Scheduled DJ shows let you book DJs on your station's schedule. Each DJ gets a personal username and password for the DJ input. Their login works only during their own shows, so you never share the Studio or Guest passwords with them.
Scheduled DJ shows are available on CloudRadio One stations.
How it works
- You invite a DJ to your station with the DJ or Guest DJ role.
- You create a Live DJ event on the schedule and pick that DJ.
- The DJ finds their login and their shows on their own My shows page.
- The DJ connects their encoder up to 5 minutes before the show, goes on air when it starts, and is disconnected when it ends.
Owners, station managers and music controllers are never scheduled. They keep using the inputs described in Broadcasting Live.
Invite a DJ
- Go to Users in the sidebar.
- Type the DJ's email in Invite by email.
- Choose DJ or Guest DJ in the role list.
- Click Send invite.
The DJ receives an email and joins once they accept it. Only members who have accepted can be picked for a show.
DJ and Guest DJ are offered only when your station runs an AutoDJ version with the DJ input. If they're missing from the role list, apply the AutoDJ update offered on your station's dashboard.
DJ or Guest DJ
| Role | What they see | Can broadcast |
|---|---|---|
| DJ | My shows, the dashboard (without statistics), and the schedule (read only) | On the DJ input, during their shows |
| Guest DJ | My shows only | On the DJ input, during their shows |
Neither role sees the Studio or Guest input passwords, the Live DJ page, or your settings. DJs can run on-air polls from the Polls section of their My shows page; Guest DJs can't. See Polls. Click What can each role do? on the Users page for the full table.
Schedule a show
- Go to Schedule and create an event.
- Under Event type, choose Live DJ.
- Pick the DJ in the DJ list. It lists your DJ and Guest DJ members only.
- Set the Date, Start and End. A Live DJ event always needs an end time.
- Optionally add a Custom name, then click Create event.
Live DJ events repeat like any other event. See Schedule for recurrence and the other event settings.
Emails to your DJs
When you create or move a Live DJ event, or cancel or delete one, the DJ gets an email with the show's date and time in the station's time zone and in UTC, plus a calendar file. A weekly show is one repeating calendar entry, so the DJ's calendar shows it in their own time zone. If you change a series from one date onward, the old entry ends on that date and a new one starts. Taking a DJ off a show, removing them from the station, or changing their role to something other than DJ or Guest DJ cancels their upcoming shows in their calendar.
Only DJs and Guest DJs who have accepted their invitation get these emails. Shows on your own Studio Input send nothing, and CloudRadio does not send a reminder email before a show starts. The calendar file does carry an alert 60 minutes before each show, which the DJ's calendar app may show once they add the show. DJs can also download the calendar file for each show from My shows.
To stop the emails, go to Settings, open the General tab, and turn off DJ show emails. DJs can still download the calendar file themselves.
What happens during a show
- Sound check. The DJ can connect up to 5 minutes before the start. They are held off air, so listeners keep hearing your programming while the DJ checks their levels.
- On air. At the start time, the DJ goes on air automatically.
- End. At the end time, the DJ is disconnected. The audio their encoder already sent plays out for a few more seconds, then your AutoDJ fades back in.
- No-show. If the DJ never connects, nothing goes silent: your normal programming keeps playing through the slot (another event scheduled at that time, otherwise your rotation).
Outside that window, the DJ's login is refused.
While a DJ is live, listeners see the DJ's on-air name as the title until the DJ's encoder sends its own track metadata. Each DJ sets their on-air name on their My shows page. Without one, listeners see the DJ's account name, or Live Stream if the account has no name.
Back-to-back shows
Only one DJ can use the DJ input at a time. When two shows run back to back, the next DJ can connect once the previous show ends. An early login while the previous DJ is still connected is refused.
Priority
A scheduled DJ show plays at the schedule's priority. A connected Studio or Guest input airs over it.
| Priority | Source |
|---|---|
| 1 (highest) | Guest DJ Input |
| 2 | Studio Input |
| 3 | Schedule, including scheduled DJ shows |
| 4 | Relay |
| 5 | Playlist Rotation |
| 6 (lowest) | Media Library |
If someone is on the Studio or Guest input when a show starts, the scheduled DJ stays connected. They go on air when that input disconnects, if their show is still on.
On the dashboard, the Schedule row of Input priority shows the show's state, for example the DJ's name and end time while they are live.
See who is connected
Go to Live DJ in the sidebar. Owners, station managers and music controllers see a Scheduled DJs card below the input cards, so whoever books a show can check that the DJ showed up. It shows:
- whether a DJ is connected to the DJ input, and who;
- when a DJ connected early, the time they go on air;
- when the Studio or Guest input has the air, that the DJ goes on air once it disconnects.
Recent connections
The Recent connections table lists the last 30 days of login attempts on the DJ input and sessions on the Studio and Guest DJ inputs. Each row shows the time, the input, the DJ and their username, their IP address, the broadcasting software, the result, and the session. The Studio and Guest DJ inputs share one password, so their rows show the DJ as Unknown and the result as Connected.
The Software column names the encoder or DJ program that connected, such as BUTT 1.47.0 or Mixxx 2.5.6, as the program reports itself. When CloudRadio has a setup guide for that program, the name links to it. Unknown means the program didn't say what it was (Audio Hijack, for example, never does), and Other shows the name it sent when we don't recognise it. The column fills in for sessions that start after your station is on the latest AutoDJ runtime.
When the same login is refused for the same reason several times in a row, the attempts are grouped on one row with a count, such as 3 attempts, and a time range.
Common results:
| Result | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Allowed: scheduled show | The DJ connected during their show or its 5-minute sound check window |
| Refused: outside their shows | The DJ tried to connect when none of their shows was on or about to start |
| Refused: wrong password | The username exists but the password doesn't match |
| Refused: unknown username | No DJ on this station has that username |
| Refused: DJ input already in use | Another DJ was still connected |
| Refused: blocked until the show ends | The DJ was kicked during this show |
The Session column shows how the connection went: On air, Waiting for the show to start, or how long it lasted and why it ended (for example show ended or kicked from Studio). A Studio or Guest DJ session still connected reads Connected now. Ended, not reported means the station lost track of a session, for example after a restart, so its end time is unknown.
Take a DJ off air
Open the station's Dashboard. While a booked DJ is on air, the Schedule row of Input priority shows Kick source. Click it, read the warning, and click Kick source again to confirm.
The DJ is disconnected and their login is blocked until their show ends, so their encoder can't reconnect. The next input in priority takes the air right away, usually AutoDJ, and the Schedule row shows the DJ as blocked until the end of the show. Their next show works as usual. To keep a DJ off for longer, remove them or change their role on the Users page.
Only owners and station managers can kick a DJ, and it needs the latest AutoDJ runtime. On an older runtime the row shows Disconnect DJ instead: it disconnects the DJ without blocking their login, so their encoder can reconnect. Music controllers see the Scheduled DJs card and the Recent connections table on the Live DJ page, without the button. Kicking a DJ doesn't affect the Studio and Guest inputs: for those, see Take an input off air.
When a DJ loses access
A DJ loses their login when you remove them from the station, change their role to something other than DJ or Guest DJ, or when their account is suspended or deleted. If they are connected, they are disconnected.
Their future shows stay on the calendar, marked DJ no longer has access. Open each one to pick another DJ, or delete it.
Related articles
- Going Live as a DJ for what your DJs see and how they connect
- Broadcasting Live for the Studio and Guest inputs
- Schedule for creating and repeating events