The on-air run page is where a host runs an episode, live or as a private recording. It fills the screen, shows one cue at a time in large type, and keeps a countdown for every segment. Go on air publishes segments as you reach them. Start recording session runs the same tools and publishes nothing.
Getting to the run page
Open the episode in the studio. When the episode has a host brief and your account is set up as a show host, the episode page shows a Go on air button. While a session is live, the same button reads Back to the on-air view. Producers prepare the show but cannot put it on the air, so the button does not appear for them.
The run page opens on Ready to run the show. Three things live there:
- A missing-budget warning. If any segment has no time budget, the page tells you how many. Their countdowns will be a guess, so fix that before a live show if timing matters.
- Auto-advance. Off by default. More on it below.
- The two start buttons, described in the next section.
Either button starts a short lead-in, "Starting in…" 3, 2, 1, with a soft tick each second. Press Skip if you are ready sooner.
What do Go on air and Start recording session each do?
Go on air publishes as you go: the episode's public show page goes live right away, and each segment unlocks publicly the moment you reach it. Start recording session runs every timer and the capture pad the same way, but touches nothing public. Nobody sees it happened unless you tell them.
The two are hard to mix up. The badge at the top left reads On air in red for a broadcast, Recording in amber for a private run, and Paused while either is paused. Under it are the episode number, its title, and the public show-page address.
Reading the run screen
The header carries three clocks:
- This segment (center) counts down the current segment's budget, with "of" and the full budget under it. It turns amber with 2 minutes left and red with 30 seconds left. If you run over, it keeps counting below zero.
- Total (right) is the show's running time with paused time left out. Under it, Ends ~ projects your finish time from the remaining budgets.
- On pace (beside the badge) changes to "N min behind" once you are a minute or more behind the planned schedule.
During the cold open, the center clock reads Intro and counts up, with "counting up — press Next to begin" beneath it. A thin progress bar under the header fills as the segment goes, in the same green, amber, and red. In the last 2 minutes, a colored ring also appears around the script. It turns red and pulses in the last 30 seconds and while you run over.
The page is three resizable columns: your script on the left, the segment companion in the middle, and the show map on the right.
- The script shows "Segment N of M · Cue X of Y" with a dot for each cue, the segment heading, and the current cue in the largest type on the page. Any prep detail for the cue sits just under it.
- The Next preview at the bottom shows the cue coming up. On a segment's last cue it shows the next segment and its length. On the last cue of the show it shows a short sign-off line.
- Bridge to next. On a segment's final cue, or in its final 30 seconds, the preview switches to the scripted transition into the next segment, when one was prepared.
The middle column needs a window at least 1,200 pixels wide. In a narrower window, the companion moves into the right column, above the show map.
To resize, drag the thin divider between two columns. Or press Tab to focus a divider and use the arrow keys: Left widens the column to its right, and Right narrows it. Home and End jump straight to its narrowest and widest. Each column remembers its width in this browser, with separate widths for full screen and windowed.
The segment companion
The companion carries what was prepared for the segment you are on: Overall segment talking points, Pushback (they say/you say), and Likely callers (caller asks/you say). Each header shows how many items it holds, and the column updates as you advance.
- Talking points is open by default, so it is on screen the moment you land on a segment. It fills whatever room the column gives it and scrolls inside itself if there is more than fits. The number of the point your elapsed time suggests you have reached is highlighted.
- Pushback and Likely callers start closed. Open the one you need by tapping its header or pressing 2 or 3. Press 1 to fold or unfold the talking points.
- Every section returns to its default when you move to a new segment, so nothing left open from the last segment reads as current.
- The page learns one habit. If you open Pushback or Likely callers within the first 15 seconds of a segment at least three times, and more often than the other one, that section starts open too. This is saved in your browser.
- During the cold open, the companion shows Segment 1's material, so you can land the open already pointed at it.
Talking points, Pushback, and Likely callers come from the same process that builds your host brief. If a segment shows nothing in the companion, its brief did not produce that content. There is nothing to fix on the run page itself.
The run-page control bar
- Back / Next moves one cue at a time through the segment, then into the next segment at the end. While the show is running and not paused, you can also click the script area: the left 22% goes back and the rest goes forward. Pressing Back on the very first cue of Segment 1 returns you to the cold-open screen, which helps if you started the segment too early.
- Pause / Resume turns red and dims the script while paused. The total clock stops, paused time is left out of your runtime, and the timing alerts and auto-advance wait. Next and Back still work if you need them.
- +1 min adds a minute to the current segment's budget when you are running long, with a quiet confirming tone. You can add up to 10 minutes per segment. It changes only your own clocks and is not published.
- Mark moment flags a point in the session to come back to, for editing a recording or remembering what happened. It flashes "Marked" with the time, and its label then counts your marks. It works during the cold open too. Your marks appear in the recap.
- Auto-advance decides what happens when a segment's countdown reaches zero. Off, nothing moves until you press Next. On, the page moves forward one cue for you, the same as pressing Next, and briefly shows "→ advanced automatically." It never advances past the last segment.
- A− / A+ sets the text size in five steps, from compact to very large. It scales the cue, the detail under it, the Next preview, and the companion. In full screen, the cue also steps up one size on its own.
- Full screen uses your browser's full-screen mode, and the same button returns you to the window. Your browser also keeps its own way out of full screen, because the WHATWG Fullscreen standard asks browsers to provide an exit that always works.
- The sun or moon button switches the run page between dark (the default) and light, separately from the rest of the app.
- End the show (or End the recording) asks you to confirm, then closes the session for good. There is no resuming after that. Choose Keep going to stay on air.
Why did the screen flash or chime?
Those are the timing alerts. With 30 seconds left in a segment, the edge of the screen glows amber and a tone plays. When the countdown reaches zero, it glows red and a lower tone plays. There is no switch to turn them off.
- Each alert is one soft fade at the screen edge, not a strobe. That keeps it well under the three-flashes-per-second limit in the W3C guideline on flashing content.
- The tones are made by your browser, so they need no download. Browsers only allow sound after a click, so the tones start once you press Go on air or Start recording session.
- Each event has its own pitch, so you can learn them by ear: start, the lead-in tick, the 30-second warning, zero, +1 min, and the end.
- If your speakers sit near a live microphone, wear headphones so the tones do not go out with your show.
What happens if the page reloads mid-show?
The run page picks up at the last cue it saved, with the clocks rebuilt from the session's saved start and pause times. Your place is saved every time you move, and a pause is saved as well.
- Kept: your current cue, the time each finished segment took, the total show clock, the pause state, and every note you saved.
- Lost: any +1 min extensions, any marks you made, and the time already used in the segment you were on, so its countdown starts again.
- Leaving by accident: while a session is running, your browser asks before it lets you close or leave the page.
- Two tabs or devices: if your place changes from somewhere else, the page warns, "This session may be open in another tab or on another device."
- A save that fails: the page says "Your place did not save. The page may be out of step." Check your connection.
The screen stays awake while a session runs, in browsers that support it. The first time, a short note says "Screen will stay awake for this session." Under the W3C Screen Wake Lock standard, browsers drop that hold whenever the tab is hidden. The page asks for it again as soon as you come back.
Show map, notes, and the recap
The show map lists every segment with its budget in minutes. Finished segments show the time they actually took, plus or minus the budget. The figure is red if you ran 30 seconds or more over, and green if you came in 30 seconds or more under. The current segment shows a progress bar and "Cue X of Y."
Notes, under the show map, can be hidden or shown. It holds what would otherwise clutter the script:
- We said otherwise before: places where this segment conflicts with something an earlier episode said, with that episode's title and air date.
- Do not state as fact: claims in the brief that were not confirmed, with the reason.
- My notes: a capture pad for anything to add after the show. Type at least three characters and press Save for after the show. You will see "Saved to your review queue." Nothing here publishes on its own.
The recap appears after you end. It opens with "You went off air." or "Recording ended.", gives the total runtime with paused time excluded, and counts how many segments landed within 30 seconds of budget. A table lists each segment's budget, actual time, and difference, with an Intro row for the cold open. It also shows how many notes you captured and the Moments you flagged with their times. Back to the episode returns you to the episode page.
Every keyboard shortcut
Shortcuts work during the cold open and the show. They do nothing while you are typing in the capture pad, or while a column divider or a companion header has keyboard focus.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| → or Space | Next cue |
| ← | Back one cue |
| Page Down / Page Up | Next and back, to match a presenter remote |
| P | Pause / Resume |
| F | Full screen |
| M | Mark moment |
| A | Auto-advance on / off |
| − / = | Text size smaller / larger |
| 1 | Fold or unfold Overall segment talking points |
| 2 | Fold or unfold Pushback |
| 3 | Fold or unfold Likely callers |
Column widths, text size, theme, Auto-advance, and the companion habit are saved in this browser, not your account. They do not follow you to another computer, and clearing your browser data resets them to their defaults.