RADIO ADVERTISING TERMS
Avail
The commercial position in a program or between programs on a given station available for purchase.
Billboard (radio billboard)
Name mentions given to an advertiser in return for a program/station commitment (often to a “sponsor” of the program).
Coverage Area
The geographic area within which a signal from an originating station can be received.
Demo (Target Demo)
The age group and make-up of the audience that you wish to receive your product or service message.
Flight
Advertising agency scheduling concept that alternates periods of advertising activity with periods of no activity.
Flight Dates
Start and end dates of an advertising campaign.
Frequency
The average number of times the same person will hear a commercial.
Live Read
Announcement is read “live” on-air by a station personality.
Pre-emption and Pre-emptible
The displacement of a scheduled commercial announcement in favor of a higher-priced commercial or for some other reason.
Sponsorship
The purchase of a radio program or specific feature.
TOMA (top-of-mind-awareness)
Achieving a high level of recognition with a specific audience.
Target Demo (Demo)
An age group or audience make-up that you target with your commercial message.
WHEN COMMERCIALS AIR
Daypart
The time segments into which a day is divided by for the purpose of selling advertising time.
AM Drive (Morning Drive)
Monday through Friday from 5:30AM to 10AM.
Midday
Monday through Friday from 10AM-3PM.
PM Drive (Afternoon)
Monday though Friday from 3-7PM.
Evening
Monday though Friday from 7PM-Midnight.
Fixed Position (sometimes called “anchored”)
A commercial scheduled to run at a precise time, or a commercial scheduled to run within specific programming content.
Equal Rotation
Usually refers to ensuring that commercials are scheduled to run in a broad time period or combination of time periods and get equally distributed across each time period.
Run of Schedule (ROS)
Commercials scheduled to run across multiple dayparts and multiple days. Usually Monday-Friday, 6AM-12AM
Optimum Effective Scheduling (OES)
Advertising purchasing concept designed to reach the majority of a station’s audience three or more times in a week by distributing commercials evenly Monday-Sunday from 6AM to Midnight.
Rotation
The distribution of commercials across a section of days and hours within the purchased time period.
Unit
One commercial message regardless of length