A customized component of a local radio group’s software that allows for rolling text on vehicle screens to be customized, include up-to-the-minute sports scores and create another potential revenue source.
Industry
Media & Communications
Company
A La Crosse, WI-based media group
The Challenge
The media group currently has multiple radio stations set up with a standard software that broadcasts the names of songs and the artist via rolling text. Have you ever been driving in your vehicle, cranking up the music, and cannot remember who sings the song playing? You look down at the screen to see the name and artist. That text.
The standard software worked great for this purpose, but the group also wanted the ability to add customized text. They were specifically looking for the ability to update certain channels with live sports scores, create channel-specific announcements and giveaways, and consider future promotional use with advertisers.
The Solution
The company challenged our developers to customize their current basic software to allow for the additional functionality. Eventually dubbed Greasy (we’ll get to that unique name in a minute), the new software allowed a default function to the basic song/artist software, created a calendar to show current, past and future shows by station, and is cloud based (allowing access from any location), which allowed sportscasters to update local sports scores.
What is/why Greasy?
After completing the customization, management at the media group started referring to the changes as “greasy”, because as they noted, it just made things “slick”. The name stuck. Greasy is a mobile-friendly web application that allows for live updates and messaging, for multiple brands, based on three key permission settings.
Modules
- Calendar
The calendar is sortable by day, week, month, or live event and allows each station the ability to indicate which shows are on air, upcoming, or when special events are taking place. This global view allows for easy scheduling, text-event creation based on advertising periods, and viewing ease for admin and users.
- Events
The event module allows users to create a one-time or recurring event based on the station, show, and event details. Details including a start and end time or frequency and multiple text lines that can be added and saved to the calendar. For example, if the show Dave & Mary in the Morning aired every weekday from 9a-12p, it could be added to the calendar with rolling text lines “Dave & Mary in the Morning” to scroll across vehicle screens as a default when music is not playing (and therefore song/artist would not appear).
- Live Event
The live event module is primarily used for updating live sports scores. Whether it is a local high school team or national broadcast, admin users can update the score quickly and easily which broadcasts directly into scrolling vehicle text (through an integrated device known as Raspberry Pi and some other finer technical details)!
Technology Utilized
- FE – ReactJS/Redux
- BE – NodeJS/HapiJS
The Outcome
Greasy has been in use for over a year, with complete stability and use across multiple media channels. The options for add-ons and continued use are unlimited, and as broadcast media is ever-changing, could be expanded upon for untapped revenue potentials in the future.
“We really just had a rough idea of how we wanted this software to work. After asking all the right questions, the team at LTC understood our vision and quickly had some samples for us to look at. The reliability has been amazing and interface extremely simple for all skill levels of staff to operate.” – Brian J, Station Manager
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