Scheduling a recurring show

[claudius06]

Hello,
I would like to schedule a recurring show that will be broadcast twice a week at a specific time. The DJ sends me several recordings well in advance, so I would like to know how to set them up for automatic playback in the correct order.
Thank you for your help.

[radio42]

What is your filename schema (the DJ sends you)?

Either you schedule a fix filename. In that case you don’t have to specify anything special. Ie. each program simply uses the same script with the LoadTrack script-line using that fix file name.

Or you schedule a filename using a dynamic date and time matching the start date and time of the related program.
E.g. when you schedule a program on the 17.04.2024 at 15:00 - the filename might be ‘20240417_15’. Use the related ${start} macros to reference the start date and time of that program (see the user manual appendix for more info about those macros).

If you want to reschedule the same show eg. 56 hours later, you can use the *[DATE:… macro to calculate the original date and time filename. Eg. when your rescheduled program is 56 hours later, your macro might look like this:
*[DATE:{${start}}:{hours}:{-56}:{yyyyMMdd_HH}].mp3


When your DJ show now consists of multiple parts, your DJ must name them accordingly. Eg. The filename might contain the part number, so that in your script you can add multiple script-lines referencing those parts in the correct order. Eg.:
1. LoadTrack, ${start_yyyy}${start_MM}${start_dd}_${start_HH}-Pt1.mp3
2. LoadTrack, ${start_yyyy}${start_MM}${start_dd}_${start_HH}-Pt2.mp3
3. LoadTrack, ${start_yyyy}${start_MM}${start_dd}_${start_HH}-Pt3.mp3
…

So the DJ must send you the files with the exact and correct names:
20240417_15-Pt1.mp3, 20240417_15-Pt2.mp3, 20240417_15-Pt3.mp3…

[claudius06]

Hello Bernd, thank you for this very precise response that will allow me to apply either of these two scenarios. Moreover, indeed, the show is in 2 or 3 parts, so your answer is even more useful to me.
I have another question: in the case of another recurrent program, but with the peculiarity of sometimes being recorded and sometimes live, is it possible to create two scenarios in order to switch more easily between one mode or the other?

[radio42]

What do you mean by ‘sometimes live’..?
Maybe you mean you take over a live broadcast from another stream (URL)?
If yes, you can do this independent (on top of any running program) via the MODStream Watcher feature.
Follow this link and the references within:
viewtopic.php?p=18816#p18816

[claudius06]

No, I meant live from the studio, so not automated. That was my question. (But what you're telling me about the live feed from another stream (URL) also interests me, so I'll bookmark the link.) So basically, I have a pre-recorded show scheduled every Thursday at 7 p.m., but sometimes, this show is live from the studio, so I need to take control at that moment. However, I don't want to cancel my recurring scheduling because the following week, it might be automated. Is there a scenario for this kind of situation?

I have another question related to the same topic: I want to schedule a show (a playlist) to repeat every hour from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., but I also want to schedule another show on Tuesdays and Sundays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. If I do this, I have two shows at the same time, so how should I avoid that? The same question applies to overlays.
Thank you fo your help.

[radio42]

Sure. If you want to reboadcast a live show, you need to record it. You can also do this is ProppFrexx also in an automated fashion, ie. auto record a program with a eg. a fixed file name.
Then use this file to play it at a later time to reboadcast it.

See here for details: viewtopic.php?t=2555

I don’t really get your other question. If you schedule two shows in parallel (eg. from 6pm to 8pm) you of course have to conflicting shows.
So don’t schedule them in parallel!
Ie. for Tuesdays and Sundays you have to define exceptions.
I don’t get your issue, as the scheduler allows you to schedule everything you want.
In your case you simply might end with more individual entries - but that’s all.

[claudius06]

For sure, I am convinced that we can do whatever we want with the scheduler, but we need to learn how to tame it!
So, for example, how do we define exceptions? I can't figure out how to do it. The idea is to say I want show "A" to air every day of the week between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., except on Tuesdays and Sundays between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., because during that time slot, I want to schedule the show "B".

As for the overlay scheduler, I don't understand how to schedule an overlay ie. only for every Monday many times throughout the day.

[radio42]

Eg. define a program for each day individually.
That way you can define a different one for Tuesday and Sunday.
So yes, repeat the definition for the other days a d duplicate them.

[claudius06]

When you say "duplicate a definition," do you mean "recreating the same definition again"? I mean, is it not possible on PFOA to, for example, to create an overlay with his own settings and then copy/paste it while simply changing the broadcast schedule? That's correct?

[radio42]

The program and the overlay scheduler are totally independent.

What I ment with ‚duplicate‘ is, that for example in the program scheduler you might have defined just one entry and then set its recurrence to ‚every day‘.
Instead you can create 7 entries on each day and set its recurrence to ‚weekly‘. Then you modify the time for Tuesdays and Sundays.

And yes, you can duplicate an entry when you hold down the CTRL key and drag and drop it. This creates a copy of an existing entry with a different time (where you drop it).
The same can of course be done in overlay calendar.