How to Read a Radio Advertising Schedule: 2026 Guide

Reviewed by Peter Berk, President and Chief Media Strategist, Berk Marketing · Last updated 20 September 2026

TL;DR

A radio advertising schedule is the written plan showing when, where, and how often your commercials will air. Reading one correctly means checking audience fit, station format, daypart mix, weekly spot weight, reach, frequency, and delivery terms before looking at the number of spots. This guide defines every term you will see on a schedule, gives a practical reading order, and flags the warning signs that separate a strong buy from a weak one.

How Do You Read a Radio Advertising Schedule?

To read a radio advertising schedule, check it in this order: market and audience, station format, flight dates, dayparts, spots per station per week, placement type, reach, frequency, GRPs, preemption and makegood terms, and tracking requirements. Do not judge a schedule by total spot count alone. The key question is whether the schedule puts enough advertising weight in front of the right audience, at the right times, with clear terms for delivery and measurement.

A simple way to evaluate a schedule is:

Audience fit → Geography → Dayparts → Weekly spot weight → Reach → Frequency → Placement → Delivery terms → Tracking

If any of those elements is missing, ask the station or media buyer to clarify it before approving the schedule.

Radio Advertising Schedule Checklist

Before approving a radio advertising schedule, check these 10 items:

1. Market: Does the station reach the geographic area where you sell?

2. Audience: Does the station reach your target demographic or customer?

3. Format: Does the programming fit how your audience listens?

4. Flight dates: Are the start and end dates correct?

5. Dayparts: Which hours and days are actually included?

6. Spot weight: How many spots run on each station each week?

7. Reach and frequency: How many people will hear the campaign, and how often?

8. Placement: Are spots fixed, rotating, ROS, BTA, or preemptible?

9. Delivery protection: What happens if a spot is missed, moved, or preempted?

10. Tracking: How will results be attributed to each station or platform?

Quick rule: Never evaluate a radio schedule based on total spots alone. Evaluate who receives the spots, when they receive them, how often they receive them, and what happens if the station does not deliver the ordered schedule.

How to Read a Radio Advertising Schedule: Plain-English Glossary

Radio advertising schedules are packed with shorthand. Dayparts, AQH, GRPs, ROS, TAP, preemptible, makegood. If you have never bought radio before (or bought it and were unsure whether you got a fair deal), the document can look like it was written in code.

This guide teaches you how to read a radio advertising schedule from the advertiser’s side, not the station’s side. The goal is not just to define every abbreviation. It is to give you a reading order so you can judge whether the schedule will reach the right listeners often enough, in the right environment, with terms that protect your investment.

Before reviewing any schedule, it helps to understand what drives radio costs and how stations price their inventory. That context makes every line item on the schedule easier to evaluate.

Request a Free Competitive Report. No cost, no obligation. Or call (866) 747-4707 and speak with Peter Berk directly.

What Is a Radio Advertising Schedule?

A radio advertising schedule is the written plan for when and where your commercials will air. It usually includes:

• Station or network and its format (news, talk, sports, music)

• Market (the geographic area being reached)

• Flight dates (start and end of the campaign)

• Dayparts (the time blocks when spots will run)

• Spot length (usually :15, :30, or :60)

• Number of spots per week, per station

• Placement type (fixed, rotator, ROS, BTA, preemptible)

• Audience estimates (AQH, cume, reach, frequency, GRPs)

• Delivery terms (makegood policy, affidavit or post-log requirements)

• Tracking instructions (unique phone numbers, landing pages, or offer codes)

The schedule is not just a list of commercials. It is a delivery plan that should tell you who will hear your message, how often, in what context, and what happens if something goes wrong. The Traffic Safety Marketing guide from the U.S. Department of Transportation defines many of these terms as standard components of any paid media evaluation.

Radio Advertising Schedule vs. Media Plan vs. Traffic Instructions

These documents are related, but they are not necessarily the same thing.

Document	What It Shows	When You Use It
Radio advertising schedule	Where, when, and how often spots are scheduled to air	Reviewing the actual media buy
Media plan	Overall strategy, stations, audience, budget, and campaign allocation	Planning the campaign
Rate card	Published or quoted advertising rates and inventory information	Comparing pricing and inventory
Traffic instructions	Instructions telling the station which commercial or creative to air	Sending creative to the station
Affidavit or post-log	The spots that actually aired and their air times	Verifying delivery
Post-buy report	Analysis of what was delivered compared with what was purchased	Evaluating campaign performance

A media plan explains what you intend to buy. A radio advertising schedule shows how the buy is scheduled. Traffic instructions tell the station which creative to run. An affidavit or post-log helps verify what actually aired.

If a station sends you several documents, do not assume they are interchangeable. Review each one for a different part of the buying and verification process.

How to Read a Radio Schedule in the Right Order

Most advertisers make the same mistake when reading a radio advertising schedule: they start with the spot count. That is the wrong starting point.

A spot count is not a strategy. Thirty-five spots spread across the wrong stations, the wrong dayparts, or the wrong format can produce nothing. Eighteen spots concentrated on the right station, in the right daypart, for the right audience can produce immediate response.

Read the schedule in this order.

1. Check the market and geography

Is the schedule reaching the geography where you do business? Local AM/FM can be bought by market. National radio covers multiple markets or the entire country through networks and syndication.

SiriusXM is national by definition. It should only be used when the advertiser can serve most of the country. It cannot be bought locally or regionally, which many advertisers assume it can.

2. Check the station and format

The station format tells you how listeners use the programming, and that changes everything about how the schedule works. On news, talk, and sports formats, the listener is engaged with the content, so the message tends to land with fewer repetitions. On music formats, the listener is often in the background, so more frequency is needed before the message registers.

A music station is not a worse buy. It is a different buy. The format column on a radio advertising schedule tells you what kind of listening environment your ad enters.

3. Check the dayparts

Morning drive, midday, afternoon drive, evening, and overnight are not interchangeable time slots. They reach different listeners in different mindsets. A schedule that bundles everything under “ROS” without specifying the daypart window deserves scrutiny.

4. Check the weekly spot weight

Look at spots per station per week, not total spots across all stations. A schedule showing 60 total spots across four stations may only deliver 15 per station. That might be enough for talk radio. It might be thin for a music format where the audience turns over faster.

5. Check reach, frequency, and GRPs

These three metrics tell you how many different people will hear the ad (reach), how many times on average (frequency), and the total rating-point weight of the schedule (GRPs). A schedule with reach data but no frequency data is incomplete. So is one that shows frequency but not reach.

6. Check the placement rules

Fixed spots give you certainty about when your ad runs. Rotators give the station flexibility within a daypart. ROS gives even more flexibility. Preemptible spots can be bumped by a higher-paying advertiser. Each option comes with a different tradeoff between certainty and access.

7. Check preemption and makegood terms

If the schedule includes preemptible or remnant inventory, the terms should spell out what happens when a spot is bumped. Is it replaced? Refunded? Applied to the next campaign? These terms should be clear before the first spot airs.

8. Check tracking and proof of airing

For direct-response campaigns, each station and platform should have a unique tracking number, landing page, or offer code. Without this separation, you cannot tell which station is producing results. For a detailed approach to station-level measurement, see how to attribute leads from radio ads to specific sources.

How to Read a Radio Advertising Schedule: Worked Example

Suppose a schedule shows:

Field	Example
Market	Dallas-Fort Worth
Station	WXXX-FM
Format	News-Talk
Flight	October 5–November 1
Daypart	Monday–Friday, AM Drive
Spot length	:60
Spots per week	35
Placement	Rotator
Reach	42%
Frequency	3.1x
Tracking	Unique phone number

Here is how to interpret it.

35 spots per week: The station is scheduled to air an average of 35 commercials each week.

Monday–Friday AM Drive: The schedule is concentrated in the morning rather than spread throughout the entire broadcast day.

Rotator: The advertiser has placement within an agreed rotation rather than a guaranteed exact air time for every spot.

42% reach: The projected schedule reaches a portion of the target audience, depending on the measurement methodology and target definition used.

3.1x frequency: The projected reached audience is expected to hear the advertising an average of about 3.1 times during the measured campaign period.

The important point is that 35 spots by itself does not tell you whether the schedule is strong or weak. You need to interpret the spot count together with the station, audience, daypart, reach, frequency, placement, and campaign objective.

Schedule Structure Terms

These terms describe how a radio advertising schedule is built.

Term	Definition	Why It Matters
Spot / Unit	One commercial airing.	More spots do not automatically mean better quality. Weight depends on where and when those spots run.
Flight	The campaign run period, defined by start and end dates.	Tells you the length and timing of your commitment.
Daypart	A time block used to sell and schedule radio advertising.	Determines the audience composition, listening context, and demand level.
AM Drive	Roughly 6 to 10 a.m. on weekdays.	High habitual listening during morning commutes and routines.
Midday	Roughly 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.	Reaches at-work listeners, errands, and daytime consumers.
PM Drive	Roughly 3 to 7 p.m.	Return commute, errands, evening planning.
Evening	Roughly 7 p.m. to midnight.	Smaller audience but can reach loyal or niche listeners.
Overnight	Late-night and early morning hours.	Real audience (shift workers, truckers), but smaller and specialized.
Rotation	How spots are distributed across days and hours within a daypart.	Affects whether the same listeners hear the ad repeatedly or different listeners hear it once.
ROS (Run of Schedule)	Spots can run across a broad window at the station’s discretion.	Gives the station flexibility, which can mean less certainty for the advertiser.
TAP (Total Audience Plan)	Spots spread across all or most dayparts.	Designed to reach more of the station’s total audience.
Fixed Position	Spot scheduled at a specific time or within a specific program.	More certainty, usually higher demand.
BTA (Best Time Available)	Station places spots in the best available slots within agreed parameters.	Useful only if the agreed window is clearly defined.
Live Read	Ad read by on-air talent rather than played from a recorded commercial.	Can carry more credibility on talk and personality-driven formats.
Traffic Instructions	Directions telling the station which creative to run, when, and in which rotation.	Prevents the wrong version of a commercial from airing.

Standard daypart definitions come from industry sources including the Discover Dade radio glossary and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s paid media guide.

Audience and Measurement Terms

These terms describe who the schedule reaches and how often.

Term	Definition	Formula or Note
AQH Persons	Average number of people listening in any 15-minute period.	The foundational audience measure for radio.
AQH Rating	AQH Persons as a percentage of the target population.	AQH Persons divided by Population.
Cume	Number of different people who tune in during a defined period.	A reach measure: how many unique listeners.
TSL (Time Spent Listening)	How long the average listener spends with the station.	Affects turnover and how many spots are needed.
Turnover	How many times the station’s audience turns over.	Cume divided by AQH Persons. Higher turnover means more spots are needed to reach the audience.
Gross Impressions	Total exposures generated by the schedule.	AQH Persons multiplied by number of spots.
GRPs (Gross Rating Points)	Total rating-point weight of the schedule.	AQH Rating multiplied by number of spots.
Reach	Different people exposed to the ad at least once.	Often modeled from ratings data, not simply added up.
Frequency	Average number of times reached listeners hear the ad.	Gross Impressions divided by Net Reach.
Net Reach	Unduplicated count of different people reached.	Same concept as reach, expressed as an absolute number.
CPP (Cost Per Point)	Cost to deliver one rating point of the target audience.	Standard efficiency metric. Defined here conceptually, not as a price indicator.
CPM (Cost Per Thousand)	Cost per thousand gross impressions.	Another efficiency metric, defined conceptually.

The Radio Advertising Bureau publishes formulas for AQH rating, gross impressions, GRPs, reach, and frequency that are standard across the industry. Cost per spot is not the same as value. The useful questions when reading a radio advertising schedule are: who is reached, how often, in what format, in what dayparts, and under what delivery terms.

Radio Advertising Schedule Formulas You Should Know

You do not need to be a media buyer to understand the basic calculations behind a radio schedule.

AQH Rating

AQH Rating = AQH Persons ÷ Target Population × 100

Gross Impressions

Gross Impressions = AQH Persons × Number of Spots

GRPs

GRPs = Rating × Number of Spots

Frequency

Frequency = Gross Impressions ÷ Net Reach

CPM

CPM = Cost ÷ Gross Impressions × 1,000

CPP

CPP = Cost ÷ Gross Rating Points

These formulas help you understand what the numbers on a schedule mean. However, the calculations should be interpreted using the same target audience, market, survey period, and measurement methodology. Two schedules should not be compared mechanically if their audience definitions or measurement periods are different.

How Much Weight Does a Radio Advertising Schedule Need?

There is no universal number of radio spots that guarantees a successful campaign. Required spot weight depends on the campaign objective, station format, audience turnover, number of stations, market size, budget, and flight length.

Industry planning frameworks can still be useful for understanding the difference between a light schedule and a heavy schedule. Treat these figures as planning reference points, not universal performance guarantees.

When reviewing a schedule, ask:

• How many spots are running on each station per week?

• How many weeks is the campaign running?

• What reach is projected?

• What frequency is projected?

• Is the schedule concentrated or spread across multiple stations?

• What is the campaign trying to accomplish?

The more stations a budget is spread across, the more carefully you should examine the resulting frequency on each station.

Schedule Level	Typical Use	Station Reach	Avg. Frequency	Weekly Spots
Very Light	General awareness or maintenance	34%	1.4x	12
Light	Maintenance	50%	2.0x	25
Medium	Promotional campaign or seasonal event	66%	3.0x	49
Heavy	Product launch, grand opening, major event	78%	4.3x	83

These numbers apply to a single station. If the schedule spreads spots across multiple stations, divide accordingly to see what each station is actually delivering.

Practitioners on LinkedIn report that one of the most common mistakes in radio buying is spreading budget across too many stations so the message does not repeat enough on any one of them. Frequency on the right station often beats a scattered buy across several.

Format changes the required weight

A 2026 Westwood One and RAB analysis confirms that the number of ads needed varies by programming format. That same analysis found most weekly radio campaigns across 99 markets were at the very light end of the spectrum, meaning many schedules that look busy on paper are actually underweighted for the advertiser’s goal.

Here is how format affects schedule reading:

Format	How Listeners Use It	Schedule Implication
News	Habitual, information-driven, time-sensitive	Fewer strong exposures may work because attention is higher.
Talk	Host and program loyalty; longer listening sessions	Endorsements and consistent daypart presence matter.
Sports Talk	Loyal, often male-skewing, program-driven	Strong for categories that fit the audience and need credibility.
Music	Background or mood-driven; station loyalty varies	More repetition is usually needed for the message to penetrate.
SiriusXM Satellite	National by nature	Better for advertisers that can serve most of the country. Not a local buy.

Frequency is set by format, not by budget alone. Working with an experienced radio advertising agency helps determine the right weight for each station and format rather than buying a flat spot count everywhere.

Reach vs. Frequency: What the Numbers Mean Together

Reach and frequency are not separate trophies. They are a tradeoff.

A schedule with high reach and weak frequency may expose many listeners to the message but not often enough for it to register. A schedule with high frequency and tiny reach may hammer the same small group while missing most potential buyers. As Research Director explains, either extreme wastes money.

The right balance depends on the objective:

• Launch or direct response: Needs concentrated repetition to drive action. Frequency matters more than broad reach.

• Maintenance: Can run lighter if the brand is already known and competition is manageable.

• Competitive category: Needs more weight because listeners are hearing other advertisers too.

• Complex offer: May need longer spot length and more repetition so the message is understood.

• Music format: Often needs more frequency than a talk, news, or sports schedule aimed at the same audience.

The RAB advises that to increase reach, add more stations and more weeks. To increase frequency, reduce the number of stations and weeks while increasing spots on the stations you keep. Read the schedule against the objective, not against a single “magic number” for frequency.

An advertiser on the BiggerPockets forum described buying radio across multiple markets and finding it underperformed during a short test. Several commenters suggested that a brief, underweighted flight can produce a false negative, because the audience never heard the ad often enough to respond. The practical lesson: if a schedule is going to test radio, the test needs enough weight to be a real test.

What Should You Look for in a Radio Advertising Schedule?

A schedule should make it possible to answer five basic questions:

Who will hear the advertising?
The station, format, market, and audience definition should identify the intended audience.

When will they hear it?
The schedule should identify the dayparts, days, and flight dates.

How often will they hear it?
Spots per week, reach, frequency, and GRPs help explain the campaign’s advertising weight.

How certain is the placement?
Fixed, rotating, ROS, BTA, and preemptible placements provide different levels of control and certainty.

How will delivery and results be verified?
The schedule should identify makegood terms, post-logs or affidavits, and tracking instructions where applicable.

If you cannot answer those five questions from the schedule and supporting documents, ask for clarification before approving the buy.

Dayparts: Why Timing Changes the Meaning of the Schedule

When you read a radio advertising schedule, the daypart column tells you more than the clock time. It tells you the listening situation.

Daypart	Typical Range	What to Check
Morning Drive	About 6 to 10 a.m.	Commuters, habitual listeners, news and weather routines.
Midday	About 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.	At-work listeners, errands, daytime consumers.
Afternoon Drive	About 3 to 7 p.m.	Return commute, errands, evening planning.
Evening	About 7 p.m. to midnight	Smaller but sometimes loyal or niche audience.
Overnight	Midnight to early morning	Shift workers, truckers, specialized audiences.
Weekends	Varies	Retail, home services, sports, events, appointment-setting.

A media-buying practitioner on LinkedIn argues that brands become background noise when they show up randomly across dayparts, and that owning a consistent slot can create a stronger perceived presence than scattering spots through the day. This applies to radio as much as television.

A full-day rotation may build broader reach, but it can also hide weak placement if you do not know how many spots run in each daypart. If the schedule says “ROS” or “TAP” without showing a daypart breakdown, ask for one.

Placement Terms: Fixed, Rotating, ROS, BTA, Preemptible, and Remnant

The placement column tells you how much certainty you are buying.

• Fixed position: Scheduled at a specific time or program. The most certainty and typically the most in demand.

• Rotator: Rotates within a defined daypart or daypart range. The station has flexibility, but within clear limits.

• ROS (Run of Schedule): Spots may run across a broad window at the station’s discretion. ROS gives flexibility, but that flexibility must be defined.

• BTA (Best Time Available): Station chooses the best available positions after other commitments are filled. Only useful if the window is clearly stated.

• Preemptible: Can be displaced by a higher-priority advertiser. Preemptible means the spot can be bumped, and this must be disclosed before booking.

• Remnant: Unsold inventory, usually offered with less control over exact placement.

For remnant radio advertising bought through Berk Marketing, remnant inventory is 100% preemptible, and that fact is disclosed before anything is booked. The advertiser pays in advance. Any preempted spot is either refunded or retained and applied to the next campaign. The practical exposure is uncertainty about when spots run, not financial loss. Sometimes the full schedule clears; sometimes a few spots are bumped; occasionally a station cannot clear at all and the campaign is postponed or moved.

Break position: a term most glossaries skip

A user on the RadioDiscussions forum complained about being buried deep inside long commercial sets. Most schedules do not show break position (whether the ad runs first, middle, or last in a commercial break), and exact position is rarely guaranteed unless specifically negotiated. It is worth asking about, especially in formats with longer stop sets.

Verification: How to Know What Actually Aired

A schedule is a plan. Verification is what proves the plan was followed.

• Affidavit / Post-Log: A station document showing when each spot actually aired. This is the proof of delivery. If the schedule does not mention affidavit requirements, add them before launch.

• Makegood: A replacement spot for one that was missed, mis-scheduled, or ran outside the agreed terms. Makegood terms should be clear before the campaign runs, not discovered after a spot is missed.

• Post-Buy: An after-the-fact analysis comparing actual delivery against the ordered schedule. Used to determine whether the advertiser received what was purchased.

One advertiser on Reddit described a radio ad that aired weeks later than the agreed date and asked whether they still had to pay. Commenters advised requesting a makegood and getting all terms in writing before launch. That example is not unusual. It is exactly why the verification section of the schedule matters.

Compare actual air times to the ordered dayparts. Were any spots missed? Were any moved to a different daypart? Were any preempted without notice? The affidavit should answer all of those questions.

Direct-Response Tracking

Advertisers on Reddit consistently express anxiety about whether radio can be tracked. One small-business thread includes advice to use a station-specific offer or simply ask customers how they heard about the business, while another commenter argued that conventional media needs deliberate tracking methods built in from the start. That second view is closer to the truth.

For direct-response campaigns, the stronger standard is:

• Unique tracking number per station and per platform. Terrestrial AM/FM, satellite, streaming, and television response should be counted separately, not pooled into one number.

• Unique landing pages or offer codes where feasible, so online response can be separated by source.

• Call spike analysis matched to air times, identifying which dayparts and stations produce calls.

• Tracking agreed before launch, not after. If the schedule does not include tracking instructions, add them.

An automotive shop owner on the AutoShopOwner forum made a related point: response depends heavily on having a real offer, not just airtime. The schedule can be well-built and the media well-placed, but if the offer gives listeners no reason to act, the phone will not ring.

Red Flags When Reading a Radio Advertising Schedule

These warning signs should trigger questions before you approve the schedule:

1. Total spots are shown, but spots per station per week are not. Total spot count can mask thin frequency on individual stations.

2. Reach is listed but frequency is not. Reach alone does not tell you whether listeners heard the message enough times.

3. Frequency is listed but reach is not. High repetition against too few people wastes weight and can annoy a narrow audience.

4. ROS is listed without a daypart range. You need to know the actual window, not just “whenever.”

5. “Bonus” or “value added” spots are treated as equal weight. A bonus spot is not automatically as valuable as a planned spot in the right daypart.

6. Preemptible inventory is not clearly disclosed. If the spot can be bumped, you should know that before booking.

7. No makegood policy is stated. Missed or incorrectly scheduled spots need a defined remedy.

8. No affidavit or post-log is mentioned. Without proof of airing, you are trusting without verifying.

9. All formats are treated the same. News, talk, sports, and music require different frequency thinking. A flat spot count across formats ignores how each audience listens.

10. The schedule spreads too thin across too many stations. Many stations with low spot counts per station almost always means weak frequency. One LinkedIn practitioner put it plainly: frequency on the right station beats a scattered buy across several.

11. A SiriusXM schedule is presented as a local buy. SiriusXM is national by definition. It works for advertisers who can serve most of the country, not for local or regional campaigns.

12. No tracking plan is built before launch. Without station-specific tracking numbers or offer codes, you cannot measure results by source.

Before You Talk to Stations

Here is a practical point that most guides skip entirely. If a station or network sales representative has already contacted you and quoted a rate, an independent buyer may not be able to represent you on that account. The station considers it theirs.

That means the time to talk with an independent buyer is before you approach stations, not after. An independent buyer holds no inventory and has no station to push. Compensation is the standard media commission built into the buy, so there is no additional cost to the advertiser.

Berk Marketing is principal-led. Peter Berk has worked in radio since 1978 and has been independent since 1999. He is the client’s point person, not a junior buyer. Work is not handed off after the contract is signed.

A free competitive monitoring report, provided through strategic partner Hybrid Media Services, shows which stations and channels your competitors are running on and how heavily. In many cases nothing shows up at all, and that finding is useful in itself. It either signals open opportunity or a reason to test carefully.

Request a Free Competitive Report. No cost, no obligation. Or call (866) 747-4707 and speak with Peter Berk directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most important thing to check on a radio advertising schedule?

Audience fit. Before looking at spot count, confirm that the station format, daypart mix, and geographic coverage match the people you need to reach. A well-weighted schedule on the wrong station produces nothing.

How many spots per week do I need on a single station?

It depends on the campaign goal and the station format. The RAB publishes tiers ranging from 12 spots per week for very light maintenance to 83 for a heavy launch. News and talk formats may need fewer spots than music formats because listener engagement is higher and audience turnover is lower.

What does “preemptible” mean on a radio schedule?

It means the spot can be displaced by a higher-priority advertiser. If you are buying preemptible or remnant inventory, the terms should specify what happens when a spot is bumped: refund, credit, or makegood.

How do I know whether my radio spots actually aired?

Request an affidavit or post-log from the station. This document shows the exact times each spot ran. Compare it against the ordered schedule to verify delivery.

Can I track results from radio advertising?

Yes, but it requires deliberate setup. Use unique tracking phone numbers, landing pages, or offer codes for each station and platform. Do not pool terrestrial, satellite, and streaming response into one number, or you will not know which source is working.

What is the difference between ROS and a fixed spot?

A fixed spot runs at a specific time or in a specific program. ROS gives the station flexibility to place the spot across a broader window. ROS can work well if the daypart range is defined clearly, but vague ROS without boundaries gives the advertiser little control.

Why does the station format matter when reading a radio schedule?

Because format determines how listeners use the station. News and talk listeners tend to be attentive and engaged with the content. Music listeners often have the station on in the background. The same spot count can deliver enough frequency on one format and fall short on another. Frequency is set by format, not by budget alone.

Should I talk to stations before working with an independent media buyer?

No. If a station representative has already quoted you directly, an independent buyer may not be able to represent you on that account. Talk to an independent buyer before approaching stations to get the most value from the relationship.