Today, I thought I’d do something a little different and step off of my financial podium.  Radio, like every business sector, has its own proprietary collection of terms and buzzwords.  Today seemed like a great day to list the most common ones and explore their definitions.

This information was obtained from: “UNIVERSAL SPOT RADIO BUYING AND SELLING TERMS and Network Radio Terms Addendum,”Jointly Presented By the AAAA and The Radio Advertising Bureau, http://www.rab.com/public/reports/buysellterms.pdf

Avail: The commercial position in a program or between programs on a given station or network available for purchase by an advertiser. It can also refer to the notification from a buyer to a seller that advertising dollars are up for discussion and negotiation.

Best Time Available (BTA): Commercials which are scheduled by the station to run at the best available time after all other sponsor commitments are met, usually at night or on weekends.

Cluster: A cluster is a group of stations in the same market under common ownership or sales management. This usually refers to three or more AM and/or FM stations, or at least two stations on the same band, FM or AM. Groups of one AM and one FM are usually referred to as combos. A spot cluster refers to all commercials that run in the same commercial break.

Cost Per Point (CPP): The cost of reaching an audience that is equivalent to one percent of the population in a given demographic group.

Cost Per Thousand (CPM): The cost of delivering 1,000 gross impressions to a given demographic group.

Daypart: The time segments into which a day is divided by Radio and television networks and stations for the purpose of selling advertising time. In Radio, the main dayparts are morning (or AM drive), midday, afternoon (or PM drive) and evening. An individual station’s daypart(s) will not necessarily conform to standard definition(s). Advertising contracts should include the specific hours that define the time period for each station’s daypart.

Demo (Target Demo): The age group and gender make-up of the audience that you wish to receive (or sell) your product or service message, such as Women 25-49.

Flight: An advertising campaign which uses a scheduling tactic that alternates periods of advertising activity with periods of no activity.

Flight Dates: Start and end dates of an advertising campaign.

Frontload: Typically refers to a Monday-to-Friday or Monday-to-Sunday advertising schedule that places more commercials on Monday and Tuesday, days that have less demand for inventory.

Live Read: A specific commercial type where the announcement is read “live” on-air by a station personality.

Local Advertising: Advertising placed by companies within their home area, the limited geographic area where they do business. Also refers to advertising placed by local market agencies that is scheduled to run in the market where the agency is based.

Makegood: Comparable commercial time or space given to an advertiser at no additional cost when advertising is pre-empted, omitted or airs in an unfit condition.

National Advertising: Advertising placed by companies with national or regional distribution. The campaign runs in many markets outside their “home” area or region. Also refers to advertising placed by agencies that is scheduled to run in markets other than where the agency is based.

Piggy-Back: Two commercials scheduled to run back-to-back, purchased by the same advertiser.

Rep: Short for representative. The station account executive who oversees and manages a local advertiser or agency.

Rotation: The distribution of commercials across a section of days and hours within the purchased time period.

Sponsorship: The purchase of more than one commercial within a program, usually at a premium rate. Or the purchase of advertising adjacent to a specific programming feature.  Can include bonus time via audio billboards, or exclusivity of advertising within the brand’s product category, or all of the above.Can also refer to the purchase of all or part of a Radio program by one advertiser.

Next time you hear these popular radio advertising terms, you’ll have a better understanding of their meaning.And if you’re committed to becoming more successful, contact the experts at The Radio Agency to see what our team can do for you.

Andi Lovett is the Controller of The Radio Agency. Please follow The Radio Agency’s Blog “Sounding Board” by subscribing to the email or RSS links above.Visit our website: TheRadioAgency.com