Radio automation software: a practical guide for small stations

What radio automation software does

At its simplest, radio automation software – also called automated radio broadcasting software or a radio playout system – is what plays your station: one item after another – songs, station IDs, jingles, adverts, news and the presenter's links – and makes the joins between them sound right. Around that it adds the jobs a station would otherwise do by hand: deciding which songs play when, keeping to the clock, and keeping a record.

Almost every station uses it in one of two ways, and most use both:

• Automation – the station runs by itself, overnight or all day, from a schedule built in advance.
• Live assist – a presenter is on air and the software does the heavy lifting: songs are lined up and timed, and the presenter decides when the next one plays.

For an internet station, the software usually also sends the sound to your stream – to an Icecast or SHOUTcast server, your own or a host's – along with the song titles listeners see in their player.

The jobs it should do for you

Feature lists are long and they all start to look the same. These are the jobs that make the difference day to day:

Music scheduling

Good scheduling stops your station sounding like a shuffled playlist. Look for clocks (a template for what each hour sounds like – a current hit, an older song, a jingle, adverts at :20), rules (no artist twice in an hour, no two slow songs back to back) and fair rotation, so every song gets its turn rather than the same 200 playing to death. The schedule should be built days ahead so you can check it, and be easy to change on the day.

Playout and the joins

The changes between songs are what listeners notice. At a minimum you want proper crossfades that know where each song really starts and ends – not a fixed 5-second fade over the last line of the lyrics. Better systems know each song's intro, outro and vocals, so links don't talk over singing; the best can mix songs on the beat like a DJ.

Voice tracking and live presenting

Most small stations rely on presenters who can't be in a studio at 7 am. Voice tracking lets them record the links between songs ahead of time, so the show sounds live. Our voice tracking guide explains how it works. If presenters go live from home, check how: an app on their own computer, a web browser, or a phone.

Adverts, jingles and the log

Even a hobby station has station IDs and the odd sponsor. You'll want adverts that land in the right break, jingles on instant-play buttons (a cart wall) and a log – the plan for each hour, and afterwards the record of what really played.

Reports for your music licences

UK stations playing music need licences from PPL and PRS for Music, and both ask for reports – listener hours, tracks per hour, and what was played. If your software can produce those figures for you, a quarterly chore becomes a two-minute job. The licences section of our start-up guide explains what's needed.

Staying on air

Ask what happens when things go wrong: a song file that won't play, a computer that restarts, an internet connection that drops. Look for silence detection, a backup feed or fallback audio, and automatic reconnection to your stream server. "It's never gone down" isn't an answer; "here's what it does when it does" is.

Three ways to run it

Radio automation comes in three shapes. None is best for everyone – it depends on your budget, how hands-on you want to be, and where your music lives.

Hosted systems are usually sold as cloud radio automation software or a cloud radio playout system: you run the station from a web browser and the provider keeps the computers running. Some desktop and self-hosted systems now work from a browser too, so "cloud" in a product's description doesn't always tell you where your station actually runs – ask.

There are also free and open-source options in all three shapes. They can be excellent, but "free" usually means you supply the time: setting it up, keeping it running and finding answers yourself.

How to choose: questions to ask

Before you commit, put these to any supplier – including us:

1. What does it cost over three years? Include the licence or subscription, any per-presenter or per-listener charges, hosting, and paid add-ons.
2. Who looks after it? Who installs updates, and what happens when something breaks at 2 am?
3. What happens if the computer or the internet fails? Does the stream go silent, play fallback audio, or carry on?
4. How does music get in? Uploading thousands of songs one by one is a week of your life. Can it read the folders you already have? Does it fix titles and check loudness?
5. How do presenters work? From the studio only, from home with an app, from any browser, from a phone? Can they voice track?
6. Can it produce your music licence reports?
7. Can you try it first – a real trial, or a live demo you can poke around in?
8. Can you leave? Your music, schedules and logs should be yours to take with you.

Common mistakes

• Choosing on the feature list. Two systems can tick the same boxes and sound completely different. Listen.
• Forgetting the running costs. A cheap monthly plan can cost more than a one-off licence within two years.
• Neglecting the music library. Wrong titles, missing artists and songs at different volumes make any software sound amateur. Budget a weekend for tidying.
• One computer, no backup. If the station lives on a single PC, have a plan for the day it fails.
• Ignoring the licences. Automation makes it easy to stream; it doesn't make it legal. Sort PPL and PRS for Music before launch.

Where Stationhand fits

Stationhand is radio automation software for smaller and internet radio stations. It runs on your own computer – a Linux server, a Windows PC or a Mac – or as a hosted radio station on our servers (by invitation during the beta). It costs £20 a month on your own computer or £35 a month hosted with us, with the stream included either way (pricing). It plays your station around the clock with DJ-style beat-matched mixing and AI voice links, lets presenters go live or voice track from any browser or a phone, schedules your music and adverts, produces your PPL and PRS figures, and gives listeners a station website, web player and app. See all the features.

To be straight with you: it's newer and smaller than the long-established systems, and it's built by one radio-loving IT person rather than a big company (here's the story). If round-the-clock support is your top priority, a bigger supplier may suit you better. If you want a station that sounds great on a small budget, have a listen.