# Eleven seconds is the whole job

> A radio station's cart label times a song to the second — RUNS, INTRO, ENDS COLD — so a presenter knows exactly when to stop talking.

August 19, 2026 · https://justog.club/stories/radio-station-cart-label

Three typewritten fields on a peeling label: RUNS 3.42, INTRO 0.11, ENDS COLD. Underneath, added
later in biro: DO NOT TALK OVER THIS.

Eleven seconds is the whole job. That's how long a presenter has to say something before the singing
starts.

## What is a cart label actually timing?

Everything a presenter needs to know before the song starts playing, at a glance.

RUNS is the total length, so nobody schedules the next segment too early or too late. INTRO is how
long the instrumental runs before the vocal comes in — the window a presenter can talk across without
talking over the singer. ENDS COLD means the track stops dead rather than fading, so whatever comes
next has to be ready the instant it does.

## Why does the intro timing matter more than the others?

Because it's the field a presenter actually has to act inside, live, without a second attempt.

RUNS and ENDS COLD are facts somebody can plan a schedule around in advance. INTRO 0.11 is different
— it's a live instruction, read while the song is already playing, that says a sentence has to land
and clear before the vocal arrives. Eleven seconds is generous for some songs and brutally short for
others, and the label doesn't say which; the presenter has to know the record well enough to judge it
in real time.

## Why did somebody add DO NOT TALK OVER THIS by hand?

Because the typed fields describe the song, and this line is a judgement about it.

RUNS, INTRO and ENDS COLD are printed the same on every cart that goes through the station — routine,
mechanical, applied to the record without anybody having actually listened to it as a piece of music.
DO NOT TALK OVER THIS means somebody did listen, decided the song didn't want a voice laid over the
end of it regardless of what the timing sheet allowed, and wrote an instruction that overrides the
system on this one occasion.

## Why is ENDS COLD frightening if it's your show?

Because there's no fade to hide a badly timed handover — the silence starts on the exact frame the
song does.

A song that fades out gives a presenter two or three seconds of cushion to start talking before
anyone notices the gap. A cold ending gives none: the last note stops, dead air starts, and whatever's
next — voice, jingle, another track — has to be already rolling. Anybody who has missed that cue
knows exactly how long a second and a half of silence can feel on air.

## Whose station and playlist can go on a design like this?

Invented ones — a real station's on-air library and cart system belong to that station.

Real broadcast labels carry a specific station's format, timing conventions and sometimes a specific
song's actual runtime, none of which is yours to reproduce without the station's say-so. Inventing
the station name, the runtimes and the handwritten note keeps the object completely legible — a
label, three fields, one instruction — without claiming a real show's actual playlist.

## Does this format work for anything that wasn't radio?

Anywhere something has to run to the second with somebody watching the clock: a play's cue sheet, a
live broadcast, a countdown to a launch.

A theatre's lighting cue, a rocket's launch sequence, a live stream's segment timer — [any document
built around a group's shared numbering and a hard deadline](/stories/theatre-crew-shirts) does
the same job this label does, just for a different clock.

## Does it print well?

Yes — a typewritten field list and one handwritten line is close to the plainest kind of print there
is.

The typewritten fields are already flat, high-contrast type, and [numbers set as their own small
design element](/stories/numbers-as-a-design) hold up well at print size as long as they stay
sharp rather than soft. [A limited palette](/stories/limited-palette-prints-better) suits it
too, since the whole object is really two typefaces and two inks. Oatmeal, cream or a pale grey
garment lets the peeling corner read honestly.

## How do I get one made?

Describe the label at [JustOG](/) — the runtime, the intro length, and what the handwritten line
says. Pick a direction, drag the crop frame, see it composited on the real garment, and it's made to
order and shipped.

Designs other people have published are in the [shop](/shop).

Eleven seconds, typed on a label, and a presenter somewhere counting them down live.