Public Interactive Composer

program guide | playlists

Program Schedule/Guide

Entering Short Programs into your Guide
For programs less than 30 mins long, enter the info in the program description field for the longer program. See 9 AM, or 12 PM noon block.

NPR/PRI in your Guide
You can add the NPR/PRI JavaScript promos to your Program Guide. Just Paste the JavaScript into the Program Description field. You can still add your own text before or after the program information.

For examples, see:
WAMC and WPR

If you use the automated Composer "Now on Air" feed on your home page, this program-specific information feeds automatically as well.

Enter Day-Specific Program Information in your Guide

Enter program specific information, such as special guests or topics, into your Composer program schedule ahead of time.

To Enter Program Specific Information:

• Click Create Edit Program Guide.
• Change the date using drop down options and Click Change Date.
• Click Edit for the desired day and time.
• In the Edit Type field, Select Today Only.
• Add other information (such as special guest) to the program description field and Click Save.

Bonus: You can feed this information to your home page using our automated JavaScript feeds.

Feed Program "Now on Air"
Easily feed information about the program now on air and up next from your Public Interactive Composer to your home page. Feed the program information, host, playlist links, time, and other details using our classic automated JavaScript.

• Note: If you do not stream with us, set the last parameter to 0 instead of 1.
• Examples of the Automated "On Air" Feed: KUVO, WFCR

PLAYLISTING TIPS

Playlists and Editing your Guide: Order of Operations:
Make all necessary edits in your Program Guide Manager BEFORE entering your playlists. If you enter a playlist, and then make a today only edit, you risk losing your playlist link, or ending up with duplicate playlists.

Edit programs rather than deleting them when possible. If you delete a program that has playlists associated with it, those playlists become 'orphaned'. They remain in the system, but they are not findable. We can reattach the playlists to a program if you can let us know the name of the program your delted and re-added.

Edit vs. Override:

• EDIT: Use Edit for most changes, global changes and today only changes.
• OVERRIDE: Use override for changes of a minimum of one week. When using override, the time frame for the overriding program must match.

Limited Access Host Accounts
When assigning programs to your host accounts, hold down the CTRL (Control) key to Select more than one program.

Search the Song Database

To Search the Song Database:

• Click Create/Edit Playlist.
• Find the day and time on the grid, and Click Add Playlist.
• Select your display fields, and Click through to the Add Song form.
• Click Search For Song In Database.
• Enter at least one character in both the Name and Song Title fields.
• Click the Search for Song button at the bottom of the page. The system  searches the database and displays all matches.
• Scroll through the matches. If you see the song you want, Click Add Song. If you don't see the song you're looking for, Click Cancel.

Moving a Misdated Playlist

To Correct the Date on a Playlist:

• Go to your Composer Admin Tools: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/xxxx/guide.guideadmin (substitute your call letters in for the ‘xxxx’ in the web address)
• Click on Report Generator and Run a Full Detail Report for the date on which the playlist was incorrectly placed.
  
• Save this File to your Desktop.
• Modify the Export File to contain the playlist data just for the particular show in question, editing out other program playlists entered on that day.
• Go to the correct date and import the New Playlist File.
• Once you have uploaded the playlist on the correct date, Go Back and Delete the original playlist from the incorrect date.

Importing Playlists from Excel
Contact your client relations manager for sample import files. Import files must be in tab delimited ASCII (text) format. The system cannot process nonASCII formats such as Microsoft Word or Excel files, but you can work in Excel as long as you save the file as a Tab Delimited Text File (.txt).

To Save an Excel Files as a Tab Delimited Text File:

• Open a new file in Excel.
• Add the desired Field Names to the first row (see your the Documentation section of Composer Admin Tools for the list). This row defines the fields that are imported. Case matters, but order is not relevant.

• Enter song information in the rows that follow.
• When ready to save the file, Click Save as. Name the file as you choose, but do not use spaces or special character in the file name.
  
• In the file type menu, Select 'Text (Tab Delimited) .txt' and Click Save. The resulting file should have the .txt extension. The '.txt.xls' extension is not compatible.

• TEST YOUR FILE: Double-Click on the file to open it. A plain text editor, such as 'Note Pad' opens your file. The columns do not line up in plain text.

Importing Playlists from Microsoft Word You can convert the information from Word and save as a Tab Delimited Text File.
To Save a Word Files as a Tab Delimited Text File:

• Open a new file in Word.
  
• Set-up a table and Add the desired Field Names to the first row of the table (see your the Documentation section of Composer Admin Tools for the list). This row defines the fields are being imported. Case matters, but order is not relevant.
• Enter the Playlist Information in this table.
• When you are finished, Convert the Table to Text.
• Separate information with tabs.
• Save file as Text Only (.txt)

Saving Playlist Searches
With Composer, it is possible to save playlist searches and link to the results from a program specific search. This results in a link for the programs to include on their program page:

To Include Links on a Playlist:

• Log in to your Composer Admin Tools
• Scroll down to the Documentation section
• Click Generating Playlist Search Links.
• Complete the form. Copy and Paste the resulting code.
• KERA Music bucket in the left column, Click on 90.1 at Night

Classical: Composer vs Artist Name
The Playlist Interface requires an Artist field because the RIAA requires a field labeled Artist. We understand that this can be confusing for classical music, however this is what the RIAA requires. We recommend that you put the composer in composer field, and the performer or soloist into the Artist field. If none, put a blank space into the Artist field.

Automated C24 Playlists in Public Interactive Composer
C24 Playlists can be automatically fed into your Public Interactive Composer account, keeping a visitor on your site, rather than sending them off to the C24 web site. If you carry C24, a simple edit in your Admin Tools enables you to receive automated playlists for the hours you broadcast C24. This playlist information is also automatically included in your playlist reports.

C24 Playlist Examples: WXEL and WMHT

To Feed C24 Playlists into Composer:

• Click Create/Edit Program Guide (Program Guide Manager)
• Click Edit for the program that is C24.
  

NOTE: If you link off to the MPR site for playlist information, you may wish to remove that link.

• Scroll down to the Program Format Field and Select Classical: C24 from the drop-down menu.
• Click Next. You'll end up back at the Program Guide Manager screen.
• Click Go live with changes button. C24 playlists load automatically from that date forward.

Character limits for each Playlist field:
SONG_TITLE 200
ARTIST_NAME 200
CD_NAME 200
TRACK_NUMBER 2
TRACK_LABEL 200
CATALOG_NUMBER 100
UPC 100
NOTES 255
COPYRIGHT 50
COMPOSER 150
CONDUCTOR 100
ORCHESTRA 100
INSTRUMENT 100
COMMERCE_LINK 255

Accent Marks
Accent marks can tricky to enter online. The best way to enter them into any of our modules is to use the HTML mark up characters. See a site like:  http://www.ascii.cl/htmlcodes.htm

Enter the HTML code from the 'HTML code' column where the accented letter should appear.