button. The Category Group Settings window will open and automatically select the Category Group that is highlighted in the Goals | Categories window. This window can be resized as needed for a better view of the contents of the window.The Category Group Settings window displays a Pass Order tab and a Kick Override tab. The Pass Over tab displays Song/Link Category Groups, Themes, <Twofers> (which includes Artist Blocks), Related Links and Browse Lists in a sequence or Pass Order in which Category Groups and the other elements will be scheduled. A range of advanced scheduling options can also be specified. The Kick Override tab is used to adjust rotation patterns in small, fast turnover, Category Groups. GSelector adjusts Category sequences by moving, or 'Kicking', an appropriate number of Songs to the bottom of their Categories at the end of the previously scheduled hour.
In the Goals Categories window or the Link Goals Categories window, click the toolbar Category Group Settings button. The Category Group Settings window will open and automatically select the Category Group that is highlighted in the Goals | Categories window. This window can be resized as needed for a better view of the contents of the window.
Click any area in this image for help
Click any area in this image for help
Pass Order for Multi-Date Scheduling Range
The Element Type Icon helps the user to visually see which category group is a Link 
and which is a Song 
. Use the Hide Song/Link Pass Order check box to change the view of these groups,
This field displays the Pass Order number for each Category Group, Themes, <Twofers> and Browse Lists if used. The sequence defined sets the display order of Category Groups in GSelector windows. Also, GSelector schedules these items sequentially according to the Pass Order. Many programmers rank these items in order of importance, with smaller, faster-rotating items higher on the list, and larger items lower on the list.
To edit the Pass Order:
TIP: Songs/Links in Categories at the top of the Pass Order can be slotted or kicked. Songs/Links in Category Groups at the bottom of the Pass Order can be used for Timing. In the Clock Definition window, droppable status can be assigned to any item in a Clock, but items, when dropped, are dropped in reverse Pass Order sequence - that is, the least important Category Group is the first to be dropped, and so on. In the Dropping Pass of the scheduler, when dropping a song, any adjacent (before) link positions which have a link-song chain will also be dropped.
The Scheduler Inclusion 
button can be used to Exclude Category Groups from being included in the Pass Order scheduling. Select the category group to be excluded and click the Scheduler Inclusion button. This will set the Pass Order to Excluded and move the category group to the bottom of the list. When a category group is excluded the Spread Goals, Scheduler, Stacking, Search Depth and Research columns cannot be edited. Excluded categories will not be shown in the Pass Order List drop-down in the Scheduler. Excluded category groups can be filtered in reports using the Pass Order Filter of the Reports | Filter window.
Click the adjust order 
buttons to move the selected Group up or down in the Pass Order sequence, or to tie it with an existing item's Pass Order number. Optionally, use the Alt+Up and Alt+Down on the keyboard to re-order the selected Category Group.
GSelector schedules each pass for the selected date range before it moves on to the second pass. For example, let’s take the case of scheduling six pass orders across seven days. GSelector will schedule pass 1 on all days in the range, then pass 2 on all days in the range, then pass 3 on all days in the range and so on. This provides the best scheduling because songs in less important categories on earlier days in the schedule range will not prevent songs in more important categories from scheduling on later days.
Category Group Names, Themes, <Twofers>, Related Links (<Fly-In Links>, <Leading/Trailing Links>) and <Browse List> are listed here. These fields cannot be edited.
The Spread Goals setting field is used to enhance GSelector's spread capabilities with fast turnover Categories. For example, if an artist has two Songs, one each in two fast turnover Categories, with Artist Spread active, the presence of the Song Artist scheduled in the earlier pass will tend to prevent the second Song by this Artist from scheduling. This principle can also apply to Attribute Spread Goals where plays in a later Category Group pass are starved out due to the density of plays of Songs with that attribute in the earlier Category Group pass. This is called an Attribute Deficit, where the Actual Turnover is less than the Planned Turnover as a result of items scheduled in the earlier pass.
NOTE: This option is disabled when a Category Group is Slotted.
Where required, there are a range of settings you can apply to any Category Group, which can adjust spreads in fast turnover Categories :
The Default setting, as its name suggests, will apply Spread tests with no adjustment - this is the 'regular' GSelector separation. Note that this is always applied to Theme, <Twofer> and Browse List passes.
The All Songs/Links setting will adjust Spread tests where necessary to allow a balance of the desired Attributes across All Songs/Links by identifying if the Actual turnover is less than the Planned turnover for any attribute.
The Group Songs/Links setting will perform spread tests of the desired Attributes across Songs/Links in the current Category Group only.
The Disable setting will turn all Spread tests off for the Songs/Links in the Category Group.
The Pass Order Weighted option provides special scheduling consideration for songs/links in one category by a vocalist that also performs on songs/links scheduled in another category that was scheduled on a previous pass order.
Example: Song 1 by the vocalist was scheduled once every other hour throughout the day in a category on a previous pass. Now, Song 2 by the same vocalist is in a category being scheduled on a later pass. Regardless of the vocalist demand, the best vocalist spread that can possibly be achieved in this case is one hour.
Previously the vocalist spread goal was not aware that the vocalist was equally spread in the previous pass. This typically led to “vocalist starvation” in subsequent passes because the vocalist demand was unrealistic given the presence of the evenly spaced songs by that vocalist that were scheduled on the previous pass. The net effect was preventing plays of songs by that vocalist in the later pass. The Pass Order Weighted option automatically adjusts the demand for vocalists scheduled in a previous pass. It takes into account vocalists and pass order and allows the vocalist spread goal to better evaluate how to work such songs into the schedule.
NOTE: When using the Disable setting, implement minimum separation for the Vocalist Attribute can be implemented to keep Songs/Links by the same Vocalist apart.
TIP: Many users with High Rotation Categories who select the Disable option then opt to implement Minimum Separation for these Categories. See the Tools for High Rotation Categories notes in the GSelector Scheduling topic.
GSelector offers two Scheduler option Scheduled and Slotted. The Stacking options are dependent on the Scheduler option selected. When Scheduled is selected the Stacking options are Daypart, Hour and Kick. When Slotted is Selected the Stacking options are Default, Alternate Category, Constant Order and Daypart.
NOTE: If Slotted is selected as the Scheduler the Spread Goals are disabled.
The Stacking options are dependent on the Scheduler option selected. When the Scheduler option selected is Scheduled the Stacking options available are Daypart, Hour and Kick. When the Scheduler option selected is Slotted the Stacking options are Default, Alternate Category, Constant Order and Daypart.
NOTE: If Slotted is selected as the Scheduler, the Spread Goals are disabled. Do not use Stacking when Timing, Themes, <Twofers> and Browse Lists are implemented. When Fallback Scheduling is implemented, the scheduled Category Group and the Fallback Category Group must have the same Stacking type.
Scheduled
Slotted
Slotted - Default
Scheduled with Daypart stacking is the default setting. When the Scheduler option is set to Scheduled and the Stacking option is set to Daypart the GSelector scheduler will consider Songs for a schedule position in the current Daypart's Next Due order.
When the Scheduler column is set to Scheduled and the Stacking is Hour, the GSelector scheduler will consider Songs/Links for a schedule position in the current Hour's Next Due order. This gives more emphasis on overall hour rotation.
Kick is mainly used with small fast turnover Categories. When Scheduled is selected with Kick as the Stacking option, disable all but the default setting in the Spread Goals field. Once this option is selected for any Category Group, click the Kick button to access the Kick Override window and enter the Kick settings. With Kicked Stacking, you can only access the Kick Override window in Manual mode and Songs in a Kicked Category stay subject to existing Goals, Adjustments and Constraints.
See the notes on Kicked or Slotted? and Implementing Kicked stacking.
TIP: When Slotted or Kicked stacking is selected, apply Kick scheduling to the Songs/Links in that Category Group. Kick is designed for fast turnover Categories, and works best with even Category Group demand in Clocks. The smaller a Category, the greater the chance its Songs/Links will run into rotation conflicts. Kick sidesteps this, by allowing the user to specify that a number of songs/links are Kicked to the bottom of their Category.
See the Kicked or Slotted notes in the Kick Override tab for more information.
See also the Tools for High Rotation Categories notes in the GSelector Scheduling topic.
Setting the scheduler to Slotted with Default stacking allows songs/links in a Category of a Slotted Category Group to be scheduled in precise order. Each song/link is accorded its own 'slots' and is scheduled according to its place in a sequence, which can be edited in the Kick Override Order window. When this option is selected, the Search Depth field is disabled because songs/links are never passed over. Every song/link plays according to its order in the sequence. No scores are allotted during scheduling - a slotted song/link simply gets a score of 100.
IMPORTANT: All scheduling constraints are ignored for songs/links that are Slotted. If the song/link is assigned to a category within a slotted category group, it will be scheduled. Run Dates, Segue Bans, Song/Link Bans, Rotation Rules, Clock Constraints and any other mechanism that would typically cause a song/link to be skipped over during scheduling are ignored. Shifts have no effect as well.
For Slotting to operate on Songs in a specific Category Group, no Alternate Categories can be assigned to Songs in the Category Group, nor can Songs from other Category Groups be assigned an Alternative Category from the specific Category Group.
See the notes on Kicked or Slotted? and Implementing Slotted stacking.
The Slotted Alternate Category Stacking option is used to apply stacking to songs/links in Alternate Categories. This option can be used in two ways:
NOTE: With both options, you should schedule the alternate categories (A & B in our example) on the same pass.
Constant Order is designed to deal with artist/vocalist conflicts between slotted current categories.
For example: When you need to keep a Taylor Swift song in category B away from a Taylor Swift song in category A.
There are 2 characteristics of Constant Order:
NOTE: We recommend manually spreading out songs that have artist/vocalist conflicts in each Constant Order category. For example: If you have Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran in both categories A & B, then you want to spread out the Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran songs in both categories A and B.
This option is used to apply Stacking in the usual way to regular stacked Categories, and also apply Stacking to Songs/Links in Alternate Categories in the appropriate Dayparts. It also prevents clashes in the hours around the Alternate Category Daypart and the 'regular' Dayparts.
For Slotted by Daypart to operate on Songs/Links in a specific Category Group, at least one Song/Link must have at least one Alternate Category assigned, or at least one song/link in a different Category Group must have an Alternate Category assignment from the specific Category Group.
The Kicked and Slotted stacking orders can be applied to Song/Link Category Groups. Both give access to the Kick Override tab.
Slotted status places all Songs/Links in the Categories of the selected Group in a strict order, which can be defined in the Kick Override Order window. In scheduling, the Songs/Links are placed in the log in that exact order: all existing Goals, Adjustments, and Constraints are disregarded. The Kick Override window can be configured to use GSelector's automatic kick settings, or the user can choose to design Kick settings manually. The Automatic setting adjusts the Category sequence by kicking the appropriate number of songs/links to the bottom of all Categories in the selected Category Group, when scheduling in the least important Daypart. With Slotted Stacking, the user can access the full range of Kick modes - Manual and Automatic.
Kicked status allows Songs/Links to be kicked manually only, as specified in the Kick Override window, but Songs/Links are not Slotted, and they remain subject to all existing Goals, Adjustments and Constraints.
The search and depth fields are used to specify how far down the Song Stack or Link stack to allow GSelector to search. By default, when this window is first open, all Search Depth values are set to 100%, allowing GSelector to consider all Songs in the Categories for that Category Group. This value can be reduced or changed to a specific Count instead of Percentage. If, for example, 20 songs/links are available in the Stack for a specific position, and a search depth of 30% is specified for this Category Group, then GSelector will consider only the top 6 songs/links. Search Depth is disabled when using Slotted stacking, and when using the Timing feature.
Tip: You can apply a setting in the Setup section Features window to allow or disallow Songs/Links with Hour Restrictions and Daypart Bans from being counted as part of the Search Depth.
An appearance can be assigned to Songs/Links that exceed the search depth. Design an Appearance in the usual way in the Appearances Definition window, and then assign this appearance to the 'SearchDepthExceeded' entry type in the Appearances assignment window. If the Consideration window is sorted by any column other than Rank, the Search Depth Appearance if configured is removed.
NOTE: While Search Depth values are expressed as percentages, by default, GSelector automatically adjusts the Search Depth setting to the percentage equivalent of a single song for the Category Group. Setting a value of 1% in a 6-song Category Group will be treated as 16%, so you always call for a search depth of at least 1 song/link. The value automatically adjusts internally, no matter how many songs/links you have in the Group - unless you have more than 100 songs/links in the Group. This effectively allows you to use a Slotted approach while using Kicked stacking, and still respecting Goals, Adjustments and Clock Constraints. Optionally the Depth can be switched to Count to allow the Search Depth to be set to a specified number of songs.
The Research Cutoff field in the Category Group Settings window sets the length of time during which a Research score is treated as valid. This can vary to match the length of time a Song is in rotation in each Category Group. The minimum value you can set is 30 days, and the maximum value is 999 days. If a Research score date falls before the date range set by the cutoff value, it will not be considered when applying Research Attributes. The most recent valid Research Score date for a Song is applied. So a Song that is tested on a weekly basis will always be up to date, but a Song that is moving, for example, from a Recurrent Category to a slower Gold Category could retain a Research Attribute for longer, depending on the Research Cutoff Period specified.
See the Setting Research Cutoff periods notes in this topic, and Using Research scores as Scheduling Attributes for more information.
The History Cutoff field in the Category Group Settings window sets how far back in History the Scheduler can look when evaluating items during the scheduling process. This is a further modifier to History Cutoff set in Setup | Station | Features | History. This setting cannot be set higher than the number of days set for the History Cutoff in Setup | Station | Features | History. The minimum value that can be set is 0 days. The History Cutoff only applies to these three legacy rotation rules:
The Kick button in the Category Group Settings window is activated when one or more Category Groups are specified as Slotted or Kicked in the Stacking column. Click to open the Kick Override window to review the kick pattern, and make manual adjustments. Slotted Songs have an automatic kick applied
When working in the Goals Song Category Group Settings window the Hide Link Pass Order check box is visible at the bottom of the window. This will hide all the link category groups from view to allow the user to work with only the Song Category Groups.
When working in the Linker Link Goals Category Group Settings window the Hide Song Pass Order check box is visible at the bottom of the window. This will hide all the song category groups from view to allow the user to work with only the Link Category Groups. Use Security Roles to limit a users access to change Link and Song Pass Order settings.
The Show Excluded Pass Orders option can be used to hide/show the Category Groups that have been set to excluded using the Schedule Inclusion button.
Tying Category Groups together
Working with Themes, <Twofers> Related Links and Browse Lists
Setting Research Cutoff periods
Select a Category Group and click the up or down buttons to move the Groups into the desired sequence, or to tie two or more Groups together. The higher the Category Group the more important. Then Click OK to close the Category Group Settings window and click the Save button in the Categories window toolbar.
You can tie one or more Category Groups together so they share the same ordering. Select the two Category Groups - if needed, use the up or down buttons to order the category groups - and then type the same order number in the order field. If you type a number in the Importance a field out of sequence, it will automatically be re-ordered. Alternately, select the Category Group, Theme, <Twofer>, Related Link or Browse List, and click the Adjust button.
For details on setting Daypart priorities, see the notes in the Dayparts Definition topic.
NOTE: The Automatic Kick setting gives the best possible rotation to a sequence of songs/links. Kicking a Slotted Category sets a strict Category sequence. This gets top priority: other Goals are ignored at the point of the kick. So there is a risk of songs/links being scheduled too close to each other at the kick point. To mitigate this, where possible, GSelector will Kick Songs/Links coming out of special programming. If there is no special programming, GSelector Kicks in the middle of the least important daypart.
By default, Themes, <Twofers> Related Links and Browse Lists are given the lowest importance in the Category Group Settings window. However, you can raise any of these so they will schedule sooner by using the Adjust buttons. Doing so will instruct GSelector to schedule <Twofers> (which includes Artist Blocks), Theme, Related Links and Browse Lists sooner, perhaps before the songs in Gold or other larger category group. You might want to do this to avoid scheduling conflicts with songs/Links that would otherwise be scheduled before the <Twofer> (including Artist Block), Theme, Related Link or Browse List pass. Much depends on your category structure and the songs/links used with <Twofers>, Themes, Related Links and Browse Lists. See the notes on Theme Scheduling and Browse List Clock Positions for more information.
buttons in each field.
button in the Categories window toolbar.