I would like to know of other stations that are not on "NETWORK" buys and your solutions. I would also like a good explanation of the difference between "WIRED" and "UNWIRED" and what it means in todays radio world.
Thank you in advance for your replies!
Donna, I understand the term "network buy" to mean an advertising buy placed by an ad agency that runs inside programs owned or aired by the network in question, e.g., news broadcasts sent to affiliate radio stations by CBS, NBS, ABC, FOX, CNN, and so forth. Local radio stations have nothing to do with these network buys, other than airing the programs in which the ads are played. Your stations top-of-the-hour network news is a good example of this. The content that airs during that 5 minutes (or whatever) is solely the province of the network sending the program to your station. The same principle holds true when syndicated programs you may carry, such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Clark Howard, etc., take a "network break." They're responsible for the ads that run in that break and are getting paid for them by the advertiser.Your local advertisers' spots during these shows are placed within local breaks. If your station doesn't take advantage of local breaks, the program itself covers them with their own commercials or PSAs.
"Wired" and "unwired" networks used to refer to groups of stations, typically represented by one of the major (national or regional) rep firms, but I'm not sure whether these designations are as widely used today. "Programmatic" buying may indeed be the current incarnation of this type of network buy, but I have no useful experience with either, I'm afraid. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable will weigh in.
