Tag: Updates

Image of Chicago Public Radio Studio

Radio Station 2.3.3.9 has arrived! Here’s what to expect…

We are so excited! Radio Station PRO is going to drop THIS MONTH!

Two Tonys on two continents have been up at all sorts of hours this past year to prep the most innovative enhancements to Radio Station for our forthcoming PRO version. Stay tuned, more scoop is coming on the tale of two Tonys and the PRO version…

While most of our attention has been on PRO, we’ve also added some new fixes and features to the already awesome free version. Fixes are included for the current show highlighting and various minor display bugs. The latest feature additions for this version (2.3.3.9) are:

    • Selective Linking of Overrides to Show data
    • Multiple Schedule Override Date and Times
    • Automatic Visitor Showtime Displays
    • Language Archive Shortcode

So without further ado, let’s do a quick dive into each of these new features to see how they can help you in your Radio Station experience.

Linking of Overrides to Shows

The Schedule Overrides implementation has always been a bit funny (well, that’s how we inherited it.) Over time, we have added more fields back to the Overrides to bring them up to speed with normally scheduled Shows, to the point there is very little difference. The suggestion was made that we could just link them to a Show and be done. But, the purpose of an Override to us is the ability to override any of the Show fields. So this improvement allows for both. It lets you link to an existing Show AND select exactly which fields to override.

Multiple Schedule Override Date and Times

Up until now, if you wanted to set a Schedule Override, you’d have to do so individually for each time and date. With this new feature, you can add as many times to the Override as you like, saving you time in adding all the relevant Override information over and over again. This makes it a lot easier to set up regularly scheduled overrides, or even temporarily set an existing Show as an Override when combined with the new Override to Show linking feature. This improvement also brings AJAX saving to Override Times, and thus up to speed with Show Shifts and Playlist Tracks.

Automatic Visitor Showtime Displays

Timezones really are a pain. We’ve worked hard to take the pain points out for you and your visitors. The timezone clock above your Show schedule already helps your listeners if they are tuning in from another timezone, whether they are a far-off listener or a traveling local tuning into their home station.

Now we’ve taken this one big step further. All of your show times will now automatically convert to the visitor’s timezone and display underneath it. This saves them from having to work out the time difference for themselves. Can you hear the massive sighs of relief? Hey, they might not thank you directly, but it sure makes it easier for them to tune in to their favorite shows.

Language Archive Shortcode

With all the archive shortcodes already in Radio Station, this one was always on the cards. But being able to list shows grouped by language isn’t something everyone is going to use. It hasn’t been a top priority by any means, but it just felt like “plugging a hole” to have this missing shortcode finished. [languages-archive] and the shortcode attributes can be found in the plugin shortcode documentation.

Schedule Editor and Timezone Switching Coming Soon in PRO

The improvements to the Overrides make way for their integration into the Visual Schedule Editor, making it easy to add either Show Shifts or Override Times directly from your Schedule – either from the Admin area or the Frontend of your site! Also in PRO, visitors will be able to switch their timezones via the Radio Clock and see the updated times for all their favorite Shows – very handy for travelers wanting to keep up with their home Station.

 

Radio Station PRO – Just Around The Corner!

We are thrilled to announce the upcoming launch of Radio Station PRO !!! Jam-packed with new features to “level up” your Station’s online presence. During the launch, we are offering a 30% discount to Radio Station users! Sign up to the exclusive launch list to receive your discount code when we go LIVE.

Yes, I’m in!

 

Radio Station Combined 2.3.3.6 & 2.3.3.7 Bugfix & Enhancements Now Available for Download

There are two versions included in this release. Here are the included fixes and updates for this release:

2.3.3.7

  • Fixed: Schedule Overrides overlapping multiple Show shifts
  • Fixed: Bulk Edit field repetition and possible jQuery conflict
  • Fixed: Related Posts check producing error output
  • Fixed: WordPress Readme Parser deprecated errors for PHP7

2.3.3.6

  •  Update: Freemius SDK (2.4.1)
  • Update: Plugin Loader (1.1.6) with phone number and CSV validation
  • Added: Station phone number setting with default display option
  • Added: Schedule classes for Shows before and after current Show
  • Improved: current Show highlighting on Schedule for overnight shifts
  • Improved: info section reordering filters on single Show template
  • Fixed: Edit permissions checks for Related to Show post assignments
  • Fixed: Main Language option value for WordPress Setting
  • Fixed: make Date on Tab clickable on Tabbed Schedule View
  • Fixed: prevent possible conflicts with changes not saved reload message
  • Fixed: do not conflict check Shift against itself for last shift check
  • Fixed: link back to Show posts for related Show posts (allow multiple)
  • Fixed: filter next/previous post link for (multiple) related Show posts
  • Fixed: automatic pages conflict where themes filter the_content early

Thanks to Radio Station’s Lead Developer, Tony Hayes, who led the development of this release.

Thanks to Git users: @astetevens93, @hotrodradio, @cbeattie89, @anigwei, Phasar40, @gusgus, @MattMski, @mattzuras, and KeriB1 for reporting bugs to our Github Issue Tracker.

View the complete Radio Station changelog here.

If you have any issues, please submit Radio Station support requests here.

For bug reports and feature requests, please submit to our Radio Station Github page here.

Support Radio Station by becoming a Patron. Your monthly contribution supports the ongoing development of the FREE and open source version of Radio Station.

You can also now list your Radio Station or Webcast in our new Netmix Directory. Submit your listing for FREE until the end of July 2020 and get a do-follow backlink from one of the oldest domains related to online music and radio today!

Featured Video Play Icon

Radio Station 2.3.3.5 Bugfix & Enhancements Now Available for Download

There are two versions included in this release. Here are the included fixes and updates for this release:

2.3.3.5

  • Fixed: use schedule based on start_day if specified for Schedule view
  • Fixed: day left/right shifting on Schedule table/tab mobile views
  • Added: past/today/future filter for Schedule Override List
  • Added: filter for Schedule display start day (and to accept today)
  • Added: current playlist (if any) to Broadcast Data endpoint

2.3.3.4

  • Improved: auto-match show description to info height on Show pages
  • Improved: allow multiple Related Show selection for single post
  • Improved: ability to assign Post to relate to multiple Shows
  • Added: Related Show Post List column and Quick Edit field
  • Added: Related Show selection Bulk Edit Action for Post List
  • Added: filters for label texts and title attributes on Show Page
  • Added: filter for label text above Show Player (default empty)

Thanks to Tony Hayes, who led the development of this release.

Thanks also to our users for reporting issues in our Support forum and Gtihub Issues tracker!

View the complete Radio Station changelog here.

If you have any issues, please submit Radio Station support requests here.

For bug reports and feature requests, please submit to our Radio Station Github page here.

Support Radio Station by becoming a Patron. Your monthly contribution supports the ongoing development of the FREE and open source version of Radio Station.

You can also now list your Radio Station or Webcast in our new Netmix Directory. Submit your listing for FREE until the end of July 2020 and get a do-follow backlink from one of the oldest domains related to online music and radio today!

2.3.3.3 Bugfix Now Available for Download

2.3.3.3 Bugfix Update includes:

* Hot Fix for Upcoming Shows in Widgets were not displaying times if show spanned midnight, e.g. started at 11 pm and ended at 1 am.

We did release an interim 2.3.3.2 last week, but did not send out an email regarding that release.

Here are the included fixes and updates for that release:

2.3.3.2
* Update: Freemius SDK (2.4.0)
* Update: Plugin Loader (1.1.4) with weird isset glitch fix
* Fixed: Current Show for Shows ending at midnight
* Fixed: incorrect AJAX Widget plugin setting value
* Fixed: use page-load data for schedules before transients

Thanks to Tony Hayes, who led the development of this release.

Thanks also to the following users for reporting issues in our Support forum and Gtihub Issues tracker:

@tonyzeoli
@astevens93
@Ajames0807
@cbeattie89
@larryl79

View the complete Radio Station changelog here.

If you have any issues, please submit Radio Station support requests here.

For bug reports and feature requests, please submit to our Radio Station Github page here.

Support Radio Station by becoming a Patron. Your monthly contribution supports the ongoing development of the FREE and open source version of Radio Station.

You can also now list your Radio Station or Webcast in our new Netmix Directory. Submit your listing for FREE until the end of July 2020 and get a do-follow backlink from one of the oldest domains related to online music and radio today!

Screenshot of Radio Station Main Show Calendar View

Radio Station 2.3.0 – Now Available for Download

We’re excited to bring you the latest and greatest version of Radio Station yet!

Version 2.3.0 comes complete with a rewritten code base, a lot of massively cool enhancements, and many interesting new features added. We are pleased with this awesome progress and the growing possibilities for the usage of this plugin.

We know there is a lot to cover here! But we want to keep you fully informed… but if you don’t have time to dig into it all now, don’t miss the important update note below. And not to worry, if you need more information on any of the features in Radio Station, we have you covered – with the addition of the newly completed Documentation!

So without further ado…

What’s in Radio Station 2.3.0?

Theme Independent Templates

  • Show Page Layout
  • Show Avatars and Featured Images

Revamped Schedule Calculations

  • Responsive Table Schedule View
  • Responsive Tabbed Schedule View
  • Updated Show Widgets
  • Updated Show Shortcodes

More Great Features

  • Admin Plugin Options
  • Automatic Page Displays
  • REST API Data Endpoints
  • Show Language Taxonomy
  • Show Producer Role
  • Show Editor Role
  • Shift Conflict Checking

Why is this a “Major” Update?

After taking over Radio Station from its creator, Nikki Blight (@kionae) in June of last year, from our first update (2.2.0) we gradually fixed a good deal of bugs and improved existing functionality, while also bringing it up to modern WordPress coding standards. Nikki gave us so much to work with and we spent many hours thinking through enhancements and fixes, but in the back of our minds, we knew we had so much more to do. The last update (2.2.8) brought stability to the plugin and it was finally updated to our liking. It was then decided we would focus on features for a major version (2.3.0), so we skipped a minor release (2.2.9) to get it done. 🙂

Important Update Note!

Given this is such a major update, we have made every effort to make it as stable and bug-free as possible, delaying the release for testing, tweaking and retesting. We have put a lot into following the latest WordPress coding practices, at the same time as keeping everything backwards compatible with previous versions as possible. Of course, as with any major update, there are some changes you need to be aware of, and we recommend you backup your site and test out the features of the new version on a staging environment before you push it live. If you have already updated and are having problems, you can roll the plugin back to 2.2.8 (stable) and test on staging to sort them out.

While we have coded everything in a way to as to cause the least disruption, after updating you will want to check out your plugin settings on the Admin Plugin Options page we’ve added, as well as checking the various page layouts on your site. Be aware the newly added features will work better with the Plugin Settings adjusted to suit your needs, and since this is the first time that they need to be set, take a moment to make sure they are all completed accurately! (You don’t want to display the wrong timezone to your listeners, or have a broken streaming URL due to a typo.)

The one tricky point you will want to be sure to check out is the implementation of the new content-based page display templates. Have a look at the new Show page layout by viewing a single Show on your site. Most users will just seamlessly experience the new layouts without needing any further action. And if you’ve already put custom templates in place they will continue to be used as usual also. But, for this very reason, if you have previously copied the legacy page templates to your child theme directory (as recommended by previous documentation) and haven’t customized them, you will need to remove them to experience the new layouts.

We know this might sound a bit confusing at first, depending on your experience with the WordPress template hierachy, but we can assure you this has been done in this way for very good technical reasons in following best practice, continuing to support the hierarchy while at the same time automatically replacing the legacy templates with content-based ones. If you need to know more about this, you can read about it in more detail in the Page Templates Documentation.

That said, now let’s dig into what’s new..!

Theme Independent Templates

Until now, Radio Station only included some basic page templates based on a default WordPress theme, which you needed to copy to your Child Theme to modify further. We recognized this was far from ideal, as these templates might not match your theme, and require some developer experience to adjust to your theme’s layout and styles.

Instead, the plugin templates are now loaded into the content area via a content filter, so that they are independent of the theme used. And don’t worry, Radio Station still supports the WordPress Hierarchy, so if you already have custom templates in place (or want to use them in the future) you can. But for everyone else, you can have the new layouts within your content area, matching your existing theme, without need for further effort. Certainly far more robust!

Show Page Layout

Probably one of the most significant improvements we made is to the way single Show page display. Again, the new layout displays within your theme’s content area. We’ve added the Show information in different sections to give visitors easy access to the relevent sections. You can adjust some of the display settings for this from the Plugin Settings page. As an added bonus, you can also raise funds for a Show with the new Patreon feature. Just add your Patreon URL in the Show Edit page field and it will display a Patreon button on the Show page.

The new template also brings Posts and Playlists closer to the top of the page and uses switchable tabs to navigate between both. In the past, these features fell far below the Show Description. We observed many sites failing to use these features correctly because they weren’t as prevalent on the page. You had to scroll deep to find them and with some page builders, they disappeared altogether. They sort of sat there with no content as just empty header titles with no content filling them in.

We’ve also seen where some stations are using the Show Description field to post episodic content. To combat this, a new “Show More” function will hide extremely long, unwieldy Show Description content, so other important content is no longer pushed far down and below the fold. We hope the combination of Show More for the Show Description and the Tabbed access to Posts and Playlists create a better user experience and spur on usage to enhance and bring forward important content on your radio station websites.

Here is a screenshot of the new layout previewed on our Radio Station Demo site.

Radio Station for WordPress Updated Show Page Layout
Radio Station for WordPress Updated Show Page Layout

Show Avatars and Featured Images

Until now, the featured image for a show has been used as the Show Avatar (usually a logo.) However, we recognized that this prevents it from being used in a more common way as the Featured Image above the content. To fix this, Show Avatars have been split to their own separate feature (existing Show Avatars are automatically handled by the plugin) enabling the use of Featured Images in the more standard and prevalent way, more as a large banner or header image above the content. (Note that if your theme template used for shows does not display a featured image by default, there is a fallback option to enable an extra “Show Header” image field instead.)

Revamped Schedule Calculations

Since the existing schedule calculations were not allowing for more complex, but much-needed improvements to the rest of the plugin, they’ve been rewritten in their entirety. No mean feat! But we needed a more solid basis for adding features in the future.

One of the main reasons for doing this, was so that Schedule Overrides would be honoured in the Master Schedule views. These are now included in Table, Tabbed and List Views. (The Divs and Legacy views don’t do this so they are not recommended for use.) Note that while the Table and Tabbed views are styled, the List View remains unstyled for development use. The Radio Timezone is now displayed along with an improved Genre highlighter (allowing for multiple selections) at the top of the Schedule, so listeners can more easily find Shows of interest.

Responsive Table Schedule View

As the schedule grid is a table, and tables don’t generally work well with smaller screen, we’ve added width responsiveness so that it better adjusts to smaller width devices such as mobiles or tablets. On smaller screens, a clickable left or right arrow appears to scroll to the next or previous day column in the schedule, making it easier for mobile users to access your station’s schedule. The current day, time and show is also automatically highlighted, making it easy to see what’s on and what’s coming up.

Responsive Tabbed Schedule View

Nikki originally included the tabbed view as a developer-centric addition to Radio Station. In the past, to display the tabbed view, you had to add some code retrieved from the FAQ documentation and implement it yourself. Since 2.2.7, we included the Tabbed View via the existing Schedule shortcode. Now you can select the Tabbed view from the Plugin admin Settings page. And similar to the Table view, in 2.3.0 the Tabbed view is now responsive also, allowing for better display and access on smaller screens.

Updated Show Widgets

Since the schedule calculations have changed, all the Widgets have also been updated to use them. For a more consistent experience, and remove code duplication, widgets now pass their options to their respective shortcodes for display. Fpr clarity, we’ve renamed the Widgets from DJ On Air to Current Show, Upcoming On Air DJs to Upcoming Shows and Now Playing to Current Playlist. We’ve also added an optional countdown clock to the Current and Ipcoming Show widgets, and added a widget for displaying your Radio Timezone.

Updated Show Shortcodes

Revised Archive Shortcodes are now available for displaying your Shows List, Shows by Genre, Overrides List and Playlists List. Each has it’s own set of display options via shortcode attributes. Additionally, related Show Posts and Show Playlists can also be listed for a Show with a shortcode, and these are used automatically on the new Show Page layout. There is also a shortcode for displaying your Radio Timezone.

Automatic Page Displays

You can also now assign pages for your Schedule and other archive pages (Shows, Overrides, Playlists, and Genres.) Simply create a page first and then go to your Radio Station settings and assign the page. The content of that page will then automatically be replaced internally with the relevant content via shortcodes. These automatic pages use the default shortcode attributes, so if you want to customize them further, you can always include the relevant shortcode on the page instead with customized shortcode attributes, just as in previous versions, and turn the automatic display off.

More Great Features

As if all that wasn’t enough, you know we really wanted to push this forward and take this somewhere new, so we didn’t hold back in adding a whole bunch of new features we were inspired to do along the way. But we realize we can’t do everything at once either, so we’ve put together a brief Feature Roadmap if you want to know what’s to come. But here’s what else we got so so far…

Admin Plugin Options

It was time!

The need to be able to set new Plugin Settings via a Plugin admin page kept coming up. So we did it, based on an existing plugin settings class that we adapted and updated for the purpose. Since these are new settings, we considered it important each one come with a helper description next to the option and all options be placed under relevant tabs and sub-sections. For example, you can now set your Station Timezone, main Broadcast Language, Time Format and Streaming URL. It’s important to set these for usage throughout the plugin now and for use by future features.

Radio Station Admin Settings Panel
Radio Station Admin Settings Panel

REST Data API Endpoints

You read that right! Radio Station now has a full API implementation of data output for your Program Schedule or Show List. (It also has a fallback to output data via a Feed if you have disabled the REST API for some reason.) This means if you want to integrate your schedule data with external services, you can easily fetch it in JSON format. You can check out the API documentation for further details on available endpoints and data structures. We have a great intention planned for using this that we will be announcing in the near future. Stay tuned!

Show Language Taxonomy

You can now add assign Language(s) to your Shows (and Schedule Overrides.) This is similar to how you can already assign Genres via the Genre Taxonomy. You can set your main Show Language in the new Plugin Admin Settings page. This way you don’t need to assign a Language to the majority of your Shows, but instead can assign one or more Languages to a Show as needed and then will it override the default main language for that Show.

Radio Station Show Language Selector
Radio Station Show Language Selector

New Producer Role

Similar to assigning Hosts (previously DJs) to a Show, you can now assign a Producer to a Show too. This was done by adding a Producer role, which acts basically the same way as the existing Host / DJ role. And in the same way, you need to assign a Producer role to a user so that they appear in the Show page selection dropdown for Producers. The assigned Producer(s) will then be able to edit the Show as well as being listed on the Show Page, just like the DJs / Hosts already are.

This was added for security reasons, so Producers can have their own access and WordPress Admins, Hosts, and DJs would not have to unnecessarily share their login user names and passwords to interns or Producers. Plus, the Producers are now added to the Show page frontend display. Producers should get credit on a website for shows they help produce, shouldn’t they? So, here’s to all the Producers around the world that should be credited for their hard work! Cheers!

New Show Editor Role

Similar to how WordPress has an Editor role between Administrator and Author, Radio Station now has a Show Editor role to fill in the gap between site Administrators (eg. Station Managers) and Show Authors (Hosts or Producers.) A user assigned the Show Editor role has access to publish or edit any Radio Station related record (Shows, Override, Playlists.) Again, this was done for security but also to make it easier for say, a head of programming to manage the schedule, but without needing to be a full site Administrator

Shift Conflict Checking

As we found that it’s easy to make mistakes in scheduling and not notice, we’ve added some extra failsafes into Radio Station to help prevent this. While the new schedule calculations now do it’s best to detect and handle conflicts, this is really a stop-gap measure until you fix them up – but you need to know about them to do this! So now, Radio Station will now let you know automatically via a WordPress admin notice should you have a Show that overlaps with another one:

Show Shift Conflict Checker Notification Bar View
Show Shift Conflict Checker Notification Bar View

And, you can also see this same information visually highlighted in the Shift column of the admin Show List page, as well as for the conflicting Shift on the admin Show Edit page (both shown below). And, it will now better handle shift conflicts when you add or edit shifts with overlap. When you save a Shift with a conflict (or an incomplete shift), it will be saved as “disabled”, so that you need to either fix that Shift or the other Show’s conflicting shift before it can be re-enabled.

Show Shift Conflict Checker for Radio Station plugin for WordPress
Show Admin Page Shift Conflict View

Action Steps

Here are a few action steps you can take right now:

1. You can view a live demo version of 2.3.0 right now at http://radiostationdemo.com.

2. Have questions or want to know more about a particular feature? Check out the new Documentation

2. Need support? Please visit the WordPress Plugin Support Forum

3. Want to contribute to the development of the open-source and free version of Radio Station, or make a feature request? Dive into the codebase and generate a pull request or open an issue at the Radio Station Githun Repo.

4. We also want to hear from our users. We’d love for you to respond to this email and tell us about your radio station or Internet broadcasting website. We want to know how you’re using the plugin and where in the world you are.

5. Speaking of the world… we need translators for the plugin, especially after 2.3.0 is pushed. Please get in touch with us at Contact Us to let us know you are interested in translating the plugin to your language. We’ll get you on your way!

6. Follow us on Twitter: @netmix

7. Like our Netmix page on Facebook and join our Netmix Facebook Group.

8. You can also take our survey.

Lastly…

We’re sure you’ll agree, this update features a slew of great changes and cool new stuff! Check the Radio Station Demo website for a full preview of 2.3.0.

And when you’re ready, download or update it and take it for a spin. We’re confident you’ll love the new release.

A very special thanks to Tony Hayes, our truly gifted and talented lead developer, who has spent many a day or night down under in Australia to move the ball forward and code-up the best iteration yet!

And stay tuned for the next episode… err I mean the release of Radio Station for WordPress!

Screenshot of Radio Station Main Show Calendar View

Radio Station 2.3.0 Pre-Release Announcement

First Major Update to Radio Station for WordPress

After taking over Radio Station from its creator, Nikki Blight (@kionae) in June of last year, from our first update (2.2.0) we gradually fixed a good deal of bugs and improved existing functionality, while also bringing it up to modern WordPress coding standards. Nikki gave us so much to work with and we spent many hours thinking through enhancements and fixes, but in the back of our minds, we knew we had so much more to do. The last update (2.2.8) brought stability to the plugin and it was finally updated to our liking. It was then decided we would focus on features for a major version (2.3.0), so we skipped a minor release (2.2.9) to get it done. 🙂

The last update (2.2.8) brought stability to the plugin and it was finally updated to our liking. It was then decided we would focus on features for a major version (2.3.0), so we skipped a minor release (2.2.9) to get it done. 🙂 While we have coded everything in a way to as to cause the least disruption, it is recommended you check your (new) plugin settings in the Admin Plugin Options panel we’re adding, as well as the various page layouts on your site after updating.

When you soon see the plugin prompt to upgrade in your Plugins list, we strongly urge you to back up first. If you have a staging environment, upgrade there before you push live to ensure that your site doesn’t break. Test out all of the new features and reformat your site to take advantage of the new Show page template.

What’s Coming Up in Radio Station 2.3.0?

Along with a rewritten codebase, massively cool and interesting features have also been added to 2.3.0, and we are excited at the growing possibilities for usage of this plugin. The full details will have to wait until the release is finalized, but for now, here is a summarized list of what you can expect.

Show Page Layout

Probably one of the most significant improvements we made is to the way single Show pages display. The old method for displaying single Shows was via templates, and yet, this meant having to write your own custom theme-compatible template, or otherwise address possible display conflicts with the legacy plugin templates. To make the plugin more theme independent, the Show Page will use the single Theme template of your choice and instead, filter the content area to display the new Show Layout. Certainly far more robust!

The new template also brings Posts and Playlists closer to the top of the page and uses switchable tabs to navigate between both. In the past, these features fell far below the Show Description. We observed many sites failing to use these features correctly because they weren’t as prevalent on the page. You had to scroll deep to find them and with some page builders, they disappeared altogether. They sort of sat there with no content as just empty header titles with no content filling them in.

And, we added support for Featured Image. You can now use Show Image for the Show avatar (usually a logo) and Featured Image for a large, attractive banner image to promote each show.

You can also raise funds for a Show with the new Patreon feature. Just add your Patreon URL in the Admin Plugin Options field for your Show or Station.

We hope the combination of Show More for the Show Description and the Tabbed access to Posts and Playlists create a better user experience and spur on usage to enhance and bring forward important content on your radio station websites.

Here is a screenshot of the new layout previewed on our Radio Station Demo site.

Radio Station for WordPress Updated Show Page Layout
Radio Station for WordPress Updated Show Page Layout

Because this change is quite significant, be aware this one may require action on your part! In the majority of cases, all that will change is that your single Show pages will look heaps better without needing any action, but realistically we know there are non-standard themes out there so it is worth checking! And, we’ve seen where some stations are using the Show Description field to post episodic content. A new “Show More” function will hide extremely long, unwieldy Show Description content, so other important content is no longer pushed far down and below the fold.

Mobile Responsive Grid View

We architected a mobile-responsive grid view to display in mobile devices, such that the current day and future days display. There is a left to right arrow included to toggle between the viewable days on a mobile device. This will help mobile users view your schedule adjusted to the viewer’s device and browser. It can be either set to “ON” in the Admin Plugin Options or you can use the shortcode displayed to add to any page or post.

Tabbed Schedule View Now Included

Nikki originally included the tabbed view as a developer-centric addition to Radio Station. In the past, to display the tabbed view, you had to add some code retrieved from the FAQ documentation and implement it yourself. In 2.3.0, it’s a simple toggle in the new Admin Plugin Options panel to turn it on. And, the tabbed view is fully responsive, as well.

Admin Plugin Options

It was time!

The need to be able to set new Plugin Settings via a Plugin Options admin page kept coming up. So we did it, based on an existing plugin settings class that we adapted and updated for the purpose. Since these are new settings, we considered it important each one come with a helper description next to the option and all options be placed under relevant tabs and sub-sections. For example, you can now set your station Timezone, streaming URL, and assign automatic pages for displaying your Schedule.

Radio Station Admin Settings Panel
Radio Station Admin Settings Panel

 

Fully Revamped Scheduling

Since the existing schedule calculations were not allowing for more complex, but much-needed improvements to the codebase, they’ve been rewritten in their entirety. No mean feat! But we needed a more solid basis for adding features in the future. Plus this allowed us to add…

Shift Conflict Checker

Radio Station will now let you know automatically in an admin notification bar should you have a Show that overlaps with another one(shown below)

Show Shift Conflict Checker Notification Bar View
Show Shift Conflict Checker Notification Bar View

And, you can also see this information visually highlighted in the Show list view (shown below) and the Show Edit screen view (shown below). And, it will now better handle shift conflicts when you add or edit shifts with overlap.

Show Shift Conflict Checker for Radio Station plugin for WordPress
Show Admin Page Shift Conflict View

REST API Endpoints

You read that right! A full API implementation of data output for your Full Schedule or Show List. We have a great plan for using this that we will be announcing in the near future. Stay tuned! (It also has a fallback to output data via a Feed if you have disabled the REST API for some reason.)

Language Taxonomy Support

Radio Station Show Language Selector
Radio Station Show Language Selector

You can now add assign Language(s) to your Shows (and Schedule Overrides.) Similar to how you can already assign Genres via the Genre Taxonomy. You can set a default language in the new Admin Plugin Options settings, and then assign one or more Languages to Shows, as needed.

New Producer Role

Similar to assigning Hosts and DJs to a Show, you will be able to assign a Producer to a Show. This was done by adding a Producer role, which acts basically the same way as the existing DJ / Host role. The assigned Producer(s) will then be able to log in under their own user account to edit the Show as well as being listed on the Show Page, just like the DJs / Hosts already are.

This was added for security reasons, so WordPress Admins, Hosts, and DJs would not have to unnecessarily pass their login user names and passwords to interns or Producers. And, the Producer role could make changes while being tracked by any plugin with an activity monitor. Giving station employees master admin access is not advisable for security reasons. And, sharing passwords between Hosts and DJs with show Producers is also not advisable. We think this solves that problem.

Plus, the Producer role is added to the Show page frontend display. Producers should get credit on a website for shows they help produce, shouldn’t they? So, here’s to all the Producers around the world that should be credited for their hard work! Cheers!

Updated Widgets and Shortcodes

Since the schedule calculations have changed, all widgets and shortcodes have also been updated to use them. Also added are new Archive shortcodes for displaying Shows, Show Posts, Show Playlists and Shows by Genre. We’ve also added 12 / 24 hour time switchers to widgets and a Showtime countdown clock, as well.

Action Steps

Here are a few action steps you can take right now:

1. View the demo version of 2.3.0 beta right now at http://radiostationdemo.com.

2. Need support? Please visit http://wordpress.org/support/plugin/radio-station/

3. Want to contribute to the development of the open-source and free version of Radio Station, or make a feature request? Dive into the codebase and generate a pull request at http://github.com/netmix/radio-station. Or, add your feature request to our Git repo.

4. We also want to hear from our users. We’d love for you to respond to this email and tell us about your radio station or Internet broadcasting website. We want to know how you’re using the plugin and where in the world you are.

5. Speaking of the world…we need translators for the plugin, especially after 2.3.0 is pushed. Please get in touch with us at http://netmix.com/contact to let us know you are interested in translating the plugin to your language. We’ll get you on your way!

6. Follow us on Twitter: @netmix

7. Like our Netmix page on Facebook and join our Netmix Facebook Group.

8. You can also take our survey.

Lastly…

We’re sure you’ll agree, this update features a slew of great changes and cool new stuff!  Check the Radio Station Demo website for a full preview of beta 2.3.0 before it’s officially released.

While it’s all ready to go, we still need to update and add the relevant documentation to reflect the new version. More details on these changes and features will also be announced once we release Radio Station 2.3.0 in the coming days.

We’re confident you’ll love the new release, so stay tuned for this upcoming release announcement and be ready for the awesome next phase of Radio Station for WordPress! Until then, keep an eye out for the next newsletter announcing the release of Radio Station 2.3.0, coming very soon!

A very special thanks to Tony Hayes, our truly gifted and talented lead developer, who has spent many a day or night down under in Australia to move the ball forward and code-up the best iteration yet!