Add an event
Open Tools → Event scheduler or press F3. It opens in its own window, so you can keep it on a second screen.
- Press ➕ Add event and give it a name.
- Set the time it runs at (hour and minute) and tick the days.
- Optionally limit it to dates, for example a holiday schedule that runs from 24 to 26 December. An event outside its dates shows ○ not today.
- Choose what to Do (the actions are below) and fill in what it needs, such as a template, a playlist tab or a rule.
- Press ▶ Run now to try it straight away.
Each event has its own on/off tick, so you can park one without deleting it, and Duplicate makes a copy to change.
Repeat an event
Tick Repeat every to run an event again and again: choose minutes or hours and the time it stops. The event's time becomes the first run. For example, from 06:00, repeat every 30 minutes until 22:00 runs at 06:00, 06:30, 07:00 … 22:00. A stop time earlier than the start runs over midnight (22:00 until 02:00).
➕ Hourly time announcement adds a ready-made event that reads the time at the top of every hour, every day.
Actions
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Insert a playlist item | Puts a time announcement, text to speech or another item from the Playlist menu after the song on air, or plays it now. More below |
| Generate a new playlist from a template | Replaces the playlist with a fresh one from a generator template |
| Add tracks from a template after the playlist | Appends a template's tracks to the end |
| Play adverts / jingles from a rule | Queues an advert or jingle rule after the song on air |
| Put a playlist tab on air | Switches to another playlist tab, for example a show you prepared earlier |
| Play the on-air playlist again from the top | Restarts the on-air playlist, which keeps a playlist looping |
| Load playlist (M3U) and play | Opens an M3U file and plays it |
| Play file now | Plays one file straight away |
| Insert file as next | Puts a file after the song on air |
| Stop playback | Stops the station |
| Start encoder # / Stop encoder # | Starts or stops one of your streams, counting from 1 like the Streams tab |
| Set volume (0-1) | Sets the master volume, 1 being full |
| Run a station command | Any command below |
Insert a playlist item
Pick Insert a playlist item, then choose the item from the list next to it. These are the same items as in the Playlist menu, set up in the same dialogs:
- Time announcement: reads the current time
- Text to speech: any text in a computer voice, with
{time},{next}and the other fill-ins, for example "You're listening to Radio X, it's {time}" - Track List: one random track from a folder, with repeat protection, which suits station IDs
- Container, URL (an internet stream), Line Input, Teaser, Timed pause and Command
Use ✏ Edit… to change it later. Choose whether it plays after the track on air (the song isn't cut) or now. If the last one is still waiting to play, for example while playback is stopped, another copy isn't added.
Station commands
The same commands work in an event, in a playlist Command row (Alt+C) and from a plugin.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| STOP | Stop playback |
| PAUSE | Pause or carry on |
| VOLUME 80 | Set the volume, 0 to 100 |
| ENCODER START 1 / ENCODER STOP 1 | Start or stop an encoder, counting from 1 (the first encoder is 1) |
| PLAYLIST Evening | Put the playlist tab called Evening on air |
| LOAD C:\Shows\news.m3u | Load an M3U playlist and carry on from its first row |
| GENERATE Overnight | Make a new playlist from a template |
| APPEND Daytime | Add a template's tracks after the playlist |
| RULE Station IDs | Queue an advert or jingle rule's files after the song on air |
| RUN C:\Scripts\lights.bat | Start a program |
Recipes
- A new playlist every morning: 05:55, every day, Generate a new playlist from a template → Breakfast.
- A weekly show: build the show in its own playlist tab, then Friday 19:00, Put a playlist tab on air → Friday Night. End the show's tab with an Event row that puts Main back on air.
- A sponsored news intro: 07:59, weekdays, Play adverts / jingles from a rule → News sponsor.
- A second stream for a match: Saturday 14:45, Run a station command →
ENCODER START 2, and 17:15,ENCODER STOP 2. - Quieter overnight: 00:00, Set volume 0.8; 06:00, Set volume 1.
- The time every hour: ➕ Hourly time announcement, or from 00:00 repeat every 1 hour, Insert a playlist item → Time announcement.
- A spoken station ID every half hour in the daytime: from 06:30, repeat every 30 minutes until 22:00, Insert a playlist item → Text to speech.
Jingles on the clock? For jingles and adverts with play counts and reports, use a rule that plays every 1 hour on the clock in the advertisement scheduler, or an insert in your generator template.
Events in the playlist
Playlist → Add event puts an Event row in the running order. When playback reaches it, it runs a scheduler action, for example ending a show's playlist with "Put a playlist tab on air → Main" so Main carries on where it left off instead of dead air.