Build A Podcast Run Of Show With Real Timestamps
Episodes overrun because the plan never had a clock attached. This takes each segment with its minutes, adds them up, and prints the timestamp every segment starts and ends at — then compares the total against your target length and names the segments to cut if it doesn't fit. Deciding that before recording is what saves the hour in the edit. Local only; nothing leaves the tab.
- Strip
- Every segment timestamped against the target length
- local
- What it replaces
- Recording long and cutting for an hour
- $0.00
- Input
- Segments with minutes and a target length
- no card
- Output
- Timestamps, a total, and the cuts needed
- recomputed
What you pay otherwise
| Route | What you get | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Extra editing time | Cutting a long episode down after the fact | an hour+ |
| Hosting overage | Longer files, more bandwidth | $5–$20/mo |
| Guest running out of time | The best part lands after the outro | the episode |
| This page | The clock, before you hit record | $0 |
The workflow
Budget the intro and outro as segments, not assumptions
They have fixed lengths and they are what people skip planning. Including them means the target length refers to the published file rather than the middle of the show.
Give the guest segment more than you think it needs
Interviews always run long. Plan the segment generously and mark something else as cuttable, rather than discovering at minute 40 that the conversation is the part you have to lose.
Decide the cuttable segments before you record
The strip names which segments to drop to fit the target. Marking them in advance means the decision is made calmly, in the plan, rather than mid-recording or in the edit at 11pm.
Add a buffer for the parts that always overrun
Ad reads, housekeeping, and the bit where someone tells a story. Ten percent of buffer in the plan is cheaper than ten minutes of cutting afterwards.
Worked example
Sample: 6 segments, target 45 minutes 00:00 Cold open 2 min 00:02 Intro and housekeeping 4 min 00:06 Interview part one 18 min 00:24 Ad read 3 min 00:27 Interview part two 14 min 00:41 Outro and credits 3 min Total 44 min — 1 min inside target Uploaded nothing — timed in the tab
Numbers above are sample data produced by the tool's own pre-loaded example, run in the browser — not averages or measured benchmarks.
What breaks this
Leaving the intro and outro out makes the target refer to the middle of the show rather than the file. Not marking anything as cuttable means the cut decision happens under pressure. No buffer — the parts that always overrun will overrun, so plan for it.
Try it now
Six segments totalling 44 minutes against a 45-minute target are loaded. Extend the second interview to 25 minutes and watch the strip name the cuts.
Open the run of show →Go deeper: the printable strip
The run of show is free forever. The $4 one-time tier adds:
- Printable strip — the timestamped run of show on one studio sheet — estimate: ~10 min saved rebuilding it per episode.
- Saved episode plans — keep up to 12 plans in this browser — estimate: ~15 min saved reusing a format.
- Chapter markers — the timestamps formatted for chapter metadata — estimate: ~12 min saved typing them into the host.