Broadcast Editorial Setup Guide
Everything you need to get your show's site running, from installing the theme to setting up episodes, homepage feeds and staff bios. Most shows are set up in under an hour.
1. Requirements
- A self-hosted WordPress site (WordPress.org software on your own hosting).
- The free GeneratePress theme, installed but not necessarily active. Broadcast Editorial is a child theme and runs on top of it.
- No page builder and no required plugins.
2. Install the theme
Step 1: Install GeneratePress
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance → Themes → Add New Theme.
- Search for GeneratePress, then select Install. You don't need to activate it.
Step 2: Upload Broadcast Editorial
- Download
broadcast-editorial-child.zipfrom your Gumroad receipt. Don't unzip it. - Go to Appearance → Themes → Add New Theme → Upload Theme.
- Choose the zip file, select Install Now, then Activate.
Uploading by FTP instead? Unzip the file and upload the broadcast-editorial-child folder into wp-content/themes/, then activate it under Appearance → Themes.
3. First steps
Right after activating, your homepage shows your latest posts and your busiest categories. These steps turn it into your show's site.
- Create an episode category if you don't have one, for example "Program Notes" or "Episodes," under Posts → Categories. Note its slug, the lowercase web-address version of the name, such as
program-notes. - Set a posts page: create an empty page called "Articles" or "Blog," then go to Settings → Reading, choose A static page, and set it as the Posts page. Pick any page for the Homepage; the theme's front page design is used automatically. This turns on the "Open Full Archive" button.
- Open Broadcast Settings in the dashboard sidebar and enter your episode category slug under Episodes. Work through the rest of the page at your own pace.
- Set up your menus as described in Menus.
4. Broadcast Settings
Everything about how your site looks and reads is on one page: Broadcast Settings in the dashboard sidebar. Any text field you leave blank uses the default shown in grey, so you only need to fill in what you want to change.
| Section | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Visual Identity & Header | Your header logo image and whether the header is aligned left, center or right. The image and link shown above the button strip at the bottom of the homepage. |
| Front Page Category Pills | Up to four category slugs for the switchable feeds in the homepage Articles section. |
| Footer Channels | RSS, Bluesky, email, Facebook, Instagram and Discord links. Leave one blank and its icon disappears. The email address also powers the Contact page button. |
| Footer Credit | The "Engineered by" line at the very bottom. Change it to your own name or company, or clear it to hide the line. |
| Copyright & Privacy | The name in the copyright line (defaults to your Site Title) and the Privacy Policy link (defaults to the page set under Settings → Privacy). |
| Episodes | Your episode category, the word used for numbering ("Program," "Episode," "Show"), and the next episode number. |
| Front Page Text | Every heading, prompt and button label on the homepage. |
| Category Post Footers | Three footers, each with one or more category slugs and the text added to the bottom of matching posts. |
| Series Hub | The category for a serialized story or multi-part feature, plus its menu and empty-list message. |
| People Page | The intro heading and text, a featured history post, the staff heading and up to four staff members with photos and bios. |
| Newsletter Signup | A shortcode from your newsletter plugin, shown under every single post. Leave blank to hide. |
| Archive, 404 & Contact Text | Headings, messages and button labels on the archive pages, the "page not found" page and the Contact page. |
Fields that ask for a slug want the category's slug, not its display name. Find slugs under Posts → Categories in the Slug column. Where a field accepts several, separate them with commas.
5. Episodes
Automatic numbering
When you save a post in your episode category, the theme adds the label and number to the end of its title, for example "Dolly Parton, Part Three – Program 1366," and then counts up for next time.
- In Broadcast Settings → Episodes, set Next Episode Number to the number your next episode should get.
- Optionally change Episode Number Label from "Program" to "Episode" or any other word.
- Write your post, put it in the episode category, and save. The number is added once; saving again never adds a second one.
To turn numbering off, clear the Next Episode Number field.
Player and playlist block
In the block editor, select the + inserter, open the Patterns tab, and choose the category named after your site. Insert the Boilerplate pattern to get a boxed audio player, a PLAYLIST heading and an empty tracklist box. Upload or choose your audio file in the player, then paste your tracklist into the box.
6. The homepage
The homepage is built automatically from three parts, top to bottom:
- Episode hero. Your two newest episodes as large cards, with a button to the full episode archive. If your episode category doesn't exist yet, it shows your two newest posts instead.
- Articles. Switchable feeds of up to four categories set under Front Page Category Pills, four posts each. With none set, your three busiest categories are used.
- Image and button strip. The Front Page Section Image from Broadcast Settings, with buttons from the "Footer Action Strip Menu." It's handy for station links, donation pages or sponsors.
7. Menus
Go to Appearance → Menus, build each menu, and assign it under Menu Settings or the Manage Locations tab.
| Location | Where it appears |
|---|---|
| Primary Broadcast Navigation | The pill-shaped buttons under your logo on every page. |
| Footer Action Strip Menu | The large buttons in the image and button strip at the bottom of the homepage. |
| Series Hub Menu | The menu at the top of the Series Hub page, and on any page that's included in that menu. |
8. Page templates
Create a page, then choose its template in the editor's sidebar under Template.
Contact page
Choose the Broadcast Contact Page template. It shows an "Email Me" button and links to every channel set in Footer Channels. The email address is assembled in the visitor's browser, so it never sits in the page as plain text for spam bots to collect. Its wording is set under Archive, 404 & Contact Text.
Series Hub
For a serialized story, a radio drama or any multi-part feature:
- Put each part in its own category, and enter that slug under Broadcast Settings → Series Hub.
- Create a page and choose the Series Hub (Chronological Grid) template. It lists every part, oldest first, ten per page.
- Optionally, build a menu of companion pages (a character guide or a reader's letter, say) and assign it to the Series Hub Menu location. Those companion pages show the same menu automatically.
9. Shortcodes
Paste these into a Shortcode block or a paragraph in any page.
| Shortcode | What it shows |
|---|---|
[people_protocol_page] | A complete People page: your intro, a featured history post and up to four staff bios, all from the People Page settings. Sections you leave empty are hidden. |
[series_feed] | Every post in your series category, oldest first, as a two-column grid. Use [series_feed category="your-slug"] for a different category. |
[series_nav] | The Series Hub menu, anywhere you want it. |
[display_blog_post slug="your-post-slug"] | The full title and text of one post, embedded in a page. |
10. Things the theme does for you
- Lead-in styling. The first word of every post is set in bold italic, on old posts and new.
- Photo lightbox. Selecting an image in a post opens it full size. Press Escape or select anywhere to close it.
- Video embeds from YouTube, Vimeo and similar sites resize to fit phones and tablets.
- Category and tag badges are styled as small labels throughout the site.
11. Updating
Your settings are stored in WordPress, not in the theme files, so updating never erases them. To update, upload the new zip through Appearance → Themes → Add New Theme → Upload Theme and choose Replace current with uploaded.
If you've edited the theme's files directly, an update replaces those edits. Keep a copy of anything you've changed.
12. Troubleshooting
The homepage hero shows "Latest Posts" instead of my episodes
The Episode Category Slug doesn't match an existing category. Check the slug under Posts → Categories and paste it in exactly.
Episode numbers aren't being added
Make sure Next Episode Number has a value and the post is in your episode category. Titles that already end in a number with your label, like "Program 12," are left alone on purpose.
A footer icon is missing
Its link is blank under Footer Channels. Add the full web address, starting with https://.
The "Open Full Archive" button doesn't appear
Set a Posts page under Settings → Reading. See First steps.
A category pill doesn't show up
Pills only appear for categories that actually exist, so check the slug for typos. A category with no published posts gets a pill but nothing to show, so publish at least one post in it.
I can't find the player and playlist pattern
Look in the block inserter's Patterns tab under the category named after your site, or search for "playlist."
13. Getting help
Email support@osmondtech.com with your site address and a short description of what you're seeing. Screenshots help.