SETUP - Preparing Format Clocks
Format Clock Introduction
The heart of your TuneTracker™ radio station, and indeed, the heart of any radio station, is the format clock, which is simply a list of items that comprise one hour's worth of programming. The contents of your format clock determines the order in which things will play on the air. For example, you might begin your hour with a station ID, followed by a newscast, a jingle, then a current hit song, then an oldie, then a sweeper, then another song, then a voice-track, then a commercial break, and so on. All of that information, whatever you decide to include, must be in your format clock.
HOW MANY DIFFERENT FORMAT CLOCKS DO I NEED?
If all of the hours in your programming day contain the same sequence of events, you'll need only one format clock, which you can instantly build into a full day's master log using our Make My Day tool. If some of the hours are different in some way, you'll need a format clock for each unique kind of hour you intend to have. At some sophisticated radio operations, especially information-oriented stations, they might have a different format clock for just about every hour of the day, even every hour of the week, with unique programming elements in each. The TuneTracker System™ allows you the flexibility to use as many different format clocks as you like, and combine them in any order to form full days of unique radio programming.
PLANNING YOUR FORMAT CLOCK
The contents of your format is all-important!Start by spending some time setting goals, choosing programming elements you want to include, and arranging them in a list or writing them onto a clock face, drawn onto a piece of paper. Decide how much music or how little music you want. Determine how many breaks you'd like per hour (if any), where you will place station identification announcements, and whether and where you want "image line" announcements, newscasts, sportscasts, weather reports, jingles, bumpers, pads, live programming, and "block programming" (large, all-in-one, pre-recorded blocks of programming such as concerts, sermons, or produced radio shows).
Next, spend some time looking over the pre-designed format clock template we have provided. You may find that it will fulfill your needs with only minor alterations. Or, you may decide you want to make changes to them to suit your needs, or even build your own format clocks from scratch using our simple TuneTracker™ and TuneStacker™ commands.
Edit your format clocks in the text editor of your choice. Save each file in plain text format, using whatever naming convention makes sense for you. If you have the need for many unique hours, you might want to include the name of the day and the hour in each. Then, build your daily master Log by simply pasting the hours together in their proper order in your word processor. Once you have a finished "broadcast day," you can save it in a designated folder as a finished master log, ready to be filled with programming using TuneStacker™. The master log you create is dragged or loaded into TuneStacker™ which infuses it with fresh programming for each day's broadcast. The result is a completed program log, ready for use in TuneTracker™.
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