Radio Terms

AM Drive (Morning Drive)
Monday through Friday from 5:30AM to 10AM.

Afternoon Drive (PM Drive)
Monday though Friday from 3-7PM.

Arbitron
Radio ratings service.

Average Quarter-Hour Persons (AQH)
The average number of persons listening to a particular station for at least five consecutive minutes during a 15-minute period.

Average Quarter-Hour Rating
The average Quarter-Hour Persons estimate expressed as a percentage of the population being measured.

Audience Composition
The demographic or socioeconomic profile of a station's audience.

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).

Cluster
A group of stations in the same market under common ownership or sales management.

Combo
Two (or sometimes more) Radio stations, usually operated by the same owner in the same market.

Cost Per Point (CPP)
The cost of reaching an Average Quarter-Hour Persons 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.

Coverage Area
The geographic area within which a signal from an originating station can be received.

Cume Persons
The total number of different persons who listen to a Radio station during a daypart for at least five consecutive minutes.

Daypart
The time segments into which a day is divided by for the purpose of selling advertising time. Primary dayparts are morning (or AM drive), midday, afternoon (or PM drive), and evening.

Demo (Target Demo)
The age group and make-up of the audience that you wish to receive your product or service message.

Equal Distribution
Ensuring that commercials are scheduled to run in a broad time period or combination of time periods, getting equally distributed across each time period.

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.

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.

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.

Frontload
Refers to creating a schedule that tends to place more commercials on days of the week that have less demand.

Gross Impressions (GIs)
The sum of the Average Quarter-Hour Persons (AQH) audience for all commercials in a given schedule. The total number of times a commercial will be heard over the course of a schedule.

Gross Rating Points (GRPs)
The sum of all rating points achieved for a particular commercial schedule.

Live Read
Announcement is read "live" on-air by a station personality.

Midday (See Daytime)
Monday through Friday from 10AM-3PM.

Morning Drive (AM Drive)
Monday through Friday from 5:30 AM to 10AM.

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.

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

PM Drive (Afternoon Drive)
Monday though Friday from 3-7PM

Run of Schedule (ROS)
Commercials scheduled to run across multiple dayparts and multiple days. Usually Monday-Friday, 6AM-12AM

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

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.

Total Survey Area (TSA)
Geographic area that encompasses the Metro Survey Area (MSA) and may include additional counties located outside the MSA which meet certain listening criteria.

Unit
One commercial message regardless of length