedules, it’s best to stick with them to minimize confusion, and try to avoid placing commands in your normal music clocks. Also, don’t forget to tell your automation output to use the schedule you create. Do this by going to the setup tab of Automation and checking the box labeled “Use Automation Command Scheduler”, the ellipse button next to this check box allows you to pick which schedule should be active.

For assistance setting up automation command schedules for your station, you can always call Powergold’s technical support, day or night, and we will walk you through it. Call us at 501-821-1123.

Artist Separation

weskeene — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:28:14 GMT

In general, artist separation is handled very smoothly in Powergold without any user intervention. However, there are special cases where getting more hands-on can help you build exactly the sound you want, when the “out of the box” behavior isn’t exactly what you need.

First a summary: Like many of Powergold’s rules, artist separation is handled at the category level. This means rules controlling how close any given artist in your library can play to itself is controlled directly by settings found in the Categories button on the main toolbar. In general, Powergold has always recommended keeping identical artist separation settings for every category you have. This can either be accomplished manually, by clicking on each category and verifying its artist separation setting is the same as the others, or you can run Automatic Setup found on the Edit menu of Powergold’s main window, which will set them for you. Because this rule is controlled at the category level, it is possible to set artist separation differently in different categories. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with doing that, but it can make the situation quite complex for you, the music programmer, so we generally advise against it.

Armed with that background knowledge, let’s discuss two common problems that come up.

Multiple artists: When a song has multiple artists, the music programmer needs to exercise care to make sure that all artists are listed correctly for a song. If you simply enter a new song into Powergold with multiple artists and take no extra steps, the result may not be what you expected. Let’s use an example: If you enter a song performed by Artist 1 featuring Artist 2, you might enter “Artist 1 F./ Artist 2”, “Artist 1/Artist 2”, or “Artist 1 Featuring Artist 2”. Unfortunately, neither of these options really arms Powergold with enough information to separate Artist 1 and Artist 2 from other plays of Artist 1 and Artist 2 that may appear individually in your schedules. Powergold simply sees “Artist 1 Featuring Artist 2” as its own separate artist brand new, having nothing to do with Artist 1 or Artist 2.

Confused yet? Well telling Powergold what you really want to happen is quite simple. Just keep the following rule of thumb in mind: Anytime you enter a song performed by multiple artists, they need to be entered separately in the Artist Separation list. To do this: from the Song Information screen, press the Artists button. This resulting screen lets you pick any artist in the database to add to your song. This is useful not only for adding multiple artists but for creating complex relationships between artists with changing names and/or group affiliations. If you don’t see the artists you need on this screen you can add a new one at any time by pressing the Artist Editor button and entering a new artist there. Once you are finished you can add the new artist to the song you are currently editing.

It’s important that for every song in your library that is credited to more than one artist, you have separate line entries for each artist within your artist separation list. This is an extra step but it’s essential for Powergold to give you the kind of control you need. Using our fictitious example from before, we can now be absolutely sure that our new song performed by Artist 1 Featuring Artist 2, will be perfectly protected against plays of songs by either Artist 1 or Artist 2.

Next let’s discuss special artist separation. Unlike using multiple artists (which can almost never be completely avoided), special artist separation can be totally avoided if you don’t need the power it offers. Remember, earlier we mentioned that artist separation is controlled at the category level by default. Well special artist separation gives us artist by artist controlling over Powergold’s behavior. While you may have set a 2 hour separation for artists in all of your categories, you may have a couple artists that really stand out and a little but goes a long way. If you choose, you can separate those artists even further by using special artist separation. To implement this on your station, from the Song Information screen, you would again click Artists, and then Artist Editor, and this time look toward the right hand side of the screen. For each policy you use, you can enter a time value and a point value you want used for this artist only. This overrides the artist separation settings you have set at the category level, but only for this single Artist.

Exercise caution when setting this up, as failure to set a time value for every policy or to enter a point value can result in absolutely NO artist separation for that artist (since the default artist separation will have been overridden with your custom settings). Settings you create in special artist separation are non-destructive. This means removing them at any point in the future leaves you with exactly what you had before you set them, the default category level settings.

Using special artist separation controls allows you to retain Powergold’s automatic handling of artist separation while easily giving you the flexibility to create special case rules for fringe artists in your format. As a side note, special song separation provides a very similar kind of control, only with respect to songs not artists.

As always, when changing your programming rules, you may have questions. Powergold’s experienced techs are always a phone call away to walk you through it and help you reach your music goals. Call us anytime at 501-821-1123.

Disabling rules

weskeene — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:47:17 GMT

Powergold offers a wide variety of rules programmers can use to get exactly the flow control and separations they are looking for. With great precision, users can control the exact sound of every hour, and ensure consistency from daypart to daypart.

However, occasionally it is useful to schedule songs in certain categories exactly in stack order, without respect to any rules. This is sometimes the case when scheduling very tightly rotating categories in a CHR format, for instance. In these cases, the programmer intentionally manipulates the stack order for a given folder and then schedules those passes in stack order only. When later scheduling passes happen, those folders/categories will be subjected to your normal rules, but your currents will have a precise pattern you control.

To implement this setup, locate a category you wish to remove all rules from using the main toolbar button labeled CATEGORIES.

Once you have located the category in question you need to disable all rules for that category. To do this, select each rule (one at a time) in the right hand pane of the CATEGORIES window. Ensure that on the right hand side you are on the OFFSETS AND SEPARATIONS tab. Edit each rule up by double clicking on it, or select it and then hit the ENTER key. On the resulting screen, uncheck the ENABLED option, and click OK to save the rule’s new setting. You will repeat this for each rule for this category.

The next step is to remove all property rule control. This can be done by flipping over to the PROPERTIES tab in the right hand pane of that same CATEGORIES window. Each property can be individually enabled or disabled on a category by category basis. You will want to double-click each property and remove the check labeled Enabled and click OK to save that property’s setting.

When you have completed these steps, no rule control at all will apply when scheduling this category and any folders located within this category. Note that some rules are also available at the folder level and it is possible to disable those rules at the folder level only. However, generally we would recommend doing this at the category level.

Note that all of the editing described here only affects the category you selected; no edits will be made to rules for other categories or the rules themselves. This is a very safe, targeted way of giving you precise control over the scheduling order in a single category.

Point values and scaling

weskeene — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:05:42 GMT

One common question we get at Micropower is where point values should be set on various rules.

This FAQ addresses how point scaling works and why you might want to change the point values on certain rules.

It's important to understand that point values have two roles before adjusting them:

1) To establish the importance of a particular rule with respect to other rules in your system. Naturally, an important rule for most stations is Artist Separation. Therefore, we might expect Artist Separation to have a fairly high point value like 100 points. By comparison, a relatively unimportant rule like Yesterday Artist Separation may have a much lower point value such as 20.

2) To allow the scheduling engine to "scale" the severity of a violation. Nearly all rules in Powergold offer scaling. This means that if you have a rule which says an artist can only play every 2 hours and it has 100 points, that an artist playing back to back would render the full 100 point violation. Scaling allows us to asses a lower number of points as the separation increases, so playing the same artist 1 hour and 59 minutes later is "close" to violation free, and would only be assessed 1 point of violation.

Because violation points have two roles, it is important to consider carefully any adjustments before making them. Powergold works hard to come up with the best song for a given clock position, but to do that you need to carefully identify the importance of a rule.

Here's a little more detail on point scaling: Earlier we discussed an artist separation rule of 2 hours and 100 points. As mentioned, the only way to actually be assessed 100 points would be to have the same artist play back to back. Artists playing further than 2 hours apart would, of course, be assessed no violation at all. Artists playing just one hour apart are 50 percent from your target (2 hours) so they would be assessed 50 percent of the total violation points for that rule, in this case 50 points.

A word of caution: when creating rules with very low point values, it may be possible to have that rule become ineffective. For instance, if you have a rule like 1 Week Separation at a low value of 5 points, this rule may often be discarded if digging further into the stack to avoid violations causes much more important rules like Offset from Self to be violated by the same or greater point values.

One final note: if you are just starting to adjust point values it may be helpful to simply create a few basic tiers and make all rules fall into one of them, say 100 points, 50 points, and 20 points. This will simplify rule management and provide a clear difference between important rules and less important ones. Powergold allows a maximum point value of 1001 to be assigned to a given rule which allows for a lot of room between important rules and less important ones.

Backups

Buddy — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:14:58 GMT

The question often arises, "How often should I make a Powergold backup?"

While there is no definitive answer as this is totally up to the user, let me stress this.

MAKE REGULAR BACKUPS!

Now with that said, personally I would make a backup of my Powergold data at least once a day, at the end of your workday. This is above and beyond the Automatic backup that Powergold creates daily the first time you close the program on any given day.

Where to store your backups.

By default your Automatic backups are saved in your data folder. i.e., C:\Program Files\Powergold\MyData for a database stored on your local machine.
For your regular backups I would suggest using an external drive and/or a network folder. This way you have a backup that is stored away from the local machine in case of Hard Drive failure.

Change to Daylight Saving Time

Lance (Powergold) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 14:38:48 GMT

Many of our users are in locations affected by the new changes to Daylight Saving Time. Powergold does not have to be updated to work properly with the changes because Powergold relies on Windows Regional Settings to inform it of all time zone specific information.

However, Windows must be made aware of the changes. Microsoft has provided a Windows update to address this issue. Unfortunately as of this date Microsoft has not made it a priority update. This means your Windows Automatic Update will not get this update automatically.

So if you or your network administrator has not already installed the Windows update you will need to do one of the following:

1. You can get the update at the Windows (or Microsoft) update website. It is located in the Optional Software Updates section and its update number is 928388.

2. Or you can get it directly from the Microsoft knowledgebase website at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928388.

Essentially for some users (depending on location) Daylight Saving Time will begin earlier and end later. This year, for example, it will begin on March 11, 2007. If Windows is not aware of the new date it will not cause a major problem in Powergold. However, it will mean Powergold will adjust the schedule for Daylight Saving Time on the wrong dates. This could cause some confusion, especially with automation systems.

If you are not sure if you have this update you can check with your administrator or contact Powergold support at 501-821-1123 or support@powergold.com and we will be happy to help you determine if your Windows has been upgraded. Or you can download and run the following application that lists your DST settings: www.powergold.com/files/DSTSettings.exe.

Thank you,

Powergold System Requirements

Lance (Powergold) — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 12:30:35 GMT

Operating System: Your computer's operating system must be either Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows ME, or Windows NT 4.0. Windows XP is highly recommended.

Hardware: Minimum required hardware is a 233 MHz Pentium II or higher and 64mb of memory or more. However, we recommend at least a 1GHz+ Pentium III with 512MB or more of RAM for spectacular performance. We also require a minimum 800x600 display resolution.

Network: If you plan to network your Powergold database(s) then you will need to use network hardware with speeds of 100Mbit or greater.