Automatic Episode Recording

EnaCast automatically records your show episodes based on the schedules configured in the programming grid. You don’t need to start or stop recording manually — the system does it for you.

How It Works

The recording system continuously checks the programming schedule and, when it detects that a show is about to start, it begins recording automatically. When the schedule indicates the show has ended, it stops recording and generates the episode.

1. Schedule activates: the system detects that a show is about to start according to the configured schedule.
2. Recording begins: the station’s audio stream is captured a few seconds before the scheduled start time.
3. Show is recorded: audio is saved to the server throughout the show’s duration.
4. Recording stops: when the schedule ends (plus a small margin), the capture stops.
5. Episode is generated: the audio file is stored and the episode is created on the platform, ready to be published.

Safety Margin

To ensure no content is lost at the beginning or end of a show, the system applies a safety margin of a few seconds before and after the scheduled time.

• Recording starts a few seconds before the show’s start time
• Recording ends a few seconds after the show’s end time

This margin prevents content loss if the show starts slightly early or runs a bit late. If your station uses AI transcription and insights, automatic trimming takes care of removing these extra seconds.

Automatic trimming

If you have transcription with start/end analysis enabled, the AI will detect the exact point where the show content begins and ends, removing the safety margins and any silence or pre-show content.

What Gets Recorded Exactly?

EnaCast records your station’s audio stream — the same signal that listeners hear live. The recording is made from the standard quality (lower bitrate) version of the stream to optimize storage without affecting broadcast quality.

Note

For recording to work correctly, your station must be broadcasting audio through the stream configured in EnaCast. If the stream is not active, there will be nothing to record.

What Happens If the Stream Drops?

If the audio stream is interrupted during recording:

• Brief interruption: the system continues recording and resumes capture when the signal returns. There may be a silence or gap in the episode audio.
• Extended interruption: if the signal doesn’t return before the schedule ends, recording stops and an episode is generated with whatever audio was captured. If nothing was captured, the episode is marked as empty and is not published.

Empty recordings

If a recording results in an empty file (0 bytes) — for example, because the stream was not active — the episode is automatically hidden and not published.

What Happens If a Show Runs Long?

Recording stops when the scheduled time ends (plus the safety margin). If the actual show runs longer than the configured schedule, the extra content will not be recorded.

To avoid this, you can:

• Adjust the duration of the schedule to include an extra margin
• Create a special broadcast with a longer schedule for that specific date

Requirements for Recording to Work

For a show to be recorded automatically, all of these conditions must be met:

Condition	Description
Show is active	The show must be marked as “on air”
Recording enabled	The recording option must be enabled in the show’s settings
Schedule configured	At least one schedule must exist in the grid
Not a rerun	Schedules marked as reruns are not recorded
Stream active	The station must be broadcasting audio through the stream
Not on holidays	The station must not be in holiday mode

Special Broadcasts and Recording

Special broadcasts are also recorded automatically if they meet the conditions above. Additionally, they have priority over regular schedules: if a special broadcast coincides with a regular schedule, the special broadcast is recorded and the regular recording is paused.

Special broadcasts during holidays

Special broadcasts are recorded even when the station is in holiday mode. Only regular schedules are paused during holidays.

Episode Lifecycle

Once recording is complete, the episode follows this process:

Recording completed
    │
    ├─ Audio file is stored on the server
    │
    ├─ Metadata is updated (title, show, date)
    │
    ├─ Transcription enabled? → Processed with AI
    │
    └─ Published on the website and RSS feed

For more information about post-recording processing, see the AI transcription and insights guide.

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If you have questions, you can contact technical support at support@enacast.com