Scheduling Hints

FieldStation42 can automatically figure out when certain content should play based on the names of your subfolders. Name a folder October and the videos inside it only play during October. Name one morning and those clips only show up in the morning. No configuration changes needed.

Monthly Content

Name a subfolder after a month and its contents only play during that month:

catalog/retro_tv/
└── cartoons/
    ├── October/                <- Only plays in October
    │   ├── halloween_special1.mp4
    │   └── halloween_special2.mp4
    └── December/               <- Only plays in December
        ├── xmas_special1.mp4
        └── xmas_special2.mp4

Use the full month name (January, February, March, etc.). Abbreviations won't work.

Quarterly Content

Use Q1, Q2, Q3, or Q4 to restrict content to a three-month window:

catalog/retro_tv/
└── commercials/
    └── Q4/                     <- Only plays Oct through Dec
        ├── holiday_sale.mp4
        └── winter_promo.mp4

The quarters break down like this:

• Q1 = January through March
• Q2 = April through June
• Q3 = July through September
• Q4 = October through December

Date Range Content

For more specific timing, name a folder with a date range. This works even across year boundaries:

catalog/retro_tv/
└── sitcoms/
    └── December 1 - December 25/   <- Only plays Dec 1 through 25
        ├── xmas_ep1.mp4
        └── xmas_ep2.mp4

Another example:

November 15 - April 10/         <- Plays Nov 15 through Apr 10

This is perfect for holiday seasons, sweeps periods, or any time you want content to appear for a specific stretch.

Time-of-Day Content

Name subfolders after parts of the day to control what plays when. This is especially useful for commercials and bumps:

catalog/retro_tv/
└── commercial/
    ├── morning/                <- Only plays 6am to 10am
    │   ├── breakfast_ad.mp4
    │   └── coffee_ad.mp4
    ├── daytime/                <- Only plays 10am to 5pm
    │   └── soap_ad.mp4
    ├── prime/                  <- Only plays 5pm to 11pm
    │   └── beer_ad.mp4
    ├── late/                   <- Only plays 11pm to 2am
    │   └── late_night_ad.mp4
    └── overnight/              <- Only plays 2am to 6am
        └── insomnia_ad.mp4

The default time ranges are:

You can change these times by editing conf/main_config.json (the change applies to all channels).

Day-of-Week Content

Name a subfolder after a day of the week and its content only plays on that day. For example, a folder named friday would only contribute videos on Fridays.

Use all lowercase: monday, tuesday, wednesday, etc.

Putting It All Together

Here's how a channel might look when you combine several types of scheduling hints:

FieldStation42/
└── catalog/
    └── family_channel/
        ├── cartoons/
        │   ├── regular_toons/
        │   │   ├── cartoon1.mp4
        │   │   └── cartoon2.mp4
        │   ├── October/              <- Halloween specials
        │   │   └── halloween.mp4
        │   └── December/             <- Christmas specials
        │       └── christmas.mp4
        ├── sitcoms/
        │   ├── family_friendly/
        │   │   └── show1_ep1.mp4
        │   └── November 15 - April 10/  <- Winter season
        │       └── winter_episode.mp4
        ├── commercial/
        │   ├── morning/              <- 6am to 10am only
        │   │   └── breakfast_ad.mp4
        │   ├── daytime/              <- 10am to 5pm only
        │   │   └── general_ad.mp4
        │   └── prime/                <- 5pm to 11pm only
        │       └── dinner_ad.mp4
        └── bump/
            ├── pre/                  <- Start of breaks
            │   └── brb.mp4
            ├── post/                 <- End of breaks
            │   └── welcome_back.mp4
            └── general_promo.mp4

The regular cartoons and sitcoms play all year. Halloween specials appear in October, Christmas specials in December, and winter episodes run from mid-November through early April. Meanwhile, the commercials rotate by time of day automatically.

All of this happens just from the folder names. You don't need to touch your station config at all.