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How can I schedule programs that are more than an Hour in length?

This question came from a webcaster using SAMBroadcaster, but what I talk about below applies to all broadcast and webcast automation systems.  The playout sytems  get no ‘timing’ information about the length of songs or programs from M1 at all. They just get the playlist with the order of things to be played. Sso, if the first thing is a 3 minute song and the  second thing is a 1 hour program and the third  thing is a 3 minute songs…all will be played in order.

To schedule long form programs, things that are  an hour or longer with M1 that will then be played properly by your automation system,  there are a few things to know:
— the longest “length/runtime” you can enter into a  music or non-music ‘card’ in M1 is 80 minutes.  That is  also the maximum amout of content time that can be  added to a format clock.  Adding that much content  to a clock makes it look weird but it does work.
–if you need to schedule a 2 hour program, here’s how
to do it:

1) make a Category for the program and add  one Card to it.  Give the card a 1-hour length.  Do this  only because it makes one full, neat looking clock.  the broadcast/webcast “timing”, remember is not
controlled by M1.  The automatin system will only get the cart number or filename to play and  it plays it.  It makes no difference if M1 has the  length of the file as 1 hour or one minute.

2) Make one format clock and add the one  Category to it.

3)  On the Clock Hour Schedule grid,  click this clock into the starting hour slot.  in  the next hour slot after that, click in the   (no clock selected) field.

4) in the next slot, enter the Clock you want that will  follow the program.

So,  if the program starts at noon, you enter the Program Clock in the noon slot, you enter (no clock selected) in the 1pm slot and you  enter your next clock in the 2pm slot.    Music 1 will schedule the program, The playout system will pick it up and begin playing it at noon…the  audio track will run two hours….automation will then
play whatever M1 has scheduled to follow the program.

Now, if you have a show that runs 90 minutes then you’ll  need an extra and special clock.  In this clock, you enter  only 30 minutes or so of content.  It will appear on  the clock that the 30 minutes “begins” at the top of  the hour of course.  But, in webcast/broadcast application,  it will begin at the bottom of the hour.  Like this:

1) You have a Category with one Card on it.  this card is for the 90 minute show.   You have, however  entered only 60 minutes into the Length, to obtain  a nice “look” on the screen.

2) You create a clock for this Category.

3)  You create another clock and add  about 30 minutes’ content to it.

4)  The program starts at noon, so you  click the 90 minute program clock into the noon  slot on the Hour Clock Schedule grid.

5)  you click the 30-minute clock into  the 1pm slot on the Clock Schedule Grid.

As you schedule with M1, it will appear  visually that the content in the 1pm hour will be  starting at the ‘top’ of the hour. But in your actual broadcast  the first unit in the 1pm hour will follow the end of
the program that began at noon and runs 90 minutes.  Thus, the next content, in the 1pm hour, will actually  begin broadcast at 1:30.

Also about long form programs:  Many broadcasters  and webcasters have long form programs that run  every day or on the same days every week and   sometimes several times a day.  You can add as
many cards/programs to the program Category as  need be.  All of them will be scheduled in rank  order and all will rotate the same way units in other  categories do.

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