Radio Advertising Proposal Review

Send us the radio proposal you have been given. Peter Berk or a member of his team will read it and tell you what it actually contains, what it leaves out, and whether the price and structure are defensible. There is no charge and no obligation to place the buy through Berk Marketing.

Berk Marketing represents advertisers, not radio stations or media companies.

Why a proposal needs reading twice

A radio proposal is a sales document. That is not a criticism — it is what it is for. It is written by someone whose job is to fill their employer’s inventory, and it is designed to look reasonable to someone who does not buy radio every week.

The problem is that the things which decide whether a schedule works are mostly not the things a proposal leads with. It leads with spot counts, a total, and an audience figure. It rarely says which audience figure, or where in the break your commercial falls, or what happens if a higher-paying advertiser wants your slot.

None of that is hidden. It is simply not volunteered, because nobody asked.

What the review covers

Every proposal gets read against the same ten points. It is the same scorecard used on any buy Berk Marketing places itself.

1. Audience match. Does the station’s composition resemble your actual customer, or simply a large population?
2. Effective frequency. Does the weekly weight give the same listener enough exposures to act, or does it reach many people once?
3. Daypart distribution. Where the spots actually fall, and how much sits in hours that are inexpensive because demand is low.
4. Placement terms. Position within the commercial break, and whether it is specified at all or left to the station.
5. Preemption exposure. Whether the schedule can be displaced, and what you get if it is.
6. Rate defensibility. How the price sits against what comparable inventory transacts at.
7. Added value. What the extras are genuinely worth, priced honestly rather than counted as a discount.
8. Flight structure. Continuity versus burst, and whether it matches how your offer actually behaves.
9. Terms and exits. Cancellation rights, notice periods, makegood policy, payment terms.
10. Measurability. Whether the schedule is built so response can be attributed at all.

You get a plain answer on each, plus the questions worth putting back to the seller.

What reviews most often turn up

These are the recurring findings. Not every proposal has them, but most have at least one.

The audience figure is cume, presented as if it were reach per spot. Cume counts everyone who tuned in at least once over a period. It is a much larger number than the audience actually present for any given commercial, and it is the figure sellers lead with because it flatters the station.

The schedule is spread too thin to build frequency. Usually because the budget was divided across more stations or more markets than it can support. The proposal looks broad. In practice no single listener hears the message often enough for it to register.

A meaningful share of the spots sit in low-demand hours. Evenings, overnights and weekend fringe are inexpensive for a reason. A schedule weighted that way looks efficient on cost per spot and underperforms a smaller, better-placed one.

Preemption is not addressed. If the inventory can be displaced by a higher-paying advertiser and the proposal is silent on makegoods, you are buying an intention rather than a schedule.

Added value is doing the work of a discount. Promotional mentions, contest tie-ins and digital extras are frequently introduced precisely to avoid moving on rate. Some of it is worth real money. Much of it is not, and it should be priced rather than counted.

There is no measurement built in. No unique number, no dedicated landing page, no way to tell afterwards whether it worked. This is the most common omission of all, and the one that turns a disappointing campaign into an unexplainable one.

What to send

The proposal itself is enough to start. If you have the rest, the review gets sharper.

• The proposal or schedule as the station or agency sent it — PDF, Word or Excel.
• Which markets matter to you, and where you can actually serve customers.
• What the campaign is meant to achieve, in terms you can count.
• Anything you have run before, especially anything that disappointed you.

If you would rather not send the document, a conversation still works. Most of the important questions can be answered from a description of what you have been offered.

What you get back

A written response covering what the proposal contains, what it omits, where the price sits, and what to ask the seller before you sign. Where something is genuinely good, it says so — a review that finds fault with everything is not a review, it is a pitch.

If the proposal is sound, the honest answer is that you should take it. That happens, and you will be told.

Why there is no charge

Worth being direct about, because a free service invites the question.

Reading a proposal takes an experienced buyer under an hour. Berk Marketing does it without charge because advertisers who discover their proposal was weak frequently want help buying the next one — and advertisers whose proposal was sound remember who told them so. Neither outcome requires anything from you.

There is no obligation to place the buy through Berk Marketing, no follow-up sequence, and no requirement to explain yourself if you go ahead with the original proposal anyway.

When a review will not help you much

Three situations where it is not worth your time.

You have already signed. Once the order is placed the terms are the terms. A review can still tell you what to watch and what to do differently next time, but it cannot change what you bought.

It is a very small single-station local buy. If the schedule is modest, in one market, on the obvious station for your audience, there may be little to find. Send it anyway if you are unsure — but do not expect a revelation.

You want someone to tell you it is fine. If the decision is already made and the review is for reassurance, you may not enjoy the answer. It will be honest either way.

Frequently asked questions

Is this really free?

Yes. No charge, and no obligation to place the buy through Berk Marketing.

How long does it take?

Usually a day or two, depending on how many stations and markets are involved. If you are against a deadline, say so and it gets prioritised.

Will you contact the station?

Not unless you ask. The review is between you and Berk Marketing.

Is my proposal kept confidential?

Yes. Files sent through the form on this page are delivered as an email attachment and are not stored on this website. Proposals are not shared with stations, networks or anyone else.

Can you review a SiriusXM or network proposal?

Yes, and those are among the most useful to review, because they frequently bundle several distinct products behind a single headline figure. See SiriusXM advertising and national radio advertising.

What if the proposal turns out to be good?

You will be told that plainly, and you should take it. A review that never approves anything is a sales tactic, not an assessment.

Do you review proposals from other agencies as well as stations?

Yes. The same ten points apply either way.

What happens if I want help buying instead?

Then the conversation moves on to what the campaign should actually look like. See radio media buying and how independent buying works, or read about Peter Berk.