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ZaraRadio Playlists vs "Events"

N

nleibo

Guest
Hi Folks:
Trying to ascertain IF I can run a playlist on Zara Radio Automation then run a (Scheduled) "Event", and return to the playlist and continue from the point it was stopped for the "Event".

T-I-A!!
 
I believe if you save the playlist as a ".pls" file rather than a ".list" it will start up where you left off, the next time the file is called up.
 
Yes. We run Zara Studio here at WLBE 790 AM and we love it. Music format with some local talk. Super simple - may not be enough of a system for some stations, but it is perfect for us. I haven't even tried to see how all of the bells and whistles work and it still works great for us.

Once you start the playlist, it will be interrupted for the events you schedule. We use a "delayed" setting in almost all cases as that will allow for the song to end and then the event will be triggered. Once the event or events have played, the system will go right back to the playlist where it left off. As long as the stop button isn't pushed or a stop included in the events, it will continue to play from the playlist until the next event occurs.
 
Hello fellow broadcasters and radio enthusiasts,

On the same note talking about the Zara automation software -- I was curious as to those who use it. How do you do use a 'clock reset' at the top of the hour to make sure the Legal ID airs on the dot (or close proximity to it anyway) without cutting off the music (set playlist). I set the Legal ID to immediate to make sure shows air on time... then use a selected instrumental music to be played just before the top of the hour timing it just after underwriting and PSAs. Any thoughts of improvement? THanks so much in advance!!

RF Nerd
 
There is no requirement to play the ID "on the dot". It can be played within a reasonable time before or after the TOH. We set all events with a 10 minute delay period. That allows the song to end and then the ID to play.

We are an AM station with a huge signal in central Florida. Check out how Zara sounds online at www.my790am.com. As I said, I haven't even touched most of the bells and whistle as we run a very clean simple local station.

Zara also has a great fade/overlap feature. You can disable it for commercials and IDs by putting "~0" behind the name of the file.
 
Hi Walters,

Thanks for the reply. I will check out your stream online. I knew that the Legal IDs technically don't have to be "on the dot". I understand what you explained about having the music preempt the legal ID. I have actually had the Legal IDs on delay in the first start, but it is not very efficient on time when you have a tight clock module. There are talk and music shows that need to be aired on the dot, otherwise it will mess up the scheduled underwriting and announcements and the timing will be off a bit when the shows start or finish. So basically I have the Top of Hour ID be the 'clock reset' to re sync the programming to be precisely on time. That is the only thing I know what to do at the moment.
Thank you for reminding me of the fade/overlap feature. I will utilize the "~0" commend within the file name. Thanks for your time and help.

- RF Nerd
 
Another neat trick I've found with Zara is that you can insert a folder of items as a 'random track', by merely right clicking on the desired folder in the file tree and select 'Insert As Random Track'.

So, for instance, you could create a folder called 'Station IDs - 10 seconds' and drop several 10 second IDs in that folder. Zara will play one at random when the folder comes up in the playlist. Sort of like a cart with multiple cuts on it. .

We run playlists as hour long events 24/7, 168 playlists in a rotating fashion each week. Lists are associated with hourly events (for example, the playlist for THURSDAY1500 will play at 3pm on Thursday, THURSDAY1600 plays at 4pm on Thursday and so on). Some playlists have content, some are merely 'placeholders' with no audio in them (this is for live shows). If we have a programmer that will be unable to be live during their show, we can drop an archived program in the correct day and hour playlist and Zara will play it.

I've been trying to find an excuse to switch another system that is a bit more feature rich with music, namely Rivendell or MixTime - DirEttore. Zara keeps trucking along, which is why we are still sticking with it for now.

Thanks,

-mattthepm
Radio Free Nashville
 
It is a clean easy system - and it runs more reliably than systems that are far more expensive. The free version is actually a heck of a system - especially for free.
 
Do you make several playlists or just play from random folders.I have 3 random folders 60,70,80.But i get repeats everyday doing it this way.any better solution??


edit" Just read Matts post.guess several playlist are the solution...Each of my folders have about 600 tunes so it puzzle me i would have repeats daily...
 
I use folders with 60's, 70's etc. like you. I have 1500 songs so there is little repeating - I run the playlist on repeat so the songs are days apart, and then shuffle it each week one time so the sequence changes.
 
thanks for the tip.You have a very interesting station.Very community focused.Bet that 790 booms.Love those old swap shop shows and so do listeners.keep up the good work.
 
check the signal on radio-locator.com big day signal, good equipment, great music nothing past about 1975
 
Zara can actually be set to get pretty damn close to the top.
Ive used Zara for YEARS on my stations, TOH ID usually came either right on the money for just 1-2 minutes after.
My key was totally scheduling EVERYTHING into the events folder.
Basically programmed it to randomly select songs from categorized folders.
ex. A B C D E F G
Factor in most songs I played were ~3-5 minutes long, schedule accordingly in the events, allow for some variance, commercials, and identifiers; Bam you got a tight clock. I never completely downed on the dot network programming though, usually a song would get cut off. I had an idea to run a generic instrumental before network join but I never got around to it.
 
Never really worried about the TOH as we run a self programmed music format and almost no satellites, so a tight clock really doesn't matter to us. I can see how tough it would be to get it to hit close - I just run everything on a ten minute delay setting and it happens when the song runs out.
 
If you need to meet a satellite feed, like a newscast, the easy way to do it is to record the feed and play it back at the end of whatever song is playing. I do this on my station, and it hits plus or minus 90 seconds most of the time. To record, a handy program to use is called "Total Recorder." http://www.totalrecorder.com/ It is very stable, easy to program record start and stop times and costs less than $20.
 
New ZaraRadio user

Hi everyone...I'm new to ZaraRadio. I'm putting a Part 15 AM station on the air that I intend to operate from my home.

It's nice to know that so many are using ZaraRadio. I had intended to use RadioDJ, but since it's server-dependent, and I'm not THAT computer savvy to the point where I can figure out how to get two entirely different computer software programs to talk to each other (the other is the MySQL server), I abandoned the idea, though RadioDJ does look pretty. I had a hard time getting audio files to import, so that's why I quit using it.

LibertyNT...when you say you schedule EVERYTHING into the events folder, by that, do you mean that you schedule a file from a music folder to play as you would a time or temperature announcement or weather forecast?
 
mattthepm said:
Another neat trick I've found with Zara is that you can insert a folder of items as a 'random track', by merely right clicking on the desired folder in the file tree and select 'Insert As Random Track'.

So, for instance, you could create a folder called 'Station IDs - 10 seconds' and drop several 10 second IDs in that folder. Zara will play one at random when the folder comes up in the playlist. Sort of like a cart with multiple cuts on it. .

We run playlists as hour long events 24/7, 168 playlists in a rotating fashion each week. Lists are associated with hourly events (for example, the playlist for THURSDAY1500 will play at 3pm on Thursday, THURSDAY1600 plays at 4pm on Thursday and so on). Some playlists have content, some are merely 'placeholders' with no audio in them (this is for live shows). If we have a programmer that will be unable to be live during their show, we can drop an archived program in the correct day and hour playlist and Zara will play it.

I've been trying to find an excuse to switch another system that is a bit more feature rich with music, namely Rivendell or MixTime - DirEttore. Zara keeps trucking along, which is why we are still sticking with it for now.

Thanks,

-mattthepm
Radio Free Nashville
Click to expand...

OK...let me see if I'm hearing this right, because here's what I'm trying to do with my own setup.

I want to run one format (90's based AC) during the weekdays, another late at night (smooth jazz), and yet another on the weekends (oldies and classic rock).

Can I create a playlist for one format, where I insert a folder from which a random track plays, and other folders with different categories, then run the same playlist each hour? For example, can I program enough to last an hour, then have the system repeat it for the next eight hours? Then do the same during the other two dayparts?
 
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