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Making a Live Show |
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The making of a Smartcaster Live Show Each of these small graphics is a picture of what the Live Show would look like in the Smartcaster. Click on each small graphic to see the full-size version.
Before you can use the actual Live Show, you have to build one. Never try to enter the Live Show screen without having one built first. If you do that, you will get an error screen and knock your Smartcaster off the air. Building a Live Show is easy, but you have to know a couple of things before you begin. First of all, you need to know what time it begins, and when it ends. If there is another announcer before or after your shift that will be using the Live Show, just give yourselves a single show that includes both shifts. It's much easier that way. Now that you know what time it starts and ends, you have to know the break numbers for those times. If you don't know, you can look in the Break Screen to find out, or check out the Time and Break Conversion Table. Next, from the automation screen go to the Live Show screen, located in Programming toward the bottom. Never go into the Live Show screen from Live Assist.
Here you will have the list of shows that have been built on your computer, and several commands. Pressing F1 takes you to the help screen. On the newer versions of Smartcaster this very document comes up. Unfortunately, on the older versions, the help screen doesn't work. F2 is Add/Edit, F3 is Delete, which, you guessed it, makes a show go away. Finally, F4 is Start show, and Escape lets you exit Live Show.
To setup a new show, press 2. You will be prompted to Enter Show Number. You need only type in a three-digit number from 001 to 999. For our example, choose 001 and press ENTER. A new screen appears asking for the Name of the Live Show. The name normally defaults to the show number. If you wish a more descriptive name, simply backspace the show number out of the field and type your new description. For this example, let's type, Test Show and press ENTER. Press enter again to open a box that asks which days the show will air. For our example, let's assume that the show runs all seven days of the week. There should already be an "X" under each of the days (Sunday through Saturday). To keep these settings, press ENTER. I recommend making a different show for every day of the week. Now enter the time (in military time) for the show to air. For our example, please enter 07:00:00 (you do not have to type the ":"). For now, let's leave Intro and Close blank. These are reserved for later use. The item labeled Next should default to 1. This should be left at 1. This is also reserved for future development. Next is the Start Break. Please enter the break number that corresponds with the start of the shift. Once again, here is a link to the Time and Break Conversion Table. Lastly, we have the End Break. Use the same Time and Break Conversion Table to indicate when your shift ends. Note: It is possible to enter the entire day as one long shift. However, it will significantly increase the amount of time it takes to load. Once these items have been entered, a small red box appears on the left side of the large blue box on the screen. This is the "cursor". This allows you to type in spot, function, or music numbers if you so desire. At this point you may completely hand enter an entire show. However, it is much easier to refresh the screen so just press the F1 key and this will load all the log information from the Start Break to the End Break. For our example, please press F1 now. You will see a small "spinner" in the lower left-hand corner of the screen indicating that action is taking place. Please wait until information appears on the screen. (This may take a bit of time.) Once on the screen, you may add, change, or delete any or all of the items in this list. This can also be done inside the Live Show and may prove to be easier there. For now, press the ESCAPE key to return to the previous screen. You will now see that your show is listed. As you add shows, the list will grow on this screen. You have now completed the steps necessary to setup a show. To run it, you may either press F4 or just highlight the one you want and press Enter. The system will take a moment to "pull" the items for the show. You will see an indicator on the screen showing that the show is loading.
Click here for a complete list of Live Show commands Click here for a quick guide to using Live Show Feel free to call the support line if you have any questions or comments about this, or any other problems with the Smartcaster. Our support line is 800-765-2930, our fax number is 800-498-0618, and our email address is support@smartsbroadcast.com.
Text and images Copyright 1992-2002 by Smarts Broadcast Systems.
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