The fastest way to sound like a jukebox is to let the same artist come round too often. Nobody complains about it explicitly — they just stop listening.
What a rule set controls
A repeat rule set holds numeric separation limits: how long before the same artist may return, the same title, the same track, the same album. It also carries a maximum plays per hour, and flags for whether jingles and voice tracks are exempt from counting.
That exemption matters. A station ID appearing every twenty minutes is the format working, not a repetition problem, and counting it as one would distort every other calculation.
Relaxation, because libraries are finite
Here is where naive implementations fail. Write strict enough rules against a small library and no track satisfies them. A generator that then returns an empty slot has produced silence, which is worse than a slightly early repeat.
Rule sets therefore carry relaxation limits. When the ideal pick is unavailable, the generator widens its criteria in a controlled way and records that it did so. You get a filled hour plus an honest account of where it had to compromise.
This is the correct trade for broadcast. Dead air is unrecoverable; a repeat four minutes early is a note in a report.
Where they are edited
Rule sets live on the Rules tab of the rotation clock editor, alongside categories, the clock builder, schedule and generate. Keeping them next to the clock is deliberate — a rule set only means something in the context of the clock using it.
Slots reference a rule set, so different parts of an hour can enforce different strictness. Your power rotation can be tight while a specialist slot runs looser.
Not to be confused with AI rotation rules
A naming collision worth flagging. Repeat rule sets are the numeric separation limits described here. AI Rotation Rules is a separate tool for drafting rotation policy as text with a language model.
One enforces; the other drafts prose. Only the first one affects what the generator picks.
Checking your work
The preview timeline shows a rule summary per slot, and clicking a slot reveals the generator's full explanation for that pick. If a rule was relaxed, this is where you see it — before the hour goes out, not after someone comments.