Purchasing Resources for Radio Advertising Production

Radio Advertising Production Key Terms

Launch a career in radio advertising production by learning key terms in the business
By Harrison Howe If you're considering a career in radio advertising production, you'll find there are many radio advertising production key terms used in this field. From words and phrases, including spot sets, jingles, live tag and donut, to acronyms such as BTA (Best Time Available) and ROS (Run of Schedule), radio advertising production has its own language. To adequately prepare for a career in radio advertising production you'll need to talk the talk.
 

Target audience

Most radio advertising campaigns are directed toward a specific group or groups of people. This is known as a target audience. Age group, marital status and gender are all part of what make up a target audience.
Try: Bay Area Radio Advertising gives a brief definition of target audience as well as target market, which is closely related to target audience.

Donut

In radio advertising, a donut, or donut spot, is copy that is read in a voiceover between music segments. These types of ads generally run for 30 or 40 seconds. The term donut refers to the "hole" in the middle of singing or music segments.
Try: Find a brief description of donut provided at Radio Spots Plus.

Jingle

A jingle is a song attached to a commercial spot. Jingles strive to be catchy tunes that in some way describe the product or service being advertised.
Try: Get a detailed overview of commercial jingles, how and why they are created and even listen to demos at Platinum Drive.

Live tag

A live tag, sometimes called a live announcer tag, is when a disc jockey or announcer adds a line or two at the end of a produced radio commercial. In some cases, different live tags, called rotating tags, are used for the same commercial played over and over.
Try: Lundgren Enterprises provides a detailed explanation of what a live tag is and includes an example.

BTA and ROS

BTA and ROS are acronyms used in radio advertising production. BTA is Best Time Available, referring to the best time slots for certain commercials. ROS is Run of Schedule and refers to commercials that are to be aired during different times of the day for more than one day.
Try: Dubois Radio Advertising defines many radio advertising production terms, including brief descriptions of BTA and ROS.

Equal rotation

When radio commercials are evenly distributed or aired during a radio station's day and evening, it is called equal rotation. Radio advertising producers strive to air commercials evenly across established time periods.
Try: Relevant Radio offers an explanation of equal rotation as used in radio advertising production.