Utah Radio Guide - Glossary of Radio Terminology

Radio Glossary
APD	Abbreviation for Assistant Program Director. Assistant to the program director.
AM	Stands for "Amplitude Modulation," or the "AM Band." For example: "KSL 1160 is an AM radio station."
Arbitron	A company, whose service that many radio groups subscribe. This company sends out "diaries," or little books to people to fill out: What radio station they listen to, and how often they listen. This in turn, is compiled into the "ratings" that appear monthly.
Booster	A tower used to fill holes in what should be covered in a station's coverage area, but due to terrain, or other factors, in unreceiveable without a booster. This is often used by "rim shooters" to get signals from small towns into large cities.
Clear Channel	Old Meaning: An AM station that never had to turn it's large amount of power down at night, and could be heard across several state lines. KSL is a "clear channel" station in that sense. New Meaning: Media giants AMFM, Jacor, and several other merged into a large, and often "villanized" company, that owns over 1200+ stations (2003). In this sense, KSL is NOT a Clear Channel station, but a Bonneville station.
Call Letters	The FCC Identification for a certain station. Almost always four-letters long, although some old station are allowed to keep their three-letter long calls. West of the Mississippi River, calls must start with a K, while east of the Mississippi River, calls must start with a W. In Mexico, they start with an X, and are five-letters long, while in Canada they start with a C, and four-letters long. At the top of each hour a station must identify it's call letters and city of license. Example: "KTAR Pheonix."
City of License	The city that a particular radio station was intended to serve. For example, KKAT's city of license is Ogden. They're intended to serve Ogden. However, to make more money, they also serve Salt Lake City and Provo.
GM	Abbreviation for General Manager. The general manager's duties include coordinating programming and sales, so they can coexist peacefully on the station's financial ledgers.
Jingle	A recorded audio clip, usually under ten seconds long, where the station's name or call letters are sung. Jingles can really boost a station's image and appeal.
MD	Abbreviation for Music Director. A music director's responsibilities include selection and research of music to be aired on the station. See "Music Director."
Music Director	Decides what songs actually should be played on the station based upon charts, local opinion, format, and other factors.
PD	Abbreviation for Program Director. Responsibilities include hiring and firing airstaff, as well as coordinating all elements of the station's programming. See "Program Director."
Pea Shooter	See "Rim Shot."
Program Director	Duties include creating the stations image, and hiring/firing station talent. It's often this person's duty to decide what extent to use voicetracking.
Rim Shot	A station not intended to serve a metro area is boosted or translated into that large metro area, in hopes or reaching a larger audience. Utah examples include: KMDG Nephi, KUUU Tooele.
Stunting	When a radio station decides to flip formats, or make major changes to it's image or programming, it wants to gain all the attention it can from the general public. One method is to "stunt." Stunting is when a radio station does something totally radical, unusual, and unexpected by the general listening audience. This can vary from looping one song for several days, a clicking clock, or playing Christmas music in July. Examples in Salt Lake include now defunct Fever 107.9's looping of the BeeGees' Night Fever, before it's initial sign-on, or Hot 94.9 playing construction noises before changing it's name to ZHT. One excellent resource for station sign-on and stunts is Radio-Info.com's Format Change Archive.
Telecom Act of 1996	A controversial move, even today, by the FCC in which the FCC changed ownership rules allowing large corporate ownership of radio stations. Many radio fans blame this as the downfall of radio, while others say it gave radio new life, and prevented hundreds of bankruptcies. Again, still a hot topic today, with many radio enthusiasts inside and outside the industry.
Translator	A tower used to carry a radio station outside of it's coverage area. For example, KJQN's coverage area is northern Utah. Therefore, in Salt Lake City, it has a translator at 103.1.
Voicetracking	Voicetracking comes in several forms. One style is used by stations to avoid call-in listeners from embarrassing the station. The DJ records the conversation, cuts out any unnecessary/embarrasing/boring details of the conversation, and then airs the edited conversation. They may also use this technology to make their airchecks sound "perfect," in their opinion by recording them during a commercial break and playing the recording. Another is where a station decides not to hire a live airstaff member for a certain shift and has them come in once a week for a few hours to record their show. The recorded show is then aired days later, saving the station money. This is particulary useful for stations in small markets who wish to stay local, but can't afford a full-time staff. Yet another is where a station decides not to have anyone local (for at least 1 or more airshifts), and has a talent from another city "can" the show, and just send the recording. They may do this for many cities at a time. This a a major cost cutting technique, but also makes the station sound more "hollow" and less personal. Studies are now showing that in many regards, listeners may actually be able to sense even a good "voicetrack" job, in this regard.