Miscellaneous Tasks

Operating the Fishbowl

The senior staff use the "fishbowl" at the start of each semester to prioritize DJs by quality, so that the best DJs receive the best schedule options for the semester.

1. Archive the fishbowl. The fishbowl table is copied to fishbowl_log and then cleared.
2. Open the fishbowl config file at wizbif/api/fishbowl/config.php and set the semester (SPRING or FALL), the start date for counting CD reviews, and the deadline for DJs to submit their fishbowl application. Make sure that the deadline is before the senior staff meeting on the night of show picks.
3. Notify all active DJs that they are required to fill out their applications by the deadline.
4. After the deadline, let the senior staff rate each of the applications.
5. Print the results of the fishbowl. The first bowl contains the highest-rated DJs, and so on. The order within each fishbowl is random.

Adding Carts to the Cart Machine

DJs use the "cart machine" to play station IDs, public service announcements, underwritings, and other non-musical audio clips.

1. Make sure that the audio file is an MP3. Use an application like ffmpeg or a website like media.io to convert files.
2. Move the audio file into ZAutoLib/carts/ on George.
3. Log in to phpmyadmin, select the def_cart_type table, and find the cart_typeID of the audio file.
4. Select the libcart table and insert a new record. Select the start and end dates to air the PSA, the cart_typeID, the title, and the filename. Leave any other fields blank. Use the existing records to guide your choices.
5. Reload the Cart Machine in Studio A and confirm that the new cart appears.
6. If the new cart is an underwriting, leave a note on the main desk in Studio A to tell DJs how often to play the underwriting.

Resetting Account Passwords

The current website doesn't have an automated way for users to reset their own passwords if they forget, so the computer engineer must do a few things manually.

1. When someone requests a password reset, they should email after they submit the request.
2. Go to the password_reset table and find the user's transaction.
3. Email the user with a link to the password reset page. This link should have the form https://wsbf.net/login/#!/reset-password/[transaction id]. Warn the user that the link will eventually expire.

Getting a Logbook Dump

Sometimes the General Manager has to provide a dump of the logbook over a few days for BMI college radio. The easiest way to get a dump is to export a query from phpMyAdmin:

1. Login to phpMyAdmin, go to wsbf database, logbook table, select "Search"
2. Use the time_played column to search for tracks within the specified dates (ex. BETWEEN 2017-07-12 AND 2017-07-14)
3. Under "Query results operations", select "Export"
4. Under "Format", choose "CSV for MS Excel"
5. To add column headers, change "Export method" to "Custom" and scroll down to "Format-specific options"
6. Export the CSV file
7. Open the file in a spreadsheet program to format it however you want

I recommend that you keep only the following columns:

• lb_album_code
• lb_rotation
• lb_disc_num
• lb_track_num
• lb_track_name
• lb_artist
• lb_album
• lb_label
• time_played

Although you may want to keep even fewer columns at your discretion.

Renewing SSL Certificates

Let's Encrypt provides SSL certificates at no cost, so we have a certificate for wsbf.net. The certificate must be renewed every 90 days, and as computer engineer you should get an email when it's about to expire. To renew the certificate, login to George and run:

certbot renew

NOTE: There's a cron job on the webserver that's supposed to renew the certificates periodically but it never seems to work and I'm not sure why. If you can get that job to work, you won't have to renew manually.