Brokered programming

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Brokered programming (also known as time-buy) is broadcast content where the show's producer pays for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot commercials. A brokered program is typically not capable of garnering enough support from advertisements to pay for itself, and may be controversial, esoteric or an advertisement in itself.

Common examples are religious and political programs and talk-show-format programs similar to informercials. Others are hobby programs or vanity programs paid for by the host or his supporters, and may be intended to promote the host's personality, for instance in preparation for a political campaign. A live vanity show may be carried on several stations by remote broadcast or simulcast, with the producer paying multiple stations an airtime fee.

Brokered commercial programs promote products or services by scripting news-style shows that may even include calls from listeners (or supposed listeners). The programs focus on a topic related to the product and repeatedly steer listeners and "callers" to a particular vendor. Although presented in the style of live programs, these are typically recorded and supplied to stations on tape.

Such programming is most common on talk radio stations and used to fill non-prime time slots and to augment income from spot-advertisement sales during normal programs. ^[1]

Although some syndicators of multi-topic, ad-supported talk shows may pay a fee to stations with very large Arbitron-verified listenership, the same syndicator will normally charge a fee to small stations and may charge nothing to stations with moderate listenership. Each arrangement depends on whether the station can deliver enough listeners to allow the syndicator to earn money from ad sales. Syndicated programs normally carry a number of their own advertisements that must be played during commercial breaks, but set aside time for local stations to play their own advertisements.

Stations also frequently employ one or more of their own hosts, but at some small stations these hosts may be unpaid volunteers motivated by the chance to promote an agenda, gain personal exposure or get work experience.

Brokered programming typically has no breaks for unrelated advertisements, and it is not unusual for news-format commercials to be recorded and aired in segments as little as half an hour or even 15 minutes.

The use of brokered programming varies by station -- some stations, mainly news radio and sports radio stations, use brokered programming to fill holes in some dayparts, especially during the late-night hours and weekends. There are also some AM radio stations that are dedicated to the brokered format, selling time for as little as 15 minutes or even selling the entire broadcasting day to a single entity, with the station holding the broadcast license and providing the facilities. That long-form type of brokered programming is especially popular among ethnic and religious broadcasters.

Record companies (through independent promoters) may also purchase brokered time on music stations to have the station play a new single as a "preview", which has the potential to be inserted onto a station's general playlist but has not received the traction to do so. These spots are often the length of the song with an introduction and disclaimer at the end of the song stating the artist, album title, and releasing label, and come under titles such as CD Preview. The segments must be carefully disclaimed by the record companies so as to not violate payola laws and the playing of the song, as it is paid for, cannot be applied to song popularity charts, as has happened in the early 2000's with some forms of this concept [1].

If a station sells all of its time to a programmer, essentially leasing the station, it is a local marketing agreement (LMA). Like owning a station, this counts toward United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) caps that prevent excessive concentration of media ownership in the U.S. and Canada.