Build A Clock And Day Format Step By Step

This guide turns the decisions from Creating A Radio Station Format into a working Power Studio example. It builds one weekday daytime Clock Format and places that clock in a complete Day Format.

The category names and numbers are examples. Adapt them to the station's audience, library and fixed programming instead of copying them without testing.

Step 1: Write The Example Brief

This example station has the following weekday daytime promise:

• Familiar contemporary music for adults listening at work.
• Enough current music to sound up to date without repeating one artist too quickly.
• Recurrents and gold tracks provide familiarity and variety.
• Local and acoustic tracks may appear as occasional specializations.
• News and commercials must remain close to the top of the hour.
• Normal daytime hours may fade music when necessary to protect the next fixed transition.

The resulting clock will use explicit positions for the core current rotation and flexible positions for recurrent and gold music.

Step 2: Prepare The Main Categories

Create or confirm the following Criteria values:

Create Special values only for secondary distinctions the clock will actually use:

Do not also create A Current, Recurrent and Gold in Special. Criteria answers the main rotation question; Special adds a second scheduling dimension.

The same principle applies to imaging. For a jingle, Criteria can describe its main type, such as long, short, rapid fire or liner. Special can identify a narrower use, such as a morning show, weekday daytime, weekend program or seasonal campaign. This lets one Clock Format line request a general jingle type, while another line can request imaging produced for a specific show.

Day Parts provide another way to manage time-specific imaging. Set the Day Parts on a jingle when it may only be scheduled during certain hours or programs. Use Special when a Clock Format line must deliberately request a particular imaging group. The two methods can also work together: Day Parts determine when the jingle is eligible, while Criteria and Special determine whether it matches the current line. If time eligibility alone is sufficient, a separate daypart-specific Special value is not required.

See Track Categories if these lists still need to be designed.

Step 3: Classify A Test Library

Use Asset Management or batch import to prepare a representative test pool.

For every test music track, confirm:

1. Content type is Track.
2. The artist record is correct and consistently named.
3. Exactly the intended main Criteria values are selected.
4. Special is selected only when the specialization genuinely applies.
5. The track is active in the planner and allowed in the daytime daypart.
6. The audio file and timing markers are usable.

For every test jingle, confirm:

1. Content type is Jingle.
2. The intended jingle type is selected in Criteria.
3. A show or programming value is selected in Special only when a Clock Format line must request that group explicitly.
4. The jingle is active in the planner and its Day Parts allow it during the required hours or program.
5. Its track Repeat Value provides enough imaging variety for the number of jingle calls in the clock. Jingles use track separation only; Power Studio does not apply the artist Repeat Value when scheduling a jingle.

Review a sample from every group before building the clock. A clock cannot correct incomplete or inconsistent metadata.

Step 4: Estimate Turnover And Repeat

Count active, daytime-eligible tracks and compare that supply with the planned number of calls per hour.

This example starts with:

The turnover is a rough calculation: usable tracks divided by calls per hour. It does not yet include artist repeat, dayparts, exclusions or other filters.

For a first test, set track Repeat Values below the theoretical turnover so the pool has working room. An illustrative starting point is:

• A Current: 180 minutes.
• B Current: 360 minutes.
• Recurrent: 960 minutes.
• Gold: 1440 minutes.

Apply these values to the relevant tracks in batches only after checking the selection. They are test values, not universal recommendations.

Set artist Repeat Values separately. Start from the number of distinct artists and the number of songs per artist. For this example, 90 minutes can be used as a first test value for normal music artists. A core station artist may use a slightly shorter value when regular exposure is intentional.

Artist Repeat Values apply to music. For jingles, Power Studio only evaluates the track Repeat Value, so imaging variety is controlled through the repeat value of each jingle rather than an artist value.

Use Exclude Tracks to connect alternate versions that should share repeat protection. Use Exclude Artists for aliases, group and solo names, or collaboration records that listeners will perceive as related. Use Rating, rather than an extremely long Repeat Value, when one track should receive fewer scheduling opportunities than another track in the same pool.

Generate consecutive hours later in this guide. Repeat values cannot be judged from one isolated playlist.

Step 5: Configure Distribution Rules

Open Format manager > Cat. separation. Configure a simple starting model:

Open Format manager > Max per playlist and set ceilings that do not conflict with the intended clock:

These are ceilings, not targets. The explicit clock positions created later guarantee the core calls; the maximum settings prevent flexible positions from making one group dominate the hour.

If the station uses single-value lines as fixed category positions, review Ignore when only one value is selected for a clock format line for Criteria. Enabling it lets category separation avoid fighting those intentional fixed calls. Max per Playlist still needs to remain compatible with the clock.

Category Separation and Max per Playlist values can affect other formats that use the same classifications. Review existing formats before changing live station settings.

Step 6: Create The Clock Format

Open Format manager > Clock Format and create a Clock Format named:

Weekday Daytime Test

Start with the station's normal hourly settings. For a new setup, Duration 60:00 and Extra time 05:00 provide a practical test starting point. The final values and number of reserve lines must be confirmed from generated playlists.

Add the fixed and dynamic anchors first. This example assumes the required Static Items and macros already exist:

If the station does not use these integrations, replace them with the real fixed structure or omit them from the test. Do not create placeholder macros that cannot resolve during playout.

Step 7: Add The Music And Imaging Pattern

Add the normal music and imaging lines after the fixed opening:

The Special values on line 10 work as OR. They are combined with the Criteria group as AND, so the line selects a recurrent or gold track that is also local or acoustic.

The two jingle lines use the same selection logic. Line 6 can choose either a short or rapid-fire jingle from the general imaging pool. Line 11 can choose either a long jingle or liner, but only when it also has the Weekday Daytime Special value. Leave Special empty when a position may use general imaging, and add a show-specific value only when the matching pool is large enough for the intended Repeat Values. Alternatively, use the jingles' Day Parts when the only requirement is that they may be scheduled during weekday daytime. Special remains useful when this particular clock line must select that imaging group explicitly.

Line 17 is controlled reserve content, not an unrestricted music line. Add more reserve music lines before the final Fill Out line if test playlists do not reach Duration plus Extra time.

Leave Rotate tracks off for the first test. Enable it later only for a deliberately managed smaller pool where oldest-planned rotation is preferred over normal selection.

Step 8: Add The Final Fixed Block

Add the final required item after all regular and reserve music lines:

Fill Out keeps this block in the generated playlist even when preceding music makes the hour long. In a non-floating Day Format line, Power Studio can shorten preceding music so the block and next hour remain close to the fixed transition.

Keep all normal reserve music before the first Fill Out line. Fill Out marks the start of the final section that must still be added.

Step 9: Inspect Candidate Counts

Save the Clock Format and review the Tracks column.

Check especially:

• both explicit current positions;
• the specialized Criteria-plus-Special line;
• the broad reserve line;
• small pools affected by the current artist-repeat state.

If one line has unexpectedly few tracks:

1. Check active-in-planner and daypart availability.
2. Check whether the track has the expected Criteria and Special values.
3. Recalculate supply against clock demand.
4. Check track Repeat Values and, for music, artist Repeat Values. Artist Repeat Values are not applied to jingles.
5. Remove an unnecessary filter before adding another one.

The Tracks value is an estimate. Generate real test playlists before deciding that a line is healthy or impossible.

Step 10: Create The Day Format

Open Format manager > Day Format and create:

Weekday Test

Each Day Format line generates one playlist from the selected Clock Format at its start time. An hourly station therefore normally needs one line for every hour, even when the same Clock Format is reused.

Use this example structure:

The time ranges in the table are shorthand. Enter a separate Day Format line at 00:00, 01:00, 02:00 and every following playlist start through 23:00.

When hourly clocks have a Duration of 60 minutes, Power Studio can calculate the next start time when a line is added. Check every start time after selecting or changing a Clock Format. A longer specialist clock changes the calculated start of following lines and should replace the hourly lines it covers.

This example uses non-floating daytime lines because news and commercial transitions are treated as fixed. Use Floating only when the station accepts a natural transition close to the planned time instead of an exact boundary.

Step 11: Generate Test Playlists

Save the Day Format and use Format manager > Scheduler to generate future test playlists with Weekday Test.

Generate at least:

1. All six daytime hours on one day.
2. The same daytime hours on the next day.
3. The transition from morning into the first daytime hour.
4. The transition from the final daytime hour into afternoon drive.

Do not assign the Day Format as a weekday default yet. First review the generated result in the Playlist Editor and use Playlist Insight or planning analysis where a selection is unexpected.

Step 12: Review In The Correct Order

Review the generated playlists in this order:

1. Structure: opener, news, commercials, imaging and Fill Out appear in the intended sequence.
2. Eligibility: every selected track belongs to the requested Criteria and Special combination.
3. Distribution: A Current, B Current, Recurrent and Gold counts match the intended balance.
4. Repetition: track and artist repeats remain sensible across consecutive hours and days.
5. Flow: tempo, mood, era, language and artist combinations sound appropriate.
6. Timing: the hour contains enough reserve content and reaches fixed transitions safely.

Correct the source of each problem:

• Fix metadata when one item is classified incorrectly.
• Change Repeat Values or exclusions when title or artist spacing is wrong.
• Change separation or Max per Playlist when a pool clusters or dominates.
• Change the Clock Format when the requested distribution or sequence is wrong.
• Change Floating, Duration, Extra time or Fill Out when the operational timing is wrong.

Generate the test again after each meaningful correction. Avoid changing several layers at once because that makes the result harder to explain.

Step 13: Put The Day Format Into Use

After the format owner approves the playlists and sound:

1. Keep a record or copy of the current working Day Format.
2. Assign the approved Day Format to the intended weekday defaults in Scheduler.
3. Confirm which machine performs automatic generation.
4. Generate only the intended future dates.
5. Review the first real broadcast days after activation.

Continue with Scheduling Review for the daily verification workflow.