iHeartMedia came to us and asked for help in providing Proof of Performance (affidavits) to prove to LiveNation that liners promised to them have actually run.
What we have done in order to facilitate this:
Developed the Automated Scheduling API.
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- Runs every Sunday night between 10pm and 1am local time for 7 days (Monday 12a through Saturday 11:59p).
- Uses “Just Rotate Them” scheduling method.
- Only runs for stations setup in the settings.
- Checks for changes nightly and re-runs scheduling when necessary (at 11pm local time).
Created a series of generic clocks with only liner slots to use alongside any existing contest clocks without disruption.
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- These clocks vary by format.
- They have only liner slots: 4 LOCAL, 2 NATIONAL per hour, with some exclusions.
- iHeart operates as though there are 42 national liner avails per station, per day, although the fluctuations in these clocks mean that is not completely accurate.
- The “All Formats” clock exists in every single station. The format specific ones have only been copied to small numbers of stations.
- Copied generic dayparts that are marked as voicetracked to almost all stations.
- Stations are allowed to make changes to these settings including renaming their dayparts and turning off the setting that marks them as voicetracked.
- Turned on auto-logging for liners for almost all stations.
- Stations may turn off auto-logging for liners if their talent will mark liners as read.
- Imported data for all stations including Station Names, Station Websites, and Formats.
Local and National liners will be created on a weekly basis; all copy that needs to rotate during that flight will be created within a single liner and will be set to rotate within that liner’s settings. So one liner about the iHeartRadio app has three different pieces of copy needs to run 6 total times per day, the three different pieces of copy will be entered separately and each will be set to rotate a fraction of 15%.
Format Center Executive Producers are responsible for creating and distributing National Liners to all stations; a small number of stations (like NYC) will continue to create their own national liners.
Local programmers are responsible for creating their own local liners.
Local programmers who do not bother to enter their own local liners will still have national liners created, scheduled, and logged due to the above settings and procedures.
If local programmers contact you
- Yes, they can change their dayparts; you can share the above documentation page or this direct link: https://www.loom.com/share/f3d3efca0f454c76841b6a9f056ed9ba
- Yes, they can make changes to their clocks if they wish to manage national liners and scheduling themselves, and you can provide them documentation on how to do so.
- We have put iHeart Custom stations on hold so they should continue as normal for now. We will eventually launch a workflow for them to utilize PromoSuite Next to submit their local liner Bs.
- If they wish to opt-in or out of all or some of this program:
- To turn on/off automated scheduling they must contact Tommy Austin/EPs.
- If they wish to take responsibility for creating and scheduling national liners they must contact Tommy Austin/EPs.
- If they wish to use their existing clocks but make changes, they can do so. You can share the above documentation page or this direct link: https://www.loom.com/share/340984901f454ceeafb4d92581fe750a
- If they need to unmark dayparts as voicetracked they are free to do so. You can share the above documentation page or this direct link: https://www.loom.com/share/81c2916036a0405996b298fdb51e1b1c