Holidays and Public Holidays

On the days your station doesn’t broadcast its regular programming — a local holiday, Christmas week, the summer break — there is no point recording: you’d only get empty episodes or filler music. That’s what the holiday calendar is for: you mark those days in advance and the system stops the recordings and resumes them by itself, with nothing for you to remember.

What It Does

On a day marked as a holiday:

• No regular schedule is recorded, whatever the grid says
• No new episodes are generated
• The website’s public grid shows a notice instead of that day’s programming
• The website player shows the “off-schedule” content (title and image you can customize)
• Episodes already recorded and published remain available to listeners
• The RSS feed keeps working with the existing episodes

It Only Affects Recordings

Holidays only stop automatic recordings. The station’s website, previous episodes, the RSS feed, and streaming (if you have it) keep working normally.

Special Broadcasts Keep Recording

Special broadcasts are still recorded on holiday days. If you broadcast a municipal council meeting or the town festival in the middle of August, create it as a special broadcast and it will be recorded.

Where to Configure It

Everything lives in EnaCast Studio, the management panel at studio.enacast.com, under Settings, in the Holidays and Public Holidays card. The card has two independent parts:

Part	What it is for
Pause recordings now	A switch that stops every recording immediately, until you turn it off
Holiday calendar	The list of days and periods marked in advance, which apply and lift by themselves

The Holiday Calendar

The calendar is a list of periods. Each period has:

Field	Description
First day	The first holiday day (required)
Last day	The last day, included. “Leave it empty for a single day.”
Label (optional)	A name to recognize it in the list, for example “Summer break”
Repeat every year	The same days come back every year

The dates are whole days in your station’s timezone: there are no times to adjust.

Adding a Period

1. Go to studio.enacast.com and open Settings in the sidebar.
2. Find the Holidays and Public Holidays card and, inside it, the Holiday calendar block.
3. Under Add a period, pick the First day.
4. Pick the Last day, or leave it empty for a one-day holiday.
5. Optionally, write a Label so you can recognize it later.
6. If it’s a holiday that comes back every year, tick Repeat every year.
7. Click Add period.

The period appears in the list with its dates and its label. Every row can be edited and deleted.

Single Days and Long Periods

A single day and a month-long break are the same thing: a period. For a local holiday, just pick the First day and leave the Last day empty.

Examples

• Town festival, one day, every year → first day 24 August, last day empty, Repeat every year ticked
• Christmas, from 24 December to 6 January, every year → first day 24/12, last day 06/01, Repeat every year ticked
• This year’s summer break, from 1 to 31 August → first day 01/08, last day 31/08, no yearly repeat

Holidays That Come Back Every Year

If you tick Repeat every year, EnaCast only looks at the day and the month of the period, not the year: it’s the option for local holidays, fixed public holidays, and the Christmas break. A period that starts in December and ends in January is correctly understood as the turn of the year.

Note

A period that repeats every year cannot be longer than one year. And if you mark 29 February, it applies on the 28th in non-leap years.

Calendar Rules

• The last day cannot be before the first day.
• Periods cannot overlap one another. If two holidays touch, merge them into one period or leave a day between them. A period that repeats every year is compared with the others ignoring the year, because sooner or later they will coincide.

Pause Recordings Now

Besides the calendar, the card has the Pause recordings now switch: “stops every scheduled recording immediately, whatever the calendar says. Turn it off to start recording again.”

It’s the emergency exit: a breakdown in the studio, a day decided at the last minute, building works on the premises. While it’s on, the card shows an amber notice — “recordings are paused. No scheduled programme is being recorded until you turn this off.” — and the Dashboard reminds you with Recordings paused (manual).

The Switch Doesn't Turn Itself Off

Pause recordings now has no end date: it stays on until you turn it off by hand. For a period with known dates, use the calendar and you won’t have to remember to switch recording back on.

What Listeners See

• On the website’s programming grid, holiday days show the notice “The station is on holiday: no regular schedule today” instead of the list of shows. That way an empty column doesn’t look like a bug.
• The player shows your station’s “off-schedule” content, just as it does at any hour without a show.
• The rest of the website — episodes, news, podcasts, RSS feed — doesn’t change.

What Happens to Shows During Holidays

Missed Episodes Are Not Recovered

Shows that should have been recorded during the holiday period are neither recorded nor queued. When holidays end, only shows broadcast from that moment on are recorded.

During holidays:

• Show schedules aren’t modified. They stay configured as they were
• The periodicity of a fortnightly or monthly schedule isn’t shifted: the next broadcast is the one that was due, not one week later
• Transcription and auto-trim settings don’t change
• When the period ends, everything works exactly as before, with nothing to change

On the Dashboard

The EnaCast Studio Dashboard shows the holiday status at all times:

• On holidays today — recordings paused, when the current day is marked
• On holidays until …, while a period is running
• Next holidays: …, when the next period hasn’t started yet
• Recordings paused (manual), when what’s on is the switch

On top of that, in the Grid View of Schedules, the columns of holiday days are dimmed and carry the Holiday label, so you can see at a glance which week won’t be recorded.

”Off-Schedule” Content

While the station is on holiday, the website can show special content instead of the current show. You can customize:

• Title: for example, “Station on holiday” or “Back in September”
• Description: an informative message for visitors

These fields are configured in the Out of Schedule card on the same Settings page (see station settings).

Note

If you don’t configure off-schedule content, the website will show a generic “Off-schedule” message.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Holidays Affect Streaming?

No. If your station has streaming configured, it keeps working regardless of holidays. Only podcast recordings stop.

Can I Schedule Recurring Holidays?

Yes. Tick Repeat every year when creating the period and those same days will come back every year without you entering them again. It’s the right choice for local holidays, fixed public holidays, and the Christmas break.

Can I Enable Holidays for Only Some Shows?

No: the calendar applies to the whole station. For a single show you have two options:

• Turn off recording in that show’s settings, if it will be off for a season
• Add the specific dates to its schedule’s Skip dates, if they are isolated days

What Happens if I Pause Recordings While a Show Is Being Recorded?

The recording in progress is stopped. The change takes a few minutes to reach the recording system, so the stop isn’t instant. If you want the show currently on air to finish recording, wait until it ends before turning the switch on.

What Happened to the Holiday Dates I Had Configured?

The old holiday start date and end date no longer exist as separate fields: if you had dates set, they were automatically converted into a calendar period with those same dates. You can now have as many periods as you like, marked as far in advance as you like.

Related guides: Scheduling and Timetables and Automatic Episode Recording.

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