BROADCAST TERMINOLOGY

Adjacency
A commercial time slot immediately before or after a specific program

Affidavit
Written legal proof-of-performance from a radio or television station that a commercial ran at the time indicated

Affiliate
A broadcast station (usually independently owned) which has a contractual relationship with a network to carry the network’s programs and announcements in specific time periods

Analog
A method of data storage/transmission by continuous or wave-like signals of greater or lesser intensity (current television signals)

Availabilities
Programs or time periods a station offers for sale

Back-to-back Scheduling
Two or more commercials which are run one immediately following the other

Billboard
Sponsoring announcement/identification at the beginning, end or break of a radio or television program

Block Programming
Programming of shows with a common demographic appeal one after another

Bookends
Spots airing at the beginning and end of a commercial cluster

Breakfast/Day/Drive/Evening
In radio, basic dayparts sold. Time blocks are usually 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and 7 p.m. to midnight respectively

Cable Interstitials
A U.S. signal is blocked at the cable company’s head-end and local commercials are placed over top of the U.S. commercials.  Advertisers must be either a “medium” until themselves (like a radio station) or not-for-profit and community minded.  Cable companies are allowed to use a percentage of this airtime for self-promotion also.
Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
A federal government-appointed body that regulates all aspects of the broadcast and telecommunications industries

Census Agglomeration (CA)
Geographical area, defined by Statistics Canada, with a population of 10,000 to 99,999.

Census Metropolitan Area (CMA)
Geographical area, defined by Statistics Canada, with a population in excess of 100,000

Central Market Area (CMA)
Geographical area, defined by BDM, usually centred around one urban centre

Churn
Turnover in subscribers. Primarily refers to pay TV.

Circulation
Daily and weekly audience of a station

Closed Captioning
Service offered to hearing-impaired television viewers that translates program audio into scrolled text

Cluster
the set of different commercials within a commercial break, usually two to three minutes in total

Community Antenna Television
Antenna arrangement that receives distant signals and re-transmits via cable to subscribers

Conjunction
A large purchase of broadcast media time in dollar terms, usually extending to a 52-week period. It is designed to enable short-term advertisers to participate in top-rated shows and receive the discounts normally available only within a 52-week purchase

Coverage
Percentage of homes or individuals in a specific area that receive a broadcast and/or cable signal

Cut-in
Regional (or station) insertion of an alternative commercial replacing a spot carried nationally (or provincially) on a network

Day-After Recall (DAR)
proportion of audience who can recall sales messages and attributes of specific commercials. A survey is conducted by telephone on the day after the commercial(s) run
back to top