Track Requests & Playlist Improvements: Autumn 2017 Updates

For the past few months we've been incredibly busy building some huge features. One such feature is the beloved Track Requests widget from Wavestreaming.

by Jamie Ashbrook in News

Last updated 18.07.2024

A screenshot of how Track Requests appear. On the right is a screenshot of the requested song, a Jamie XX example. On the left is a list of tracks. It has a balck background with white overlayed text.

For the past few months, we've been incredibly busy building some huge new features. One such feature is the beloved track requests widget from Wavestreaming which has been refreshed and modernised to drive listener engagement on your Radio.co station even more. In this blog post, I'll be discussing the new features with you and giving you an insight into how they will benefit you, your station and your listeners.

New Features & Broadcasting Tools!

At the start of each month the entire Radio.co team gets together to discuss new features and improvements that we'd like to see in Radio.co. At the beginning of one of those meetings, we took the highest requested feature from our Feedback Forum and set to work.

Track Requests: Putting Listeners in Control

We've built a powerful and innovative tool for you to use to interact with your listeners. Easily take Track Requests from your listeners by embedding our new Request Widget onto your Website or Facebook page. Design your widget using the simple and intuitive builder, accessible from your Radio.co Dashboard, under the new Requests menu.

To start taking requests from your listeners you need to make sure you're on either our Broadcaster or Station plan. You can start a 7 day free trial signing up here if you haven't already, or upgrade your account by clicking here.

This is a screenshot of how the Request Widget Builder appears. It is a grey and white page. On the left is a list of settings, name, size, background, text, button, corners, style, button style, list artwork and confirmation text included. At the bottom of the page is a red 'Save Changes'.

Start by editing and styling the widget to fit your brand. You can change the size, colour scheme, the style of the corners and buttons, and even leave a custom message to your listener after they've made their request.

Then, embed the widget on your website by simply copying and pasting the code at the top of the page. This is really easy to do on our Website Builder.

This is a screenshot of how the Website Builder appears and is the same as the cover picture for this article. The dummy station is called UPBEAT FM, and below there are lists of Basic, Structure, Media, ECommerce and More options. The main part of the screen has the Jamie XX track as previously mentioned.

After it's on your website, your listeners will be able to easily request tracks.

This is a gif of the Request Widget. The user types in Touch by Little Mix, the request is confirmed, and the request is recieved. The gif repeats after 5 seconds.

Easily manage your Track Requests by going to the Request Manager. See all of your requests in real time and see how many people have requested them. You can remove requests if you want to here as well.

This is a screenshot of how the Requests Manager appears. It has a list on the left of the titles of requested songs, on the right the artists, on the far right the amount of people who have requested that song, and a remove song option in red.

Requests can be played from any of your playlists. To do this you will need to add the special Request Tag to your playlists, by simply dragging it in when you’re creating them.

This is a screenshot of how adding requests to playlists appears. On the left are 5 genres, on the right are play request options. This is a white and grey screen that looks similar to the previous screenshots in this article.

Finally, you can edit the settings for Track Requests by going to your Settings page. Set up limitations for the number of tracks listeners can request to ensure your station isn't spammed and choose the Tag from which listeners can request tracks.

This is how the Request Settings appear. Beneath Requests are Policy, Tags, Rules and Expiry. There are options to tag requests and remove too many requests under small boxes with black arrows pointing up and down.

Duplicate Playlists: Faster Radio Show Management

Based on feedback from our users, we've created a way for you to duplicate playlists. This is useful if you've got a playlist you love already, but you just want to change a few things. Rather than completely rebuilding it, just duplicate it then make any changes you need.

Start by editing your playlist, then click Duplicate.

This is a screenshot of an example of a Saturday Playlist. It is white and grey with a yellow border at the top. At the very top there is a Save Changes option. The playlist has example tracks with a duration of 19:41 minutes.

After duplicating the playlist you'll be able to give it a new name and make some tweaks to the Playlist Metadata.

This screenshot illustrates how to edit a Duplicated Playlist and visualises the Playlist metadata. There is a colour customisation box and a cancel, clear and update button visible in traffic light red, yellow and green colours.

Voila! Your playlist has been duplicated and you can make those small changes without having to completely rebuild the list.

This is a screenshot of the now duplicated playlist. This is the same screenshot as the earlier screenshot of the track list.

Help Centre: Find Support Guides in Seconds

We're proud to unveil our brand new Help Centre, packed with up to date guides on how you can get the best out of your station. With a brand new design, layout, and improved searching, we're confident you'll be able to find exactly what you need.

However, if you're not able to find the answer to your question, we're on hand to help. Send us a direct message from the chat widget and we'll get back to you as soon as we can!

This how a Live Chat for help appears on the Radio.co site. It is a dummy example one with a team member named Aaron, and his photo in a small circle at the top of the red and white chatbox. He is a white man with brownish hair.

Under the Hood: Tweaks & Improvements

Along with great feature updates, we're always looking to improve what we already have. Based on your feedback, we've made a couple of small tweaks to make things a bit easier:

Playlist Editor Preview: When creating your playlists, you're now able to preview the tracks you've just put in. This is great news for those of you who use our Voice Tracking feature, allowing you to preview tracks to make sure your shows sound professional.
Settings menu cleanup: Alongside the new settings added for the Track Requests feature, we've had a general tidy up of the Settings menu to make sure it's clean and easy to use.

Alongside these visual changes, our Development Team has been hard at work with some behind the scenes improvements:

Performance improvements: We've made several performance optimisations this month which has increased the speed and efficiency across the entire system. Whether that's scheduling events, creating playlists or changing your settings.
Streaming optimisations: To keep our platform on the bleeding edge, we've performed several updates to core components of the system, which have improved the performance of our streaming services for your listeners. This means quicker load times, less buffering and an overall better experience.

What new and exciting features do you want to see in Radio.co? Head over to our feedback forum to discuss your ideas and what you'd like to see in the future.