AM Drive (Morning Drive)
Monday through Friday, typically 6:00am to 10am on most stations.  May start earlier in some markets.

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

Arbitron
The primary 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
An estimate Average Quarter-Hour Persons expressed as a percentage of the population being measured.

Audience Composition
The demographic profile of a station’s audience.

Avail
A commercial position.

Billboard (Radio billboard)
Name mentions given to an advertiser in return for a program/station commitment (often to a “sponsor” of the program).

Best Time Available (BTA)
Commercials which are scheduled by the station to run at the best available time.

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 covered by the signal of a specific station.

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
A commercial scheduled to run at a precise time, or a commercial scheduled to run within a specific program.

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.

Local Marketing Agreement (LMA)
An arrangement where one station or owner takes sales responsibility for the commercial time on another station that it does not own.

Midday
Monday through Friday from 10am-3pm.

Morning Drive (see AM Drive)

Net Reach
The number of different people that will hear the commercial at least one time.

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 (see Afternoon Drive)

Pre-emption and Pre-emptible
The displacement of a scheduled commercial announcement in favor of a higher-priced commercial or for some other reason.

Rep
Short for representative. The station account executive who serves a local advertiser or agency.

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

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

Simulcast
When two or more Radio stations broadcast the same programs and same commercials at the same times.

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.

Total Audience Plan (TAP)
An advertising schedule that places ads in a pattern that utilizes all station dayparts for maximum station audience exposure.

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.