Station Dashboard, Sources, and Outputs

In this article, you will find the essential information you need for understanding the dashboard, sources, and outputs in Rapid.

• Station Dashboard allows the user to see the status for all sources and outputs for the selected station.
  
• Station Dashboard also allows the user to add, edit, and remove existing sources and outputs for the selected station.
  

Overview | Stations in Rapid

For this example of the user experience, there are stations on “HOME | Overview” in Rapid.

In your Rapid installation, go to your station of interest by selecting a station card in your “HOME | Overview”.

Station Dashboard

Familiarize yourself with the layout of the Station Dashboard and observe the station conveyor that provides quick access and quick views into the sources and outputs for the station of interest.

Conveyor Actions

• Click-and-hold then drag on the conveyor to move the conveyor of cards for the sources and outputs
• Cards on the conveyor for the sources and outputs can be minimized and restored using the “eye” icon
• Select the Schedule card to jump to the Program Schedule
• Select the Playout card to jump to the Live Studio

Conveyor showing minimized cards

Familiarize yourself with the layout of the Station Dashboard and observe minimized cards for the sources and outputs on the conveyor.

Conveyor

• Sources and outputs on the conveyor can be minimized: select the icon in the upper right corner of the card
• Minimized cards for the sources/outputs are showcased on the right end of the conveyor
• Restore a minimized card by selecting the icon in the upper right corner (toggle effect, using the “eye” icon)

Conveyor showing restored cards

Familiarize yourself with the layout of the Station Dashboard and observe restored cards for the sources and outputs on the conveyor.

Conveyor

• Sources and outputs on the conveyor can be restored: select the icon in the upper right corner of the card
• Restored cards for the sources/outputs are showcased on the left end of the conveyor
• Minimize a restored card by selecting the icon in the upper right corner (toggle effect, using the “eye” icon)

SOURCES | Playout Source

In the SOURCES area of the Dashboard, look for the Playout Source: in this example, you will see “Brilliant Radio Playout”.

Select your Playout Source (use a single left-click) and view the details on the status of the playout content in the right side of the dashboard.

Edit your Playout Source

Double click on your Playout Source and observe the dialog: Edit Playout Source.

NOTE | During the setup of your Rapid, you had a choice for Playout Source Mode --- Basic or Advanced --- and that choice will influence the options in the dialog named Edit Playout Source.

Edit Playout Source, dialog | Basic

• Name: Key in a name for the playout
• Toggle: Enable or disable the Playout Source
• Description: Key in a description for the playout
• Max History Items: This is the maximum number of items that Rapid will store in the list of previously played items.
• Text Capitalization: Selecting an option here will override the capitalisation of the content received from teh automation system. For example, if the text from the autoamtion system is ALL CAPITALISED you can change the casing so that only the first letter of each word is capitalised.
• Include Queued Playout Items: If this option is checked then Rapid will import now playing and queued items from the automation system(s). If this option is unchecked, then Rapid will only import now playing items.
  

Key in the rest of the details for your Playout Source.

Edit Playout Source, dialog | Advanced

• Name: Key in a name for the playout

• Toggle: Enable or disable the Playout Source

• Description: Key in a description for the playout

• Mixer Type: Select an option and the operation for the chosen option will appear below the caption for the Input Mixer

  • Prioritized
    • Rapid will use the first available input from the table below
  • Mixed
    • Rapid will combine all available inputs from the table below
  • Priority Mixed
    • Inputs are mixed. Highest priority input's now playing item will be live

• Input Mixer: Select the blue button to access the dialog named Add Input so that you can add an Automation System

  • Blue button --- (+ Switcher)
  • Blue button --- (+ Automation Systems)

• Max History Items: This is the maximum number of items that Rapid will store in the list of previously played items.

• Text Capitalization: Selecting an option here will override the capitalisation of the content received from teh automation system. For example, if the text from the autoamtion system is ALL CAPITALISED you can change the casing so that only the first letter of each word is capitalised.

• Include Queued Playout Items: If this option is checked then Rapid will import now playing and queued items from the automation system(s). If this option is unchecked, then Rapid will only import now playing items.

Look for the “Input Mixer”: select the blue button --- (+ Switcher) --- to access the dialog named Configure Switcher.

dialog, Configure Switcher

Familiarize yourself with the dialog named Configure Switcher: choose from among the available Switcher Types and key in the details.

Select Save and return to the dialog named Edit Playout Source.

Look for the “Input Mixer”: select the blue button --- (+ Automation System) --- to access the dialog named Add Input.

dialog, Add Input

Familiarize yourself with the dialog named Add Input.

Use the Add Input dialog to search for and select an existing automation system from the library.

Or, select the blue button --- (+ Add new automation system) --- to access the dialog named Add Automation System.

dialog, Add Automation System

Familiarize yourself with the dialog named Add Automation System.

• Toggle | Enable or disable the input

• Name | Key in a name for the input

• External Id | Key in an ID for the input

• Playout System Type

  • Select one of the playout system types from the list
  • Key in the details for the chosen playout system type

NOTE
The fields in the dialog for the chosen playout system type will change with each selection from the list.

• Types

  • Select one or more types --- Song | Speech | Spot | Other | Link --- using the lozenges

• Timezone

  • Timezone is set to the server timezone by default

After completing the dialog for an automation system of interest, select Save to return to the dialog named Edit Playout Source.

Input Mixer

Using the dialog named Edit Playout Source, continue to add inputs: in this example, you will see multiple inputs in the Input Mixer.

Select “Save” and return to your Station Dashboard.

Multiple Inputs for Playout

On your Station Dashboard, observe the multiple inputs for the Playout.

Sources

Familiarize yourself with the layout of the Station Dashboard and observe the sources for the chosen radio station.

SOURCES

• Station Dashboard displays a list of all sources that have been setup for the chosen radio station
• For each source, the user can view details on the status of each item: user can also enable/disable an item, edit an item, or delete an item
• Status indicators for the chosen source
  • OK, green
  • WARNING, red
  • DISABLED, grey

Adding Sources

Add a source by selecting the blue button --- (+ Add Source) --- and observe the dialog: Choose Source Type.

Select a source type and key in the details for the chosen source’s dialog: save your details and return to the Station Dashboard.

Outputs

Familiarize yourself with the layout of the Station Dashboard and observe the outputs for the chosen radio station.

OUTPUTS

• Station Dashboard displays a list of all outputs that have been setup for the chosen radio station
• For each output, the user can view details on the status of each item: user can also enable/disable an item, edit an item, or delete an item
• Status indicators for the chosen output
  • OK, green
  • WARNING, red
  • DISABLED, grey

Adding Outputs

Add an output by selecting the blue button --- (+ Add Output) --- and observe the dialog: Add Output.

Scroll the dialog to view and consider each of the options for adding outputs for the chosen station.

Select and configure an output.

Viewing the Output

For your configured output, observe the information for the chosen output.

• Content
  • In this area, you will see a thumbnail of the activity in the playout for the chosen output
• Destinations
  • In this area, you will see a summary of the activity in the destinations for the chosen output
  • For the chosen output, the range of destinations could be different from other outputs
• Priority Lanes
  • In this area, you will see the messages grouped by rule/category

Content for the Output

Content

• Select an output from the list of OUTPUTS
• Each output showcases information in three areas
  • Content: view the current and previous content published for the chosen output
  • Destinations: view all destinations that the chosen output is publishing to
  • Priority Lanes: view all the messages that have been configured for the chosen output, and view which one is currently being used by the output
• Consider the information in the area named Content
  • View the future content that is staged to go live for the chosen output
  • View the current content that is live for the chosen output
  • View the previous content that was published for the chosen output

Destinations for the Output

Destinations

• Select an output from the list of OUTPUTS
• Each output showcases information in three areas
  • Content: view the current and previous content published for the chosen output
  • Destinations: view all destinations that the chosen output is publishing to
  • Priority Lanes: view all the messages that have been configured for the chosen output, and view which one is currently being used by the output
• Consider the information in the area named Destinations
  • View the status of the individual destinations that the chosen output is sending its content to and view the time of the last update
  • A user can also enable/disable, edit, or delete individual destinations
• Select the blue button | (+ Add Destination) | Add a new destination for the chosen output
  • In the dialog, for the chosen output, the range of destinations could be different
    • For HD Radio, the destination option is HD Importer

Add HD Radio Destination

As an example, for the chosen HD Radio output, select the destination option named HD Importer.

HD Importer
For this example, key in the details for the HD Importer.

Save your details and return to the Station Dashboard.

Destinations for HD Radio
For this example, observe the destinations for the chosen HD Radio output.

Priority Lanes for Output

Priority Lanes

• Select an output from the list of OUTPUTS

• Each output showcases information in three areas

  • Content: view the current and previous content published for the chosen output
  • Destinations: view all destinations that the chosen output is publishing to
  • Priority Lanes: view all the messages that have been configured for the chosen output, and view which one is currently being used by the output

• Consider the information in the area named Priority Lanes | HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW

  • Indicates which message is currently live for the selected Output (the blue bar indicator) and the status of each message attached to that output (OK, Warning, Disabled). You can hover over the status indicator for more details if the red warning symbol is displayed.

NOTE
Rapid will select a message for broadcast by navigating through the rules from top to bottom until it finds a valid message. If two messages are valid for a particular rule, then Rapid will cycle between the two of them.

Messages and Priority Lanes/Rules

Rapid will choose what message to publish by going through the available messages based on the highest priority rule first, through to the low priority rule.

Once a valid message is found, then that message is published.

If two messages within the same rule are valid, then Rapid will cycle around those valid messages.

View the list of all messages that have been setup for the chosen output and grouped by Lanes/Rules.

View the currently active message for the chosen output: this is indicated by a blue bar on the item.

Status indicator on a message

• If the message is currently valid, then the message name will be white
• If the message is not currently valid, then the message box will be grayed out, and there will be one or more indicators next to the name to indicate the reason that it is invalid: hover over the indicator for more details
• If a priority rule is disabled, then all messages within that priority rule will also be disabled: hover over the indicator next to the priority rule for more details on why it is disabled

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