Support from Microsoft for Windows 7 ended on January 14. This means Microsoft will no longer provide users with software updates and security updates or fixes.

“The specific end of support day for Windows 7 will be January 14, 2020,” Microsoft says. “After that, technical assistance and software updates from Windows Update that help protect your PC will no longer be available for the product. Therefore, it’s important that you upgrade to a modern operating system such as Windows 10, which can provide the latest security updates to help keep you and your data safer.”

Microsoft is currently providing free upgrades to Windows 10, via an in-place upgrade option.

RCS does not recommend performing the in-place upgrade on mission critical machines.

While all current RCS software is supported on Windows 10, we have received reports of failed upgrades due to driver and other software incompatibilities.

What Should I Do Now?

To ensure the best outcome for your systems, we recommend that you perform a clean install of Windows 10 and then re-install any RCS Software and data.

• Before upgrading, ensure your PC is compatible with Windows 10 and that you can obtain Windows 10 drivers for sound cards, IO cards or other devices.
• Take backups of any database and audio files and store these off the machine.

Customers can download a free copy of Windows 10 by running the Media Creation Tool on your Windows 7 PC. Go to Microsoft’s Windows 10 download page from here.

Remember RCS Support is always here for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at support@rcsworks.com, +1 (914) 259-4900, or your local office.

GSelector and Zetta training is coming to a trade show near you.

When we launched RCS Academy last year, our goal was to bring you top-quality instruction on RCS software in a self-paced, online format. Starting with GSelector Certification, the response has been very positive. As we move into 2020, we’ve envisioned additional ways to educate our customers and expand RCS Academy to include Zetta Certification.

While many people thrive on self-paced learning, others want or need the social component of real-time, in-person instruction. To that end, we’ll be presenting GSelector and Zetta training sessions at several trade shows this year.

Most of the workshops will be in two sessions, dedicated to either GSelector or Zetta. In the first half of the session, RCS trainers and master-users will guide you through the GSelector Library or Zetta Intro / On-Air Module course inside their respective RCS Academy Certification series. You’ll leave the workshop at the conclusion of the each session with a course micro-degree and credit towards becoming either GSelector or Zetta certified.

After taking the course, you will sit with GSelector and Zetta master-users and participate in a database Q&A where you’ll learn tips and tricks to make RCS products work even better for you. When you complete the classes, you will have new music scheduling and automation skills, contacts you can reach out to for help and resources to help keep you learning when you get back to your station. You’ll also get to meet RCS staffers Nate Mumford and Drew Bennett, and ask them anything about GSelector or Zetta.

The lineup for 2020 trade shows includes:

• Country Radio Seminar (CRS) – February 19-21, Nashville
• National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) – February 25-28, Nashville
• WorldWide Radio Summit (WWRS) – March 25-27, Burbank
• NAB Show – April 18-22, Las Vegas
• Canadian Music Week – May 19-23, Toronto
• Momentum 2020 – May 27-29, Orlando
• The Conclave – June 16-17, Minneapolis
• Texas Association of Broadcasters (TAB) – July 29-30, Austin
• Radio Show – September 13-16, Nashville
• College Broadcasters Inc. – October 21-24, Baltimore

RCS Academy session times vary with each conference. Although walk-ins are welcome, we strongly suggests that you register beforehand. Reach out to your local RCS sales representative or email academy@rcsworks.com to sign up or get more information.

January 8, 2020 (New York, NY) – Mediabase the song charts and airplay analyses leader announced today that Justin Bieber now holds the record for the most first week adds for a song. Bieber holds the honor, that topped Mediabase history with his new single “Yummy”.  In one week on US radio stations, “Yummy” was added to 340 stations.

President & CEO of Mediabase Philippe Generali celebrated the news, “Justin Bieber continues to be one of the top stars in music today. To get a record volume of adds in the first week of release is a stellar accomplishment and saved for a very elite group of performers. Mediabase is thrilled to be part of Justin’s continuing journey.  Congratulations to the Def Jam Team and SB Projects who have worked with Justin since day one.”

EVP of Promotion from Def Jam Recordings, Nicki Farag was equally excited, “We begin the decade with the biggest add week of Justin Bieber’s career. “Yummy” secures the record for the most adds in a single week in Mediabase history. This is an unprecedented statement given the amount of incredible music that has been released in the past 22 years. What we accomplished coming off of a holiday break is a testament to the tenacity of our combined promotion staffs. You love to see it!”

“Yummy” was released on January 3, 2020, along with a lyric video through Def Jam Recordings as the lead single from his upcoming fifth studio album. The song is Bieber’s first solo single to be released in three years.

About Mediabase

Mediabase is a 360-degree reporting service, providing vital airplay information and in-depth analytical tools for media professionals. Mediabase defines the success and popularity of recorded music and reports meaningful insight into consumer listening trends in the ever evolving landscape of music consumption. Editors: interview opportunities and graphics are available. Contact Diana Stokey at Mediabase, 914-428-4600.

“Absolutely I am a better music director after taking this course.”

If you’re like most GSelector users, you probably learned how to use the program just by playing around with it. The easy user interface makes it possible to come up to speed and begin the job of scheduling music in short order. Maybe you’ve wondered though, about the functions and tabs you never use. What do they do? Could knowing more about GSelector make you a better music programmer? Steve Haze, Music Director for Cork’s 96FM in Ireland wondered those same things. To find out, he signed up for GSelector Academy.

Steve Haze (whose real name is Steve Graves) began his radio career in the mid-1980s. By the 90s, he had worked his way up to on-air personality ‘Hollywood Haze’ at Atlantic 252, the long wave giant that broadcast to Ireland, the UK and much of Europe on 252 kHz. He left Atlantic in 1998, joining Cork’s 96FM as music director and radio host. He had done music scheduling for Atlantic 252 with the original RCS Selector, which ran on DOS. They had a similar setup at Cork, but when that station decided to upgrade from Selector to GSelector, he decided it was time to upgrade his skills as well. “I wanted to become more familiar with the new setup and also become a better music programmer,” he explains.

Haze worked his way through the course in about eight weeks. He put in about 2-3 days a week for an hour at a time. Then, before he took the final, he went back and reviewed all the material. The self-paced format of the course was a big plus, as he explains. “Since I work full-time, I needed to work it in to free blocks of time, which vary from week to week.”

For Haze, the most difficult part of the course was the Goals section, because it has several sections. The interface part was also challenging, as Haze describes himself as not really a tech guy. Analysis was also fresh territory for Haze, and there was a lot to learn.

“When I started the course, I figured that I really know most of this stuff, but no. I learned about how much I didn’t understand as I progressed through the material,” says Haze. Many of the items covered in the Analysis section were new, as was the new additions to Library Browse and the Inline Tab function as well.

The GSelector Academy course is offered online and self-paced. It’s broken down into segments with an exam on each. Once you pass, you earn a micro-degree. When you have completed all the chapters, you can take the final exam. If you pass, you’re certified. Users typically find some modules to be easy, while others can be quite challenging. The good thing is, if you fail a module, you can take it over again.

Completing the Academy course has given Haze a different approach to programming the Hot AC formatted Cork’s 96FM. “I’m now using the legacy rules from the original Selector for some categories, and the goals from GSelector for other categories.”

And, successfully completing the course has its perks. You can order a diploma to hang on your wall, a lapel pin, and digital badge that can be used on professional sites such as LinkedIn, or attached to your e-mail. Your name and contact info are also listed in the RCS directory of ‘Super Users’, where potential employers can seek out the best and brightest.

To sum it up, Haze says, “Absolutely I am a better music director after taking this course. I’m doing things that I’ve never done before, such as the analysis. It’s giving me a better run of the music. I am also much more aware of how the system works, as well as how it can work for me. It’s been a huge help with my scheduling, and I just feel better about what I’m doing.”

”Hello RCS, Happy Holidays, we need help.”

The 2019 holiday season will soon be upon us. Thanksgiving, (here in the US) Christmas and New Years are historically a time when it’s near-impossible to reach people and get anything done. Between the holidays and everyone taking vacation days, reaching most of your contacts can be frustrating. But rest assured, that is not the case for the people in RCS tech support. As always, help is just an e-mail or phone call away, 24/7/365.

Of course you can also utilize our other options. Use the RCS Knowledge Base to learn how your software can be maximized, customized, massaged and configured best for your unique operation. Give it a complete makeover if you like. Simply go to our website, log in with your customer ID and password, then search away.

As it turns out, our customer base is a pretty smart group of people, and they’re happy to share their creative ideas, tips and tweaks to get the most out of our products. The RCS Community is a moderated discussion group that provides the forum for exchanging this type of information.

Suppose you have a crisis on Christmas Eve, and need help ASAP. Use remote access to give our tech support staff access to your system, then watch them get everything up and running in record time. The reliability of your RCS software is one less thing to stress over during the holidays. All we ask it that you save us a few of those Christmas cookies.