Getting a spot on air

This page walks one spot from the sale to the air, in order. If a step stops, Cartwright tells you where and why.

1. The advertiser and the order

Companies are businesses you are talking to. Advertisers are businesses that are buying. They are kept apart on purpose, so a half-entered prospect never reaches the schedule.

1. When a deal is real, open Advertisers and create the advertiser. 2. Open Orders and choose New order.

An order does not need a rate-card package. For a one-off project or a trade deal, leave the package empty instead of picking the closest one. A package sets the spot type and the hours, and on a custom deal that could give the advertiser something they did not agree to.

2. Price each line

The price goes on each flight (each line of the order), not on the order as a whole. Choose how the line is priced:

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

Empty is not zero. Leave the amount empty only when nobody has agreed a price yet.

• Giving the spots away? Set billing to comp. Do not type 0.
• Getting goods or services in return? Set billing to trade.

Comp and trade both bring in no cash, but they are different deals, and your revenue reports need to tell them apart.

3. The spot

Open Spot Library and choose New spot. What you put in decides what kind of spot it is:

• Upload audio, and it is a produced spot.
• Leave the audio empty and type copy in the script field, and it is a live read.

A spot needs one or the other before it can be saved.

4. Stage it (produced spots only)

Press Stage. Cartwright copies the audio to the place your automation system looks for it. It also labels the file, so your streaming service shows the right name instead of a blank.

A live read needs no staging. It is read by the presenter, so it never goes to the on-air PC.

If a staged spot still cannot be found by the automation system, check the audio before you check the log. Automation systems explains why a file can be on the disk and still not be seen.

5. Generate, approve, send

1. Open Daily Log and pick the date. 2. Press Generate. Cartwright builds the day's log. 3. Press Approve. 4. Press Send to On-Air PC.

To do several days at once, such as a week ahead before a vacation, press Date range… instead. Choose the first day, the last day and what to do. A table shows every day before anything happens: its log, its spots, and whether the step applies. Days that need a look first, such as days with spots that did not fit, start unticked. One press then handles all the ticked days.

You can use Date range… to reconcile several days when you get back, too. It works from the oldest day forward and stops at the first day it cannot reconcile.

If a spot does not fit, it goes to Unplaced with the reason. Nothing is dropped. Click the tile to see which advertisers are affected and why. Every unplaced spot becomes a makegood, a spot you owe the advertiser.

6. Check that it was taken

Press Verify import on a sent log. Cartwright reads your automation system's own report and shows you what it said.

Done looks like this: the report says how many rows were offered and how many went in, and the two numbers match.

Some messages are normal. An automation system often says it found nothing for a particular break. That just means nothing was sold into that break, so expect one of these for each unsold break.

If the numbers do not match, see When a log will not import.