As the RCS Cloud continues to evolve, this week we highlighted the new AudioDisplay Shows feature. AudioDisplay allows your organization to develop new revenue streams, by allowing granular management of text and image advertising RDS/HD campaigns that are delivered in sync with your audio. New to AudioDisplay, programmers can now schedule Shows to promote your station outside of the typical Spot Blocks, rotating with your Station’s Slogan.
Working within AudioDisplay, programmers would schedule text and image Spot Block Campaigns that will air over the duration of the entire Spot Block. Essentially, if a “Nate’s Restaurant” campaign was scheduled, once Zetta triggers a Spot Block, AudioDisplay will override your RDS/HD radio to display “Nate’s Restaurant,” as well as any corresponding image and advertising text line. Outside of your Spot Block Campaigns, AudioDisplay can also rotate Station Slogans, like “WRCS-FM, Today’s Best Music,” with a station logo, anytime a non-Spot or Song is triggered.
This is where the new Shows feature comes into play. Shows are essentially any type of non-advertiser that a programmer can schedule to rotate along with their Station Slogan. For example, a Show might be the “WRCS Mornings with Nate,” which includes a tag line, “The Best Morning Show Around. 6am – 10am.”
If we’re looking at a typical music sweep: Top of the Hour Legal ID | Song 1 | Link 2 (Sweeper 2) | Song 2 | Link 3 | Spot Block 1 | Link 4 and finally Song 3, AudioDisplay will rotate the Show with the Station Slogan. By default, it’s a 1:1 ratio, so the listener would see: Station Slogan | Song 1 Title and Artist | Shows Slogan | Song 2 Title and Artist | Station Slogan | Spot Block Campaign | Shows Slogan | Song 3 Title and Artist.
Continuing onto how to set up a new Show, first you must go to the Shows tab and define a Talent, Type and Show. Each of these play an important role in the AudioDisplay workflow, however, don’t overthink these. A Talent can simply be the name of the Show, Types are a way to group stations based on a specific value – like Local versus Syndicated, and Shows is where you can assign the Talent, Type and include your desired Show Slogan. Now that the Show has been created, we can pivot to the My Stations tab, edit an existing Station, and turn on the Enable Shows option.
To assign or schedule a Show, click on the Schedule button below the Enable Shows and create a reoccurring Show schedule. Schedule is broken down into two subtabs: Assignment Grid and Schedule. Think of Assignment Grid as a reoccurring day of the week assignment, whereas Schedule is specific to May 16th, or a specific override. Typically, a programmer would define a reoccurring Show by left click and dragging a duration, which will open the “Create an Assignment” window. Here, they can select their Show, the days of the week, Start Time and End Time, and two start settings: Apply after Date or Apply immediately; replaces the existing schedule including customizations. Simply put, if you are preparing a new morning show that is set to air Monday morning, you would select the desired Date and then fill in the gaps within the Schedule. Otherwise, Apply immediately will do just that. As a reminder, AudioDisplay has an automatic scheduler to always schedule now through 7 days. There’s no manual trigger, however, while you’re building new Shows, it’s important to note why AudioDisplay selects the next available date based on the 7 days from the current time.
Once you have your Shows defined, assigned and enabled, AudioDisplay will rotate the Station Slogan and the Shows Slogan in an equal rotation. If you want to adjust that rotation, you can email Support@rcsworks.com and we’ll make that adjustment for you. Users can also edit a Station Slogan by editing a station profile via the My Stations subtab. If you ever needed to override a Shows Slogan, but only for a short period, the Schedule subtab will allow programmers to edit an existing Show and define a one-time unique Slogan override.
It’s also important to note that as part of the new RCS Cloud, which utilizes RCS Security, RCS can release individual features rather than having to wait for a full version. For example, once the Shows feature was completed and tested, the AudioDisplay team can simply activate said feature and it’s available to any AudioDisplay users.
AudioDisplay is just one of the modern products included within RCS Cloud, as well as ZettaCloud, Director, Live Console and SelectorCloud. Keep an eye on our socials for future RCS Lives as we continue to reveal additional Cloud features and enhancements. If you missed out on any previous RCS Live, you can check out our extensive RCS Live Archive.