Background programming is a schedule layer that fills the hours around your shows. A playlist or relay set as background programming keeps playing underneath your schedule. It steps aside when a show starts, and picks up again when the show ends. You don't have to trim it to fit between shows.
Set an event as background programming
- Go to Schedule and create or open a Playlist or Relay event.
- Give it an End time. An event without one plays once and can't be background programming.
- Set Layer to Background programming.
- Save the event.
Layer is not offered for Live DJ events, or for a playlist event that plays once.
Make room for a new show
If you schedule a show that starts inside an existing playlist or relay event, the form says so: "You'll be offered to make it background programming when you create this event." When you save, Make room for this event? asks to move that event to the background:
- Click Make background and save.
- When that event repeats and your show doesn't, the buttons are This date only and, when the whole series can move, Whole series.
Studio then creates your show in the same step.
How it steps aside
- Shows and relays sitting on top of background programming take the air for exactly their time slot. The background programming resumes when they end.
- Live DJ windows take the air only while the DJ is connected. If the DJ hasn't connected yet, or disconnects early, the background programming keeps playing.
- A live broadcast on the Studio or Guest DJ input airs over everything, background programming included.
When no show and no background programming is scheduled, the station falls back to its always-on relay, weighted rotation, or library shuffle. See Automation.
What can overlap
| Overlap | Allowed |
|---|---|
| A show, relay or live DJ window over background programming | Yes |
| Two shows, two relays, or a show and a relay | No |
| A live DJ window and a show, relay or another live DJ window | No |
| Two background programming events | No |
When a save is blocked, the form explains the overlap. A show that only overlaps because a play-once playlist might run long is flagged but not blocked.
Related articles
- Schedule for creating and repeating events
- Scheduled DJ Shows for live DJ windows
- Automation for the full priority chain