Abstract

A FM station has a pile of programmes being broadcast in the testing phase of the station.  The programmes consist of fixed and unfixed programmes. However the full complement of programmes has not been reached. To achieve full complement, the station wants to plan a new programme mix with fixed programmes retaining their original time slots. The rearrangement of the programmes is modeled as a variant of packing problem. We introduce a model, which is a modification of the generalized assignment problem with identified first-use bins of Shraideh et al. (2008). Our model seeks to minimize wasted air time that results out of the new programme arrangement.  The results are obtained using the modified simple bin packing algorithm, which is also a modification of the simple bin packing algorithm of Amponsah (2003). The new arrangement of programmes produces a total of zero minutes of wasted air time.

Key words: Packing, algorithm, FM station, assignment.