SHORTCATS are pre-defined search keywords for the US/CAN/MEX networks/formats. If ESPN programming is heard on some specific frequency, the user can quickly create a list of stations of the ESPN affiliates on that frequency. Each shortcat consists of 1-4 characters.
The currently available SHORTCATS are as follows:
HITS - stations playing "hits"
OLD - stations playing "oldies" (well, they are "HITS" too)
CW - stations with C&W orientation
NOS - stations with nostalgia / adult standards orientation
SS - spanish speaking stations in USA and Mexico
MEX - Mexican stations
CBC - Canadian CBC stations
REL - religiously oriented stations
RELR - Relevant Radio affiliates
NPR - National Public Radio affiliates
EWTN - EWTN affiliates
ETN - Multicultural ("ethnic") stations: programming language being something else than Spanish or English
FOX - Stations carrying Fox News or Fox Sports programming
ESPN - ESPN affiliates
BIZ - stations with "business talk" orientation
RER - Red Eye Radio affililiates
C2C - Coast-to-Coast affiliates
CC - Coast-to-Coast affiliates (just a faster shortcat for Coast-to-Coast)
In addition to these, the US/CAN state abbreviations (AK, AL, AZ, AR, ...) can be used to show the stations in the given state.
SHORTCATS require the TURTLE database version TURTLE-2020-04 or newer.
The SHORTCATS feature uses JAGUAR's SEARCH function - see SEARCH for more details: SETTINGS > KEYBOARD > S-KEY > SEARCH (default) is required.
Pressing the keyboard key "S" shows an empty banner
and if the user wants to show all the Red Eye Radio affiliates on the currently-played frequency, typing RER and pressing ENTER on the keyboard does the job.
The list is shown on the upper left corner of the display:
and if the SLIDER is open, the list will be also seen on the TURTLE window. Pressing ESC clears the list.
The shortcat (format, network or state) search is focused only on the stations on the currently-playing frequency and no "dial" is created (so the shortcat list is released automatically when you change the frequency). The SHORTCATS have been created with "fuzzy logic": SHORTCATS are based on the language, formats and networks. For example, if you hear Spanish on AM 1400 when DXing North America, you can give the shortcat SS and press ENTER. You will see all the stations from USA and MEX which are tagged with the shortcat SS (in spite of the format listed).
NOTE: If you want to extend the SHORTCATS search to cover the full MW (ie. list all stations in the selected state or list all stations that are affiliates in the selected network), you must use the DATABASE BAR: SHOW MW ... FIND TEXT using the shortcat as the text input.
SHORTCATS will support "clues what you hear on the frequency": if you hear "Relevant Radio", you can use the shortcat RELR; if you hear something related to Fox ("Fox Sports" or "Fox News"), you can use the shortcat FOX; if you hear a familiar song or a slogan containing the word "Hits", you can use the shortcat HITS; if you find programming with Christian content, you can use the shortcat REL, etc.
Talk-oriented stations are difficult to categorize, and there is no sense to copy the TURTLE "FORMAT" data here so there are no shortcats as NWS or TLK. Instead, you may try to type in what you hear: at the moment, there are shortcats such as RER ("Red Eye Radio" affiliates) and C2C ("Coast-to-Coast" affiliates), later probably more.
This service can never be perfect, and anyone can say that "no, this is not correct", and he/she is absolutely right: it is very easy to find an exception. For example, the MWLI database lists 71 hits for Red Eye Radio, but the Red Eye Radio web site lists 141 affiliates. We have included those 141 stations even though there seems to be stations which are no more RER affiliates. The same with C2C: there are 415 C2C affiliates on their website but even that is not correct (for example, one station listed as a C2C affiliate has moved to Spanish back in 2019).
However, this feature may be helpful if you just want to make a quick check for "potential hits" on a U.S. frequency based on what you hear. It does not take much time to try.