COVID-19 forced many of us in the radio industry to make changes. To move and adapt, and to step out of our comfort zones to keep life’s various wheels spinning. Now that local economies are reopening and advertisers are beginning to populate the airwaves, we are all eagerly awaiting a return to “normal.” But what if the “old normal” we are used to, limited our efficiency?
What if, instead of looking back, we look forward? To a world of remote workflows in which we maximize our daily workload and efficiently utilise our staff, while maintaining safety guidelines.
Making big changes to a business is not something that anyone enjoys.
We all endure minor nuisances and pain points, simply because the effort in eradicating them is too much to tackle right now. You think, ‘there’ll be a better time to make that switch’ and ‘we’ll do it later’. But, more often than not, that time never comes.
Software from RCS can make the journey from ‘concept point A’ to ‘broadcast point B’ far simpler and shorter. Each product in the line is like a Swiss Army Knife for radio, bringing together multiple essentials in one place. If you have not made the switch yet through sheer circumstance, then now is the time to empower your brilliant (but remote) and reduced (and overworked) staff, by equipping them with the best. An RCS-based workflow is a repetition-free, fast-track from A to B. Try it once and – like the current situation – you will never go back.
We have helped our customers use our 2GO products in a number of creative ways. From scheduling music logs, allowing producers to import audio, talent voice-tracking their breaks, having a client sign off on a contract run, to controlling the on-air product, even if it’s from a promotional event on lake. All of these workflows can be achieved today, remotely.
However, what happens if there is another type of disaster? Perhaps it is not safe for your engineer to head to the studio or there is a computer emergency like a server crashing due to a hardware failure. For those issues and more, RCS recently released Zetta Cloud-Based Disaster Recovery. Truly a Cloud-Based solution, Zetta Cloud-Based Disaster Recovery is not a piece of software installed on a virtual machine, instead, Zetta Cloud-Based Disaster Recovery is written on Amazon Web Services, following AWS security protocols and best practices. Think of Zetta Cloud-Based Disaster Recovery as an additional station in another market – only in the cloud.
Using RCS Site Replication, any schedules, new audio, metadata changes, and SQL backups are all instantly uploaded to Zetta Cloud. Once needed, users can access Zetta Cloud from their cell phone or any Internet browser, similar to Zetta2GO, and deploy the Zetta Cloud stream. Built with its own encoder, Zetta Cloud can be pre-configured to broadcast from any destination via an online URL, be it a local stream or a direct connection at a transmitter site.
With all of these remote tools available, is there a reason to go back to the “old normal?” Don’t stop now. Keep going. Keep analyzing. Do you indulge station managers and sales staff because, “That’s just how we do it here?” With RCS’s already industry-leading feature enriched products, combined with the addition of 2GO and redundancy of Zetta Cloud-Based Disaster Recovery, we can start to create a hybrid solution to your workflows.
In Zetta, record sessions with Zetta Multi Track Editor, save the audio and it’s Site Replicated to another market for another station to broadcast.
Are you looking for a different unique talent to voice track your weekend midday shift? Equipped with a VPN, have a talent from another market log into Zetta2GO from their production home studio and voicetrack. Or, for those who want to avoid VPN, simply log onto Zetta Cloud with the user specific email and password, record the same voice tracks and again, via Site Replication, Zetta Cloud will send the audio, including metadata with segue points, to the desired station. It’s not about replacing your software, it’s about enhancing your experience.
Now is the perfect time to do more of what you are good at and less of what you are not. Extending and improving popular shows, as well as delivering more of what the stats say your audience wants, has never been more important. As we power through these troubling times, the expectations and needs of your radio audience have never been more known, obvious and deliverable. Use this time to look forward, rather than back.
As broadcasters, we are no longer tied to a studio and that is not necessarily a bad thing. We can continue to use the same workflows as we did before COVID-19. And, as we start to return to those studios, we can bridge the gap and development these remote workflows as part of our daily routine. Again, without losing efficiency or quality.
There has never been a better time to make a change and to radically rethink your radio station’s workflow. Don’t look back. Move forward with RCS products.
Find out how RCS software can help you make better radio, increase automation and cut costs.
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