LRH Enterprises

What have I done?

I’ve been supporting the On-Air installation at FM 89.3 WUMD since February 2010. When they asked me to take a look, I found the installation was done, but much of the set up required was not. I loaded music, created logs (with Natural Music 5), and generally got things going.

We then went LIVE. It would work fine for 10 days or so, then crash. I would remote desktop into the machine (not knowing at the time that it wasn’t recommended) and restart it. Over the next few weeks the ‘up’ time between crashes kept getting shorter until it was useless. Finally OMT support connected in, we had a long talk, and the machine was ‘reconditioned’ to work correctly. Antivirus software (I believe the real culprit) was turned off. Windows was updated to the latest XP. A few other tweaks (I’ve forgotten now) and we had a stable system.

I then began to fine-tune the system. I wrote programs to take data (like the on-air XML) file and send it offsite to my web host, so I could monitor the system ‘from afar’. This was easier than having to VPN into the university system to check. I could now see what was going on from my blackberry.

I’ll talk about all the goodies I’ve written and what they do as time permits. For now, here’s a quick summary:

• OMTOutL – Outputs the current OUT log for display on a web page (csv). Also creates PA and PSA reports.
• OMTNR – Checks the release dates and reports new cuts, etc.
• OMTSL – Uses the member data and scheduling to create a showlog appropriate for each hour of each day. Showlog has promos of other shows.
• OMTAC – Command line to add a cut to the database.
• NM5Schedule – Grabs the clocks/format and creates a report of where PA, PSA and PROMOS play. Nice to help scheduling specific promos in the log.
• PodGrab – Advanced audio pod download and processor.
• BroadcastDelay – Software implemented broadcast delay.
• CopyGizmo – Type and time copy for talent to record.