LDR - Generating a "Ranked" playlist in Selector V12 (DOS)

LDR offers several voting features that allow listeners to engage with a list of songs in order to determine what will play on the air (including Takeover, Top Song, and FaceOff). You decide the chosen songs, and there are two ways to populate one of these playlists:

• CSV Upload - You can provide a spreadsheet (as a .CSV file) of your active library with any attributes you'd like to use for separation (i.e. category, sound code, era, vocalist), which is generated from your music scheduler and uploaded to the LDR dashboard each time you update your rotation.
• "Autopop" - The top X songs played over the last Y days (with X and Y determined by you) are made available for voting. Because this type of playlist is based on your Now Playing feed, it is not possible to separate goals by category, sound code, or era. However, basic artist and title separation is still possible. You may find that an "autopop" list is easier to manage, especially if your station doesn't schedule music locally.  Click here for more information on "autopop" playlists.

This article will focus on generating the playlist export needed to supply your playlist via CSV Upload.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Configuring the Export for the First Time
• Running the export
• Uploading the Export to the LDR Dashboard

Configuring the Export for the First Time

From the Selector home screen, choose 8 - Reports

Scroll down to the first blank line in the list of report formats.

Click F4 to edit the report format, then hit 1 - Format, and this screen will open:

Set up the format as follows:

• Artist: Line 1, Column 1, Length 28, Font P
• Title: Line 1, Column 30, Length 40, Font P
• Song ID: Line 1, Column 72, Length 7, Font P (if your Song IDs are more or less than seven characters, adjust the length accordingly)
• If your automation system is WideOrbit or SS32, configure a field for your automation category (i.e., MU1)
• For any other field you want to have separation goals for (i.e., Category, Category Level, Sound Code, Era, Vocalist, Tempo), configure those fields with the logic detailed below.
  • For the additional fields, each one should be on Line 1 with Font P. The rest of the positioning should be based on the field before it. It's usually helpful to write out the columns on paper as you go so that you can keep track.
  • For example, with the Artist / Title / Song ID fields listed above, you'll see that the Artist field's Column and Length equal 28, and the Title then starts at Column 30 (leaving Column 29 open for some punctuation that we'll get to later).
  • Then, the Title's Column plus Length equals 70, and the Song ID starts at 72 (leaving Column 71 for punctuation).
  • Since the Song ID's Column plus Length equals 79, you'd start the next field (i.e., Category) at Column 81, and its Length would be the length of that field (usually 1 or 2 for a Category).

Once you've filled out the fields, you'll need to add the punctuation that goes in between the fields. Hit F7 (Punctuation) to get to that screen, and add commas at the Columns needed based on your fields. Remember from the previous step that you left Columns 29, 71, and 80 open. In this step, you'll add commas to those Columns (on Line 1, Length 1, Font P). See the screenshot below.

You'll also need to add commas between every other field that you've specified. When you're done adding your punctuation, hit F2 to Save, hit Escape, and then hit 5 - Parameters/Name, and give the Format a name (i.e., LDR Export). If this page gives you an option to remove the header, choose that too. Then, hit F2 to Save.

Next, select the categories you want to include in your LDR playlist. First, create a Browse List with all the songs you would like to export. Start by selecting 1 - Library Management.

Then, select 4 - Browse/Conditional Changer:

Then, search for the categories or other characteristics to create a list of all the songs you want in your LDR playlist (separated by semicolon).

Once you have designated the categories you want, hit F2 - Start Browse.

Then, hit ALT-S to save the Browse List, give it a name (i.e., "LDR Categories"), and hit F2 to save the list.

Running the export

When you export your playlist, you'll go to 8 - Reports from the main screen.

Scroll down to your LDR Export and hit F5. Then, select "Saved Browse List" (Alt G), choose your browse list, and hit Enter.

Hit F9 to export your list, then option 2 - Send to File. Next, hit F9 again, and hit option 6 - Jump to Print File Manager.

From the Print File Manager, press F4 to copy, and then your cursor will be positioned to type the name of the playlist. The easiest thing to do would be C:\[filename].csv,, i.e., C:\120115.csv. You could also create a folder on the C:\ drive for LDR exports, if you prefer. In that case, you would put C:\[foldername]\[filename].csv in Selector instead.

Once you have generated your playlist, upload it to the LDR dashboard (see below).

Uploading the Export to the LDR Dashboard

For instructions on uploading and managing your playlists in the LDR dashboard, please click here.