The early breakfast block is where automation earns its keep. Here is a concrete way to build 05:00 to 07:00 the evening before.
Start with the clock
Build a rotation clock for the daypart: ordered slots by category, with a target duration and a repeat rule set appropriate to early morning — usually tighter separation, because the audience at 05:30 is not the audience at 15:00.
Generate, then open Preview Timeline. You get every slot with its start time, category, chosen track and rule summary. Click a slot that looks wrong and read the generator's explanation for it.
Fix the hour before you fix the tracks
The preview tells you whether the layout minutes match the summed audio and whether you run short or long against target. If the hour is off, adjust the clock — do not patch individual tracks. The clock is what you will use again tomorrow.
Add the fixed points
Anything that must happen at a specific time belongs on the clock wheel, not in the playlist:
- News relay at :00 — a stream URL slot pointed at your network feed.
- Station ID at :20 and :40 — jingle slots by button number.
- Sponsor bed at :45 — a file slot.
Restrict slots to the hours you want with the hours list. The wheel then fires these regardless of what the music is doing.
Record four links
Walk the generated log and pick the four or five places that genuinely need a voice — the open, the first weather, the handover to the presenter. Record each against its surrounding tracks so the handover lands.
Use Insert at next VT slot if your clock has voice-track positions, or Insert now to place manually.
Mark the handover
Put a cue stop at the point the live presenter takes over. Playback stops, the row reads CUE ACTIVE, the Now Playing panel shows Stopped at CUE, and the next track is pre-selected.
The presenter arrives, sees exactly where they are, and presses play.
Check before you leave
Look at the schedule confidence chip. Ready means go. Review or Risk means open it and read the list — missing files, missing cues, untested loudness.
Two minutes at 18:00 is worth considerably more than the same two minutes at 05:00.