RunBeat CMS User Guide

Website content management built specifically for radio stations.

Docs → RunBeat CMS

Overview

RunBeat CMS is a website content management system built specifically for radio stations. Unlike generic website builders, it understands radio — shows have schedules, presenters have profiles, and your site stays in sync with what's on air right now via RunBeat Pulse.

CMS is hosted at runbeatcms.com and is multi-tenant, with each station operating its own website from a single dashboard. It's included as part of the RunBeat All-Access subscription.

Getting Started

Visit runbeatcms.com and sign in with your RunBeat account. Once logged in, you'll land on your station's dashboard — a visual icon grid showing every feature at a glance.

First steps

  1. Choose a template — Pick from 25 professionally designed templates in Template Settings and customise colours, fonts, and logo.
  2. Build your homepage — Use the Page Builder to drag and drop 30+ block types into your homepage layout.
  3. Add your shows — Create show profiles with schedules so your site displays the current on-air programme.
  4. Create key pages — Build your about, contact, schedule, and listen again pages. The Page Builder pre-populates smart defaults based on page type.
  5. Connect Pulse — Enter your Pulse station slug in Site Settings for live now-playing, schedule, and listen again.
  6. Connect your domain — Point your station's domain to RunBeat CMS for a professional web presence.

Dashboard

The dashboard provides a visual icon grid of every CMS feature — inspired by the best radio CMS platforms. At a glance you can see content stats, jump to any module, and check the status of your RunBeat integrations (Pulse, CRM, Calendar).

Pages

Create and manage static pages using the rich text block editor. Each page has a title, slug, featured image, SEO fields, and content body. Pages can be set as published, draft, or scheduled.

Page Builder

The Page Builder is a drag-and-drop section composer that lets you build the layout of any page on your website — homepage or inner pages. Choose from 30 block types across 5 categories:

Block categories

  • Content — Rich Text, News Feed, News by Category, Blog Feed, Snippets
  • Radio — Shows, Presenters, Schedule, Now Playing, Recently Played, Listen Again
  • Engagement — Competitions, Events, Galleries, Contact Form, Newsletter, Song Request, Listener Club Signup, Message Form
  • Info — Weather, App Download, Social Links, Advertise CTA, Social Wall, Venues, Notice Board
  • Layout — Hero Banner, Spacer, Divider, HTML Embed

Each block has comprehensive configuration controls — layout style, item limits, toggle switches for showing/hiding elements, and more. Blocks can be reordered by dragging, duplicated, hidden, or removed.

Smart pre-population

When you select a page in the Page Builder that has no sections yet, the builder automatically suggests a sensible starting layout based on the page's name. A "Schedule" page gets schedule + shows + listen again blocks; a "Contact" page gets a contact form + social links; and so on.

News & Articles

Publish news stories and station updates. Each article includes a title, body content, featured image, category, tags, and SEO fields. Articles support scheduling, featured flags, and automatic RSS feed generation.

RSS-imported articles link back to their original source with target="_blank", while locally-created articles link to your site's article pages.

Blog Posts

A separate blog system for longer-form content, presenter columns, and opinion pieces. Blog posts have their own listing page and can be displayed on any page via the Blog Feed block in the Page Builder.

RSS Feeds

Import articles from external RSS feeds — news wires, sports feeds, music blogs, or any RSS/Atom source. Each feed can be configured with its own sync frequency:

  • On page load — syncs when a visitor loads your site (rate-limited to once per minute)
  • 15 minutes / 30 minutes / 1 hour / 6 hours / daily — automatic background sync
  • Manual — sync only when you click the button

Imported articles appear alongside your own content in the News Feed, with a source badge showing where they came from.

Snippets

Reusable content blocks that can be placed on any page via the Snippet block in the Page Builder. Snippets support scheduling (start/end dates) and placement targeting. Use them for promotional banners, seasonal messages, or recurring content.

Shows & Presenters

Create profiles for each show and presenter. Show profiles include name, description, schedule text, genre, presenter assignment, and cover image. Presenter profiles include bio, photo, role, and social links.

Shows and presenters are displayed on your website via the Page Builder blocks and on dedicated /shows and /shows/:slug pages.

Listen Again

Listen Again lets your listeners catch up on shows they missed. It fetches show archives from RunBeat Pulse and renders audio player cards on your website. Each card shows the show name, presenter, date, duration, and an audio player.

Add the Listen Again block to any page via the Page Builder. Requires a Pulse connection with show archiving enabled.

Events & Venues

Manage station events, outside broadcasts, and listener meetups. Each event includes title, description, date/time, location, cover image, and ticket link. Events can be linked to venues from the Venue Directory.

Venues

The Venue Directory stores details of locations your station uses regularly — OB venues, event spaces, studios. Each venue has a name, address, capacity, contact details, and description. Venues can be linked to events and displayed on your website via the Venues block.

Competitions

Run on-air and online competitions. Each competition includes title, description, prize details, entry form, open/close dates, and terms. Entry forms support name, email, phone, and answer fields. Winners can be drawn randomly or selected manually.

Photo Galleries

Create photo galleries for events, OBs, and behind-the-scenes content. Galleries display as responsive grids with a lightbox viewer. They can be embedded on any page via the Galleries block.

Listener Club

Build a membership community for your station. Configure membership benefits, and collect signups via the Listener Club Signup block on your website. Manage members from the admin panel — view, export, and communicate with your listener community.

Messages

A direct messaging inbox for your station. Listeners can send messages via the Message Form block on your website. View and reply to messages from the admin panel.

Forms

Build custom forms for listener feedback, requests, and data collection. Forms support text fields, dropdowns, checkboxes, and more. View submissions in a table and export to CSV.

Talkback

A multi-source listener message dashboard that aggregates messages from website forms, Facebook, Instagram, X, Bluesky, WhatsApp, SMS (Twilio), and email into one real-time view for your studio team. Star messages for on-air read-out lists.

Social Directory

Manage your station's social media accounts in one place. Add accounts for Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, Bluesky, and more. Display them on your website via the Social Wall block.

Media Library

A central repository for all images, audio files, and documents. Upload files by dragging or using the upload button. Supports multi-file upload, grid and list views, and filtering by type.

Built-in Image Editor

Click any image in the Media Library to open the built-in image editor. Crop, resize, and rotate images without leaving the CMS. Edited images are saved as new files, preserving the original.

Configure your site's navigation menus with drag-and-drop ordering, nested dropdowns, and multiple link types (pages, articles, categories, shows, external URLs).

Advertising

Manage display advertising on your station website. Create ad zones, assign creatives with scheduling and click tracking, and link campaigns to CRM deals for unified reporting.

Replicator

Content syndication tool for multi-station groups. Set up rules to automatically replicate content (articles, events, competitions) from one station to another. Useful for station groups sharing national content while maintaining local identity.

Flipbooks

Create interactive page-turning flipbooks for your station website. Upload images (one per page) and CMS renders them as a realistic book-style viewer with page-flip animations, keyboard navigation, and fullscreen mode.

Use cases

  • Media packs — Present your advertising rate card and audience data as a professional flipbook.
  • Event programmes — Share event guides and schedules in an engaging format.
  • Newsletters — Publish station newsletters that feel like a real magazine.
  • Brochures — Create digital versions of printed materials.

Features

  • Upload multiple page images (PNG, JPG, WebP) in order.
  • Realistic page-turn animation with click or swipe navigation.
  • Thumbnail strip for quick page jumping.
  • Fullscreen mode for immersive reading.
  • Responsive — works on desktop and mobile.
  • Embeddable on any page via the Flipbook block in the Page Builder.
  • Public API endpoint for headless access.

Create flipbooks from the Flipbooks section in the CMS admin. Each flipbook has a title, slug, cover image, and ordered pages. Set status to "published" to make it available on your website.

Notes

A coloured sticky note grid for internal station notes and reminders. Pin important notes to display them on your website via the Notice Board block — useful for public announcements, engineering notices, or community messages.

Template Builder

Choose from 25 professionally designed templates, each with a genuinely different structure and feel. Switch templates at any time — your content is preserved.

Customisation

  • Colours — Set primary accent, background, surface, and text colours via colour pickers.
  • Fonts — Choose from System Default, Inter, DM Sans, Poppins, Playfair Display, or Space Grotesk.
  • Hero background image — Upload a full-bleed background image for your homepage hero section.
  • Weather location — Set latitude, longitude, and location name for the weather widget.
  • App download links — Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and Amazon Alexa Skill URLs.
  • Layout width — Standard (1200px), Wide (1400px), or Full Width.
  • Logo & favicon — Upload your station logo and browser favicon.

Custom Domains

By default your site is available at yourstation.runbeatcms.com. To use your own domain, go to Site Settings and add your custom domain. Point a CNAME record to sites.runbeatcms.com and SSL is provisioned automatically.

Domain Registration

Don't have a domain yet? Register one directly through RunBeat CMS — no need to visit a separate registrar. The built-in domain registration service handles everything from search to DNS configuration.

How it works

  1. Search — Enter your desired domain name and see availability across popular TLDs (.co.uk, .com, .uk, .radio, etc.) with pricing.
  2. Register — Choose your domain, enter registrant contact details (WHOIS privacy protection is included), and pay securely via Stripe.
  3. Automatic setup — Once registered, RunBeat automatically configures DNS hosting (Route 53), provisions an SSL certificate (ACM), and connects the domain to your CMS site.
  4. Go live — Your site is accessible on your new domain within minutes. No manual DNS configuration required.

What's included

  • Domain registration via AWS Route 53.
  • WHOIS privacy protection — your personal details are not publicly visible.
  • Automatic DNS hosting and configuration.
  • Free SSL certificate (auto-provisioned and auto-renewed).
  • CloudFront CDN attachment for fast global delivery.
  • Annual renewal management with email reminders.

Domain registration is available from the Domain Settings tab in Site Settings. Pricing varies by TLD and is shown during the search step.

Pulse Integration

Connect your CMS to RunBeat Pulse to bring live playout data into your website:

  • Now Playing — Live track with artist, title, and album artwork, updated every 15 seconds.
  • Recently Played — Last 10 tracks with album art.
  • Listen Live — Persistent audio stream player with AJAX navigation (no interruption when browsing).
  • Schedule — Today's schedule synced from Pulse.
  • Listen Again — Catch-up show archives with audio players.

Enable via Site Settings → Pulse Station Slug.

CRM Integration

User accounts and station assignments are synced from RunBeat CRM. Ad campaigns can be linked to CRM deals, and form submissions can create CRM leads.

Public API

The Public API provides read-only JSON access to your station's published content — pages, articles, shows, presenters, events, competitions, and galleries. Endpoints follow the pattern /api/public/cms/:stationSlug/....

User Roles

RoleAccess
Station AdminFull access to all CMS features and settings.
ProducerCreate and edit content, manage media. Cannot modify site settings.
PresenterView content, create articles. Limited editing.

Subscription Tiers

RunBeat CMS is included as part of the RunBeat All-Access subscription:

TierMonthlyHighlights
Solo£791 station, all core features, 1 GB media storage.
Community£1491 station, all features including RSS feeds, listener club, 10 GB storage.
Professional£249Up to 3 stations, ad management, replicator, 25 GB storage.
Broadcast£449Up to 10 stations, custom themes, API access, 50 GB storage.
Network£799Unlimited stations, white-label, priority support, 100 GB storage.