Music Promotion Radio Promotion & Airplay 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary responsibility of a music director at a radio station?
- Composing original jingles and station imaging
- Selecting songs and managing the station's playlist rotation (Correct answer)
- Training new on-air DJs and broadcast talent
- Negotiating advertising and sponsorship agreements
Correct answer: Selecting songs and managing the station's playlist rotation
A music director oversees all music-related decisions at a station, including which new songs get added, what stays in rotation, and how frequently songs are played.
Question 2: What does the term 'terrestrial radio' mean in the context of music promotion?
- Satellite radio services such as SiriusXM
- Internet-based streaming radio platforms like Pandora
- International radio stations broadcasting outside the US
- Traditional AM/FM broadcast radio stations transmitting over land (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Traditional AM/FM broadcast radio stations transmitting over land
Terrestrial radio refers to conventional AM/FM stations that broadcast signals via land-based transmitters, distinguishing them from satellite or internet radio.
Question 3: Which industry publication is considered the standard authority for radio promotion charts in the US?
- Rolling Stone
- Billboard (Correct answer)
- Variety
- Music Week
Correct answer: Billboard
Billboard publishes the authoritative format-specific airplay charts that radio promoters, labels, and stations use as the industry standard for measuring song performance.
Question 4: In radio promotion, what does 'market penetration' refer to?
- The number of songs an artist releases in a single market
- The advertising budget dedicated to a radio campaign
- The percentage of radio stations in a market actively playing a song (Correct answer)
- The strategy of expanding into new international radio markets
Correct answer: The percentage of radio stations in a market actively playing a song
Market penetration measures how many stations within a specific geographic market are playing a song, indicating how broadly it is reaching listeners in that area.
Question 5: What is 'dayparting' in radio programming and promotion?
- Splitting royalty payments between morning and evening broadcast windows
- Scheduling specific music or content for different times of day based on listener demographics (Correct answer)
- Dividing a radio market into geographic coverage zones
- Releasing multiple radio edits of a single for different time slots
Correct answer: Scheduling specific music or content for different times of day based on listener demographics
Dayparting is the practice of scheduling different content for different times of day — morning drive, midday, evening — to match the demographic profile of listeners tuning in at each time.
Question 6: When a song is described as being in 'heavy rotation' at a radio station, what does this mean?
- The song plays with boosted bass equalization during airtime
- The song is reserved exclusively for late-night programming
- The song has a complex, layered musical arrangement
- The song is played very frequently — typically 25 or more times per week (Correct answer)
Correct answer: The song is played very frequently — typically 25 or more times per week
Heavy rotation means a station plays the song many times throughout each broadcast day, often 25–40+ times per week, signaling strong promotion support and listener demand.
Question 7: What is a 'one-sheet' in the context of radio promotion?
- A single-page music licensing agreement between label and station
- A contract binding an artist exclusively to one radio station
- A one-page promotional document pitching an artist and their new release to radio (Correct answer)
- A weekly chart summarizing a song's performance over a single reporting period
Correct answer: A one-page promotional document pitching an artist and their new release to radio
A one-sheet is a concise, single-page promotional tool sent to program directors and music directors that summarizes key artist info, the release, and reasons to add the song to rotation.
Music Promotion Radio Promotion & Airplay 2
What is the primary responsibility of a music director at a radio station?