This article applies to terrestrial radio stations using Station Manager with RAS Adapter to stream their audio to the internet via the Triton Streaming Network.
Also see: Create a timed whiteout in RAS Adapter.
A “whiteout” is a period of time in which the station’s audio stream is sent to the internet without interruption from digital ad insertion. Typically, you use a whiteout during a broadcast of a special event, such as a concert or a sports event, in which you want the full event to be streamed, uninterrupted.
There are two kinds of whiteout that you can create with RAS Adapter:
A timed whiteout, in which the whiteout occurs according to a schedule that you create. Instructions for this method are found in this article.
A triggered whiteout, in which the whiteout occurs when triggered by a data event from your station’s RAS. Instructions for this method are found below.
The instructions below show how to create a triggered whiteout using the “category” key. Other key options can be found on the Separator tab of the Edit RAS Chain window:
Note that the field names are case sensitive.
The work is done in Station Manager, on the computer connected to your broadcast stream and RAS. The RAS chain you see in your installation might differ from the illustrations in this article.
To create a triggered whiteout in RAS Adapter:
In Station Manager, go to the RAS Adapter tab.
Click in the blank space to the right of your RAS chain to highlight the chain and make the menu buttons appear at the bottom.
Click the Pencil icon (Modify RAS Chain).
In the Edit RAS Chain window that appears, click the + button at the bottom to add a new processor element to the chain.
From the dropdown menu for the processor type, select Trigger Drop.
The whiteout event configuration components appear. If this is not the first triggered whiteout created on this system you will see the previous whiteouts.Enter the whiteout events:
Key = Description of what field you are using for the trigger (i.e.,: category, cart, title, etc.)
Start Trigger = What data should trigger the event start
Stop Tigger = What data should trigger the event end
Timeout = The longest possible time (in seconds) the event might take place, in the event of not receiving a Stop Trigger
In the example below, a category triggered whiteout is created. It is triggered when the WO_START data event is sent from the RAS, and it ends when the WO_STOP data event is sent from the RAS. If the WO_STOP event is not received after two hours (7200 seconds), the whiteout will be ended by RAS Adapter.
Click Save.
The Trigger Drop is saved and appears in your RAS chain.
