| Glossary of Radio Terms | ||
| ADI Area of Dominant Influence. A geographical market definition whereby each county is assigned exclusively to one television market. The ADI rating is based on countries where originating stations enjoy a high proportion of viewing compared to outside station viewing. |
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Adjacency |
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| Affidavit Sworn proof that an advertiser's commercials were actually run as scheduled. The affidavit indicates the day and time of each broadcast and accompanies the station's bill to the agencies. |
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| Audience Duplication The percentage of a station's audience that is shared with another station or medium. |
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| Audience Flow The movement of the audience between programs and stations. By scheduling programs consecutively that appeal to similar audiences, the networks and local stations try to maintain the same audience and minimize the flow to other networks or stations. All program schedules are devised with audience flow in mind, since programmers have found that when two shows appealing to different kinds of viewers, neither will do well. |
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| Average Quarter-Hour Persons The average number of persons in a demographic group who listen to radio for at least 5 minutes during a 15-minute segment. For example: Men 18+, Monday-Sunday, 6 AM-Midnight in Washington, DC metro area. Arbitron, April/May 1979, WMAL AQH = 19,800. |
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| Billboard An announcement identifying a sponsor at the beginning or end of a program. |
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| Clear Channel Station A radio station operating at maximum power (50,000 watts) on an exclusive frequency, designed to serve large areas. |
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| Clutter An excessive number of commercials and other non-program elements which appear one right after the other. |
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| Coverage In radio or TV, the percent of television households that can tune to a station (or stations) because they are in the signal area. |
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| Cume Abbreviation for cumulative audience. An estimate of a station's total unduplicated audience over a particular time period. A radio station's cume is similar to a newspaper's circulation. |
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| Dayparts Radio time is divided into parts of the day. |
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| Exclusive Cume The number of different persons who, when they are listening, tune only to one station during the time period reported. |
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| Fixed Position A guaranteed time for a radio ad that will not be preempted. |
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| Flight A period of consecutive days or weeks of advertising within an overall ad campaign. |
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| Frequency The number of times the target audience will be exposed to a message. |
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| Frequency Distribution A media planning term describing an analysis of frequency typically prepared via computer. It reports by the percentage of the population (reach) exactly how many times each person is exposed to a message. For example, with an average frequency of three times, the frequency distribution shows you what percentage of the people heard the message once, twice, three times, etc. |
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| Grid A type of rate card used by large radio stations which enables the station to have flexibility in rates. Prices range in direct proportion to the station's inventory, i.e. so during high-demand periods, the grid used will have the highest rates. |
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| Gross Impressions The total number of households or people delivered by a particular media schedule, including duplication of the audience. It can be calculated by the reach multiplied by the number of times the ad/commercial will run. |
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| Gross Ratings Points (GRPs) The total number of rating points accumulated in an advertising schedule. GRPs are used by a media buyer or advertiser as criteria to determine the saturation level of a particular campaign. The more GRPs, the heavier the ad campaign. GRPs equals the percentage reach times frequency. |
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| O & O Station A station owned and operated by a network. For example, NBC owns and operates both WRC Radio and WRC-TV. |
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| Penetration The number of individuals who are actually exposed to the advertising medium. |
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Preemption |
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| Psychographic A term that describes consumers or audience members on the basis of some psychological trait or characteristic or behavior, i.e. values, attitudes, or lifestyles. |
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| ROS Run of Station. Commercial announcements which can be scheduled at the station's discretion anytime during the period specified by the advertiser. For example, ROS 20 spots 6 AM-Midnight, Monday through Friday. |
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| RADAR A rating service that surveys network radio audiences. |
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| Rating An estimate of the size of an audience shown as a percent of a total group of people surveyed. This may be expressed in terms of households or individuals. For example, a "Men 18-24 rating of 2.1" for a radio station means that 2.1% of all Men 18-24 in a market listen to that particular radio station during an Average Quarter Hour. For TV, an 8 rating means that 8% of all homes which sets in the coverage area were tuned in to the particular program. |
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| Reach The number of different people who will be exposed to an advertiser's message. |
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| Share of Audience (Share) The number of persons who listened to a station during a given time period, expressed as a percent of all persons who listened to radio during that time period. Many people confuse ratings with shares since both are shown as percentages. A rating always relates to a total population (e.g. Census Data), whereas audience "share" always is expressed in terms of the total listening/viewing activity taking place during a particular time period. |
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| SMSA Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. Also known as MSA (Metro Area). A market definition provided by the Bureau of Census. Each Metro Area or SMSA contains a county or counties having at least a) one central city with population of 50,000 or more, or b) a city with at least 25,000 which interacts economically or socially with surrounding communities bringing the total population to 50,000, or c)as in New England where they don't have counties, the cities and towns in a SMSA must have a combined population of at least 75,000. |
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| Spill-In/Spill-Out The degree to which programming is viewed in adjacent ADI (or DMA) areas. |
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| Spot The purchase of broadcast time from an independent station. |
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| Sweep TV and radio survey periods during which audience listening habits are measured and are available for purchase by market. |
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| Syndicated Program A program offered by an independent organization for sale to stations or advertisers who are not able or do not want to use network advertising. Also, a TV program sold by an independent producer to a local station for local sponsorship. |
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| TAP Plan Total Audience Plan. A radio buy in which the advertiser buys a specified number of spots spread throughout dayparts. For example, 1/3 AM & Drive, 1/3 Daytime and 1/3 Nighttime. |
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| TSA Total Survey Area. The metro survey area, plus all the counties surrounding it, that contribute a specified proportion of their listening to radio stations within that market. |
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