Getting a spot on air

The whole chain, in order. If a step stops, it tells you where.

1. The advertiser and the order

Companies is who you are talking to. Advertisers is who is buying. They are separate on purpose: a half-entered prospect must never reach the schedule.

When a deal is real, create the advertiser. Then open Orders and choose New order.

An order does not need a rate-card package. For a one-off project or a barter, leave the package empty rather than picking the nearest row. The package sets the spot type and the hours, and on a custom deal that can give a buyer something they did not agree to.

2. Price the line

Money lives on each flight, not on the order as a whole, because every money question is a per-line question.

• Monthly is how a rate card usually sells.
• Total is a flat price for the whole run.
• Per spot multiplies by the spots scheduled.

Empty is not zero. Leave the amount empty only when nobody has said what the line is worth yet.

• Giving it away? Set billing to comp. Do not type 0.
• Getting something back? Set billing to trade.

Comp and trade both bring in no cash, but they are different deals. A rate on its own cannot tell them apart, and revenue reports need to.

3. The spot

Open Spot Library and choose New spot. What you put in decides the kind:

• Upload audio: it is produced.
• No upload, copy in the script field: it is a live read.

A spot with neither is refused.

4. Stage it (produced spots only)

Stage copies the audio to where your automation system can see it. It tags the file so your streaming provider shows something sensible instead of a blank, and only then renames it into place.

A live read needs no staging. It never goes to the on-air PC.

If a staged spot will not resolve, check the audio before the log. Automation systems explains how a file can be on disk and still invisible to the automation.

5. Generate, approve, send

Open Daily Log and pick the date. Then press Generate, Approve and Send to On-Air PC.

For a run of days, such as a week ahead before a vacation, press Several days… instead. Choose the first and last day and what to do. A table shows every day before anything happens: its log, its spots, and whether the step applies. Days with something to look at first, such as spots that didn't fit, start unticked. One press then does the ticked days. The same button reconciles a run of days when you're back. It goes oldest first and stops at the first day it can't reconcile.

Anything that would not fit lands in Unplaced with a reason, instead of being dropped. Click the tile to see who is affected and why. Every unplaced spot is a makegood: it is owed back.

6. Check it was actually taken

Press Verify import on a sent log. It reads your automation system's own report and tells you what it said, instead of assuming the file was read.

A good result names how many rows went in and how many were offered, and the two match.

Not every message is a failure. An automation system often says it found nothing for a particular break. That means nothing was sold into that break, so expect one per unsold break.

If something did go wrong, see When a log will not import.