List of broadcasting terms
Encyclopedia
With every new technology a number of terms and slang words develop to assist in the rapid communication of ideas between the users of the technology.
Below is a glossary of terms used in broadcasting
.
. In the UK, ABC Weekend TV
, a former ITV
broadcaster. In the US, American Broadcasting Company
, a television and radio network originally created out of NBC.
A/D: Analog
-to-digital
conversion.
Absolute Event: A scheduled event whose start time is determined with an assigned time based upon the facility master clock.
Access Time: The total time required to find, retrieve and commence using information, also known as Lead Time.
Actives: Listeners who contact the radio show regarding requests, contests or other interaction.
ADC - Analog-to-digital converter
: A device to convert analog signals to digital.
Aircheck
: The recorded copy of a broadcast. This can be a digital or analog recording.
Analog recording
: Recording of audio using an electronic signal that varies continuously. The main drawback of analog recording is the introduction of inherent noise to the recorded signal.
Analog Transmission
: The broadcasting
of a signal using an analog recording. Examples of use include radio
.
Arbitron
: The company that provides the Industry accepted standard for audience measurement.
Archive
: An archive is a term for storage and can refer to the following:
Artifacts: Noticeable loss of video and/or audio fidelity in a broadcast or recording caused by limitations in the technology used. Usually reflects undesirable distortion(s) of the original when digitized.
ASI - Asynchronous serial interface
: A streaming data format which often carries an MPEG Transport Stream (MPEG-TS).
Aspect ratio
: The ratio between the width and the height of the picture. In 'traditional' television sets, this is 4:3; in widescreen sets, 16:9. Sometimes printed decimally as 1.33:1 for 4:3 and 1.78:1 for 16:9.
Aston: A synonym for lower thirds, the graphics on the bottom part of a television screen. An on-screen overlaid graphic, usually giving the name of the speaker, reporter or place in vision. Name derived from Aston Broadcast Systems
Ltd., an early manufacturer of character generator
(CG) equipment.
ATR - Audio Tape recorder
: A method of recording sound by electromagnetic pulses on a sensitised plastic strip
.
ATSC
- Advanced Television Systems Committee: A committee established by the FCC to decide the technical standards for digital broadcasting in the US.
AQH - Average Quarter Hour:The term used in audience measurement
by Arbitron
. It is defined as the number of persons listening to a particular station for at least five minutes during a quarter hour. Typical audience measurements may be in the order of ten thousand for the larger shows. (eg Jerry Springer scored 1,600 in the 12+ age group in the spring 2005 figures. Rush Limbaugh scored 16,400 in the same report)
Backtiming: Where the DJ calculates the intro time on the song in an attempt to talk over the intro of the song and finish just prior to the vocals commencing. Frequently referred to as 'Hitting the Post' or 'Talking Up the Song'
Bandwidth:The available space between two given points on the electromagnetic spectrum and, inter alia, the amount of information that can be squeezed into that space.
BBC
- British Broadcasting Corporation: The main public service broadcaster in the United Kingdom, founded as the British Broadcasting Company in 1922.
Bed: A production element, usually instrumental music or sound effect played in the background of a spoken commercial, promo or other announcement.
Bel: A measure of voltage
, current
or power
gain. One Bel is defined as a tenfold increase in power. If an amplifier increases a signal's power by a factor of 10, its power gain is 1 Bel or 10 decibel
s (dB). If power is increased by 100 times, the power gain is 2 Bels or 20 decibels. 3dB is considered doubling.
Bias: A constant amplitude high frequency signal added to the recording signal to improve the signal to noise ratio and reduce the distortion
of an analog tape recording.
Billboard: A short announcement to identify a sponsor at the beginning or end of a production element such as the news or traffic/weather reports.
BTA: Black To Air
Book: A slang term for the Arbitron rating period.
Breakbumper: An animation or logotype briefly shown after the end of a programme or part of a programme before the advertising. See also "optical".
Breakfiller: An animation shown during the middle of a commercial break to provide relevant graphic information accompanied by backing music, usually only taking up no more than two minutes. On news channels, breakfiller content usually includes news excerpts, weather, stock market indices, current time(s) and/or schedules.
Breaking news
: Term used for interruptions of regular or planned programming for recently-occurring events as reported by a news organization or agency.
Bug: Slang term for a DOG (Digital on-screen graphic
) permanent on screen logo.
Bumper or Bumper Music: A pre-recorded production element containing voice-over
music that acts as a transition to or from a stop set and other content.
Cans: Slang term for headphones
.
CBS: Columbia Broadcasting System, an American television and radio network.
CCIR - Comité consultatif international pour la radio: In English, "International Radio Consultative Committee", the organisation responsible for assigning frequencies to radio stations between 1927 and 1992. Now known as ITU-R
.
Closed Captioning
:Text version of a programme's dialogue, overlayed on the screen by an equipped television set for the hearing impaired.
Clutter
: An excessive number of non-programme elements (such as commercials) appearing one after another.
Copy
:The written material used in producing a PSA, promo, or commercial that is meant to be read out by the DJ or presenter
.
Countdown
: A bumper which counts down to the beginning of the following broadcast. Also used for the debut of a new channel.
Crash:When an announcement, jingle or graphic overlaps with a fixed point in the schedule (eg the news or a time signal), usually due to poor timing.
Crossfade: The technique where a DJ, producer or engineer fades out the out going track at the same time as fading in the new track.
Coverage: percentage of households that can tune into a radio station within the theoretical broadcast radius.
Cueing: Whilst the previous record was playing the DJ would attempt to find the beginning of the song on the next record. The DJ would place the needle down in approximately the right area then move the record back and forth Cueing on the turntable until the beginning of the song was found. When the previous song completed playing the DJ would introduce the next song and turn the record deck on and the record would quickly whirl up to speed with a characteristic distortion. This was later minimised by the use of a slip mat.
Cue Burn: Cue burn relates to the days of vinyl records (33rpm , 45rpm). Whilst the previous record was playing the DJ would attempt to find the beginning of the song on the next record. The DJ would place the needle down in approximately the right area then move the record back and forth Cueing on the turntable until the beginning of the song was found. This cueing back and forth would rub the vinyl and damage the records creating a characteristic noise.
Cue dot:A small square inserted in the corner of the picture to inform rebroadcasters that an advertisement break is about to happen. In the UK, this appeared exactly one minute before the break and disappeared 55 seconds later.
Cue Channel: In the early days of networks a dedicated multi-drop phone line connected all affiliated station engineers to the network Master Control. The system was backed up with teletype too.
Cue Track: A recorded audio track containing information about upcoming events that the operating engineer should be aware of. It was first used by Edison on his first talking pictures using records for the sound playback. He used the information to synchronize picture and sound. On early soundtrack records the introduction of a "beep tone" was used to tell the projectionist to turn on and off the auditorium speakers so the audience would not hear the projectionist's cue information. Cue tracks were adopted in the early days of Kinascope to cue the film chain engineer and later used in early Ampex Quad Tape systems and is still used today either as voice or digitally for station automation systems. In the early days of bicycled programs cue tracks along with a printed time line was used to inform the engineer of brakes or jam (insert) spots in the tape including a 5 count to the brake in and out locations. Because the program tape or film never stopped. Often the original recording engineer would add comments of his own regarding the program, sometimes humors. When smaller networks that supported independent stations programs, were assembled and the mew track often had the original engineer's voice and the assembling engineer's voice and humor too.
Cume
:Short for cumulative audience. A similar term of measurement to a newspaper or magazines' circulation figures.
: The use of digital encoding to send higher quality or a greater number of radio services to equipped receivers.
DAC - Digital-to-analog converter
: Equipment that changes digital signals into pictures or sound.
Dayparting
: The radio station's broadcast programming day is normally split up (starting at 6am) into a series of 4 hour sessions containing one or more shows.
DB or Decibel
: One tenth of a bel. See also Bel.
DBS - Direct-broadcast satellite: Television and radio programmes distributed by satellite
for reception via a dish
at the receiver's property.
Dead air
: The time on-air where there is no audible transmission. This silence can be down to any of the following:
DJ - Disc Jockey
: A radio presenter who links records.
DOG - Digital on-screen graphic
: A station logo, BUG or slogan permanently displayed on screen during a programme. Controversial due to "screenburn" issues.
Dolby Digital
: Also Dolby D. The standard for 5.1 channel (surround sound) audio. Six discrete channels are used (Left, Center, Right, Left Rear Surround, Right Rear Surround, and Subwoofer
).
Double pumping:Putting out two episode
s of a show back-to-back, either to boost ratings in a given slot or to burn off episodes of a cancelled show.
Drive time
: Drive time refers to the period of time where the majority of radio listeners travel to work. This is traditionally 6-10am and 2-6pm and is normally accompanied by the stations highest listenership. Commercials are normally more expensive during such times.
Drop The Light:Drop the Light is very common industry-wide term meaning 'Lower the Light Levels'. This is often yelled while shooting when the director wants to continue shooting the action of the scene after the light levels are lowered. It has nothing to do with any physical dropping of a lighting fixture during the scene.
Drops: These are excerpts of TV, movies and other audio programmes that are used to accentuate programming.
Drop Song: Temporary unselecting a playlist song to better accommodate an accurate clock hour.(Or in English: a song scheduled but not played for timing reasons.)
DSNG - Digital Satellite news gathering:Use of digital satellite transmission from remote broadcast
locations for the purpose of live television
news event coverage.
Dustbin Dave: The accidental deletion of all media from all video server
locations within a transmission environment, resulting in a service to go to black to air (BTA).
DTH - Direct To Home: Television and radio programmes distributed by satellite for reception via a dish at the receiver's property.
DVB - Digital Video Broadcasting: The MPEG-2 based standard of digital transmission and reception. Comes in variants according to the type of broadcast, eg DVB-T
for terrestrial.
:The scrambling of a signal to allow reception via a decoder only be specific viewers, eg after the payment of a fee.
: A loud noise produced when the amplified sound from an output ( loudspeaker
) is picked up by an input ( microphone
, phonograph
) feeding that loudspeaker
. This can be potentially damaging to both the speaker(s) in question, as well as the hearing of the subjected listener. This phenomenon is usually the result of poor engineering, but more likely due to the lack of understanding (or drunkenness, or both) by an announcer or performer as he walks in front of a live PA speaker. This may also occur when an input is directly patched into an output of the same device, usually due to operator error.
In radio broadcasting, feedback may occur when a DJ increases his or her headphone volume to a high enough level that the microphone is able to pick up the sound coming from the headphones, usually when the DJ's head is turned to one side or another.
FCC - Federal Communications Commission
:The regulator of broadcasting in the United States.
Format Clock: A format clock is a diagram produced by a programme director or a producer to illustrate where each programming element appears in a typical hour.
FPS - Frames per second:The number of times
the television is refreshed in a second of time. As a rule of thumb, this is the same as the local Alternating Current electricity supply - 60 Hz or 50 Hz.
Front sell: The act of introducing a song about to be played.
GHz - Gigahertz: Thousand million cycles per second. The measurement for satellite frequencies.
HDTV - High Definition Television
: In modern terms, broadcasting using a line standard of greater than 1000. Prior to World War II, "high definition" was used to mean a line standard greater than 240 lines.
Hit The Post: Where a DJ continues to talk right up to the point where the vocals commence.
Image Liner:
A short audio clip played frequently on a radio station between songs and ads to identify the station that is being aired. I.E the stations call letters or positioning statement.
ITU - International Telecommunication Union
: Originally the International Telegraph Union, the ITU is the international organization established in 1865 to standardize and regulate international radio and telecommunications.
iTV - interactive television: Systems that allow viewers to interact (eg play games, shop for related items or find further information) either two-way, via a telephone line, or one-way, via MHEG graphics.
ITV
- Independent Television: The UK's first commercial television network.
:A produced programming element usually in the form of vocals to accompanying music often produced in-house to identify the show, DJ or the station.
Letterbox
:The appearance of black bars at the top and bottom of a picture when 16:9 or 14:9 widescreen material is shown on 4:3 sets. See also pillar box and postage stamp.
Liner:A piece of written text that the DJ says over the intro of a song or between spots and songs. Liners are designed to invoke the imagination.
Line standard:The number of lines broadcast to make up a television picture. Generally, 525 in NTSC areas and 625 elsewhere.
Live: Any programming which is broadcast immediately as it is being delivered (a live report); performed (a live concert or show); or captured (live news or sports coverage). Requires an unbroken communications chain without any intervening recording or storage technology. Considered the most exciting form of broadcasting, delivered “as it happens”.
Live-on-tape: A pre-recorded program produced in real time, usually with a studio audience, for later broadcast. Requires precisely timed pauses for insertion of station breaks and commercials at time of broadcast. Typically employed for network broadcast across multiple time zones. Also applies to live broadcasting which is simultaneously recorded for rebroadcast at a later time or date.
Log:A written record of broadcasting. There are typically three logs:
Lower third: Portion of screen of regular broadcast reserved for textual and static visual content; i.e., news ticker
, time, title of segment, title of programme, channel bug
, etc. Upper third has sometimes been used alongside lower third, as in the case of MSNBC
since 2010.
:A trademarked system designed to prevent unauthorised copying of video material.
MHz: Million cycles per second. The bandwidth area for FM broadcasts and television.
Miscue:A mistake by the DJ or production engineer resulting in two audio elements being played at the same time, eg an interview and the next song.
NBC - National Broadcasting Company
: A television network in the United States. Formerly also a radio network.
Network
: A system which distributes programming to multiple stations simultaneously, or slightly delayed, for the purpose of extending total broadcast coverage beyond the limits of a single radio or television signal.
NEMO: (Not Emanating Master Operations) An early term used in remote broadcast operations. It was often used when the DJ/announcer operated his/her own mixer board that directly fed, via the station's master control, without a dedicated licensed broadcast engineer continuously monitoring the incoming remote signal, directly to the transmitter. The on-air talent/engineer needed an FCC third class broadcast license to operate the NEMO remote system.
News ticker
or news crawl: scrolling ticker at the bottom of the display of television content. It is usually reserved for text headlines or numeric statistics (or both) depending upon the focus of the channel.
Nielsen ratings
: Survey of US viewers by the AC Nielsen Company to establish the audiences for individual programmes and their demographics.
NTSC
- National Television Standards Committee: An American committiee formed to set the line standard and later color standard for broadcasting. Gave its name to the method of color reproduction used in the Americas (except Brazil) and in Japan.
- Office of Communications:The regulator of broadcasting in the United Kingdom.
Optical:Generically, any on-screen graphic. Specifically, a graphic inserted between a programme and an advertisement or between individual advertisements.
OOV - Out Of Vision: A stage instruction noting that a character is not seen when speaking. Also, in continuity announcing, the practice of speaking over a caption rather than appearing on screen.
OB: onsite broadcasting vans used to give signals directly to satellite from remote locations
- Phase Alternating Line: Television broadcast system used in Europe and Australia & New Zealand, also parts of Asia, Africa and South America.
PASB - Programme As Broadcast: A BBC term for a (supposedly contemporaneous) log of a channel's output - also a video (or film) recording of an individual live programme.
Pay-per-view
: Reception of a scrambled film or sporting event after the payment of a one-off fee for that broadcast.
PGF - Pink and Green Flashing: The erroneous effect of pink and green flashing on a video signal usually caused by a disturbance to the SDI input/output of broadcast equipment.
PIF - Public Information Film
: A government-produced commercial, usually shown for free, giving safety information or advice.
Pillarbox
:The appearance of blank bars on either side of the picture when 4:3 material is shown on a 16:9 widescreen television set.
Pilot:A one-off episode of a proposed series, usually in extended form, to gauge audience reaction. If successful, the rest of the series is made and the pilot becomes the first episode.
Pips: Slang term for the time signal
broadcast by some radio stations at the top of the hour.
Pink Event: A term used to describe a close up shot of an individual's genitalia.
Playlist
:The official songs that a radio station will play during a given week. The playlist is not usually chosen by the DJ.
Positioning statement: A radio station's mission statement or vision statement. A one to two sentence statement that conveys what you do for whom, to uniquely solve an urgent need. These are usually aired during Image Liners.
Postage stamp:The appearance of a black border all around the picture, usually in error, when 4:3 material is converted to 16:9 and then back to 4:3 before broadcast.
Pot - Potentiometer
: A round knob control for increasing or decreasing the volume on a channel.
Production Element:A Production Element is a piece of audio that is used in the final audio mix. This may include commercials, music, sound effect
s, audio effects (eg echo) station id or program signatures or announcements.
Producer:The person who performs or manages the day to day business operations of a station. Also the person responsible for an individual program - a radio producer
or a television producer
.
Promo
:An announcement (either recorded or live) used to promote the station's image or other event.
PSA - Public Service Announcement
:A PSA is intended to change the public interest
, by raising awareness of an issue, affecting public attitudes, and potentially stimulating action.
: Sound reproduction utilising four speakers. Now superseded by Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound.
Ramp : An intro to a piece of music.
: British term for the broadcast of the same programme from multiple transmitters.
Screenburn:Where a permanent mark is burnt into the mask of the TV screen due to prolonged display. Common with sets tuned to one channel for promotional purposes or on ordinary sets from DOGs inserted by broadcasters. Also known as Phosphor burn-in
.
Sirius Satellite Radio
:American satellite radio platform.
Slipmat
:A slipmat was a mat that was placed on a record deck between the deck and the record. Normally made by the DJ, it was cut significantly oversized when compared to a vinyl record. The DJ would cue the record to the beginning of a song and then holding onto the mat would turn the turntable on whilst the record stayed at the beginning of the song. The DK could then introduce the record and then release the mat onto the already spinning deck thus reducing the spin up speed to 33 or 45 rpm. The effect was to reduce the whirl effect produced by the turning on of the turntable.
SOT
- Sound on Tape
: (Television News) Any video with recorded quote, music or sound intended to be aired without voiced commentary.
Soundbite
:A small portion (usually one or two sentences) of an audio recording (often an interview) used to illustrate a news story in the words of the interviewee (c.f. a quotation
from a politician
). See also SOT.
Sponsorship:In the United States, the practice of a company funding the making of a program in order to entertain an audience and sell a product. In the UK, an advertisement inserted between the end-of-part caption and the breakbumper.
Spot:A radio
, television commercial or underwriting spot
Spot advertising: A commercial or commercials run in the middle of or between programmes, sold separately from the programme (as opposed to sponsors' messages).
Stop set:The place where commercials are played during a typical broadcast hour. There may be several scattered throughout a typical 60 minute period. Stop set length can vary much between local stations and even network programming.
Subtitle
s:Text version of a programme's dialogue, overlayed on the screen either at broadcast or at reception (often via Teletext or Closed Captioning) for the hearing impaired
or for when a speaker is unclear or speaking in a foreign language.
Sweeps:A period, usually in February, May, July and November, where the ACNielsen
Company undertakes audience measurement
to record the Nielsen ratings
of all shows in all markets with all demographics. This allows networks and local stations to spot surprise hits and unexpected failures. It is also a time when a successful network will try pilot episodes of new shows, whilst a failing network will often put existing successful programs in place of poorly performing shows to boost average ratings.
Teaser or Cold open
:A part of a program played before the title sequence, usually featuring a cliffhanger or prefiguring the plot of the episode to follow.
Teletext
:Electronic information inserted into the unused parts of a television signal and decodable by an equipped television set.
Television
:The transmission of pictures and sound by radio frequency or cable for public reception.
Tiling
:The appearance of large non-congruent blocks on a video display when a digitally generated broadcast (i.e., image) was received by the monitor in an incomplete form. Tiling also occurs when the video signal has degraded or been partially interrupted as it was received by the monitor.
Transponder
:A physical part of a satellite that broadcasts the signal. In colloquial use, the satellite equivalent of the "channel" a television station is broadcast on (eg "broadcasting from Transponder 2C of the satellite").
: Frequencies between 300 MHz (wavelength 1 meter) and 3.0 GHz (wavelength 10 centimetres), used for television broadcasting.
:The blank area out of sight at the top and bottom of a television picture that allows the raster gun to reset. The space created is often used for Teletext and other services.
VHF - Very High Frequency
: Frequencies from 30 MHz (wavelength 10 m) to 300 MHz (wavelength 1 m), used for radio and television broadcasting.
VJ - Video Jockey: A term invented by MTV as the television version of a Disc Jockey.
VO - Voice Over: Recorded voice announcer played as off-screen narration in drama or advertising.
VO - Video Only: (Television News) Video without commentary intended to to be aired along with a news correspondent reading the news story.
VTR - Video Tape Recorder
: A method of recording television pictures by electromagnetic pulses on a sensitised plastic strip.
- World Administrative Radio Conference: The regular meetings of the CCIR (now ITU-R
) to allocate radio frequency spectrum
.
Wendy : A large carpeted wedge used to display items for shooting.
Watermark
: A common practice of displaying a company's logo during a television broadcast, typically a translucent image in the right hand bottom corner. (See also Bug and DOG)
in many color models used for television broadcast, such as YIQ
and YUV
.
to their idents
.
Below is a glossary of terms used in broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
.
A
ABC: In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting CorporationAustralian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
. In the UK, ABC Weekend TV
Associated British Corporation
Associated British Corporation was one of a number of commercial television companies established in the United Kingdom during the 1950s by cinema chain companies in an attempt to safeguard their business by becoming involved with television which was taking away their cinema audiences.In this...
, a former ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
broadcaster. In the US, American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, a television and radio network originally created out of NBC.
A/D: Analog
Analog signal
An analog or analogue signal is any continuous signal for which the time varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity, i.e., analogous to another time varying signal. It differs from a digital signal in terms of small fluctuations in the signal which are...
-to-digital
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
conversion.
Absolute Event: A scheduled event whose start time is determined with an assigned time based upon the facility master clock.
Access Time: The total time required to find, retrieve and commence using information, also known as Lead Time.
Actives: Listeners who contact the radio show regarding requests, contests or other interaction.
ADC - Analog-to-digital converter
Analog-to-digital converter
An analog-to-digital converter is a device that converts a continuous quantity to a discrete time digital representation. An ADC may also provide an isolated measurement...
: A device to convert analog signals to digital.
Aircheck
Aircheck
In the radio industry, an aircheck is generally a demonstration recording, often intended to show off the talent of an announcer or programmer to a prospective employer, but mainly intended for legal archiving purposes...
: The recorded copy of a broadcast. This can be a digital or analog recording.
Analog recording
Analog recording
Analog recording is a technique used for the recording of analog signals which among many possibilities include audio frequency, analog audio and analog video information for later playback.Analog recording methods store signals as a continual wave in or on the media...
: Recording of audio using an electronic signal that varies continuously. The main drawback of analog recording is the introduction of inherent noise to the recorded signal.
Analog Transmission
Analog transmission
Analog transmission is a transmission method of conveying voice, data, image, signal or video information using a continuous signal which varies in amplitude, phase, or some other property in proportion to that of a variable...
: The broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
of a signal using an analog recording. Examples of use include radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
.
Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
: The company that provides the Industry accepted standard for audience measurement.
Archive
Archive
An archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of an organization...
: An archive is a term for storage and can refer to the following:
- * Storage of master materialMaster recordingA multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...
under controlled conditions - * Long term storage of material on an offline storage medium.
- * Archive Copy is a master copy intended solely for storage and not to be used in distribution.
Artifacts: Noticeable loss of video and/or audio fidelity in a broadcast or recording caused by limitations in the technology used. Usually reflects undesirable distortion(s) of the original when digitized.
ASI - Asynchronous serial interface
Asynchronous serial interface
Asynchronous Serial Interface, or ASI, is a streaming data format which often carries an MPEG Transport Stream .An ASI signal can carry one or multiple SD, HD or audio programs that are already compressed, not like an uncompressed SD-SDI or HD-SDI . An ASI signal can be at varying transmission...
: A streaming data format which often carries an MPEG Transport Stream (MPEG-TS).
Aspect ratio
Aspect ratio (image)
The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of the width of the image to its height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon. That is, for an x:y aspect ratio, no matter how big or small the image is, if the width is divided into x units of equal length and the height is measured using this...
: The ratio between the width and the height of the picture. In 'traditional' television sets, this is 4:3; in widescreen sets, 16:9. Sometimes printed decimally as 1.33:1 for 4:3 and 1.78:1 for 16:9.
Aston: A synonym for lower thirds, the graphics on the bottom part of a television screen. An on-screen overlaid graphic, usually giving the name of the speaker, reporter or place in vision. Name derived from Aston Broadcast Systems
Aston Broadcast Systems
- History :Following 15 years of employment with EMI Electronics, Sales Engineer Dennis Jones started up a company called D. N. Jones Electronics Ltd., selling electronic equipment. An ex-colleague then introduced him to a two-man firm in Aston, Birmingham, UK that manufactured digital Sync Pulse...
Ltd., an early manufacturer of character generator
Character generator
A character generator, often abbreviated as CG, is a device or software that produces static or animated text for keying into a video stream. Modern character generators are computer-based, and can generate graphics as well as text...
(CG) equipment.
ATR - Audio Tape recorder
Tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...
: A method of recording sound by electromagnetic pulses on a sensitised plastic strip
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
.
ATSC
Advanced Television Systems Committee
The Advanced Television Systems Committee is the group, established in 1982, that developed the eponymous ATSC Standards for digital television in the United States, also adopted by Canada, Mexico, South Korea, and recently Honduras and is being considered by other countries.-See also:*ATSC...
- Advanced Television Systems Committee: A committee established by the FCC to decide the technical standards for digital broadcasting in the US.
AQH - Average Quarter Hour:The term used in audience measurement
Audience measurement
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites...
by Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
. It is defined as the number of persons listening to a particular station for at least five minutes during a quarter hour. Typical audience measurements may be in the order of ten thousand for the larger shows. (eg Jerry Springer scored 1,600 in the 12+ age group in the spring 2005 figures. Rush Limbaugh scored 16,400 in the same report)
B
Backsell: The technique where the DJ announces the song title and/or artist of the song that has just played. Also known as "back announcing".Backtiming: Where the DJ calculates the intro time on the song in an attempt to talk over the intro of the song and finish just prior to the vocals commencing. Frequently referred to as 'Hitting the Post' or 'Talking Up the Song'
Bandwidth:The available space between two given points on the electromagnetic spectrum and, inter alia, the amount of information that can be squeezed into that space.
BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
- British Broadcasting Corporation: The main public service broadcaster in the United Kingdom, founded as the British Broadcasting Company in 1922.
Bed: A production element, usually instrumental music or sound effect played in the background of a spoken commercial, promo or other announcement.
Bel: A measure of voltage
Voltage
Voltage, otherwise known as electrical potential difference or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points — or the difference in electric potential energy per unit charge between two points...
, current
Electric current
Electric current is a flow of electric charge through a medium.This charge is typically carried by moving electrons in a conductor such as wire...
or power
Electric power
Electric power is the rate at which electric energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.-Circuits:Electric power, like mechanical power, is represented by the letter P in electrical equations...
gain. One Bel is defined as a tenfold increase in power. If an amplifier increases a signal's power by a factor of 10, its power gain is 1 Bel or 10 decibel
Decibel
The decibel is a logarithmic unit that indicates the ratio of a physical quantity relative to a specified or implied reference level. A ratio in decibels is ten times the logarithm to base 10 of the ratio of two power quantities...
s (dB). If power is increased by 100 times, the power gain is 2 Bels or 20 decibels. 3dB is considered doubling.
Bias: A constant amplitude high frequency signal added to the recording signal to improve the signal to noise ratio and reduce the distortion
Distortion
A distortion is the alteration of the original shape of an object, image, sound, waveform or other form of information or representation. Distortion is usually unwanted, and often many methods are employed to minimize it in practice...
of an analog tape recording.
Billboard: A short announcement to identify a sponsor at the beginning or end of a production element such as the news or traffic/weather reports.
BTA: Black To Air
Book: A slang term for the Arbitron rating period.
Breakbumper: An animation or logotype briefly shown after the end of a programme or part of a programme before the advertising. See also "optical".
Breakfiller: An animation shown during the middle of a commercial break to provide relevant graphic information accompanied by backing music, usually only taking up no more than two minutes. On news channels, breakfiller content usually includes news excerpts, weather, stock market indices, current time(s) and/or schedules.
Breaking news
Breaking news
Breaking news, also known as a special report or news bulletin, is a current event that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming and/or current news in order to report its details. Many times, breaking news is used after the news network has already reported on this story...
: Term used for interruptions of regular or planned programming for recently-occurring events as reported by a news organization or agency.
Bug: Slang term for a DOG (Digital on-screen graphic
Digital on-screen graphic
A digital on-screen graphic is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to identify the channel...
) permanent on screen logo.
Bumper or Bumper Music: A pre-recorded production element containing voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
music that acts as a transition to or from a stop set and other content.
C
Call Letters: The official name of the radio station in the USA. Also known as a station's callsign.Cans: Slang term for headphones
Headphones
Headphones are a pair of small loudspeakers, or less commonly a single speaker, held close to a user's ears and connected to a signal source such as an audio amplifier, radio, CD player or portable Media Player. They are also known as stereophones, headsets or, colloquially, cans. The in-ear...
.
CBS: Columbia Broadcasting System, an American television and radio network.
CCIR - Comité consultatif international pour la radio: In English, "International Radio Consultative Committee", the organisation responsible for assigning frequencies to radio stations between 1927 and 1992. Now known as ITU-R
ITU-R
The ITU Radiocommunication Sector is one of the three sectors of the International Telecommunication Union and is responsible for radio communication....
.
Closed Captioning
Closed captioning
Closed captioning is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information to individuals who wish to access it...
:Text version of a programme's dialogue, overlayed on the screen by an equipped television set for the hearing impaired.
Clutter
Clutter (advertising)
Advertising or marketing clutter refers to the large volume of advertising messages that the average consumer is exposed to on a daily basis. This phenomenon results from a marketplace that is overcrowded with products leading to huge competition for customers.Marketing clutter is a major problem...
: An excessive number of non-programme elements (such as commercials) appearing one after another.
Copy
Copy (written)
Copy refers to written material, in contrast to photographs or other elements of layout, in a large number of contexts, including magazines, advertising, and book publishing....
:The written material used in producing a PSA, promo, or commercial that is meant to be read out by the DJ or presenter
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
.
Countdown
Countdown
A countdown is a sequence of counting backward to indicate the seconds, days, or other time units remaining before an event occurs or a deadline expires. Typical events for which a countdown is used include the launch of a rocket or spacecraft, the detonation of a bomb, the start of a race, and the...
: A bumper which counts down to the beginning of the following broadcast. Also used for the debut of a new channel.
Crash:When an announcement, jingle or graphic overlaps with a fixed point in the schedule (eg the news or a time signal), usually due to poor timing.
Crossfade: The technique where a DJ, producer or engineer fades out the out going track at the same time as fading in the new track.
Coverage: percentage of households that can tune into a radio station within the theoretical broadcast radius.
Cueing: Whilst the previous record was playing the DJ would attempt to find the beginning of the song on the next record. The DJ would place the needle down in approximately the right area then move the record back and forth Cueing on the turntable until the beginning of the song was found. When the previous song completed playing the DJ would introduce the next song and turn the record deck on and the record would quickly whirl up to speed with a characteristic distortion. This was later minimised by the use of a slip mat.
Cue Burn: Cue burn relates to the days of vinyl records (33rpm , 45rpm). Whilst the previous record was playing the DJ would attempt to find the beginning of the song on the next record. The DJ would place the needle down in approximately the right area then move the record back and forth Cueing on the turntable until the beginning of the song was found. This cueing back and forth would rub the vinyl and damage the records creating a characteristic noise.
Cue dot:A small square inserted in the corner of the picture to inform rebroadcasters that an advertisement break is about to happen. In the UK, this appeared exactly one minute before the break and disappeared 55 seconds later.
Cue Channel: In the early days of networks a dedicated multi-drop phone line connected all affiliated station engineers to the network Master Control. The system was backed up with teletype too.
Cue Track: A recorded audio track containing information about upcoming events that the operating engineer should be aware of. It was first used by Edison on his first talking pictures using records for the sound playback. He used the information to synchronize picture and sound. On early soundtrack records the introduction of a "beep tone" was used to tell the projectionist to turn on and off the auditorium speakers so the audience would not hear the projectionist's cue information. Cue tracks were adopted in the early days of Kinascope to cue the film chain engineer and later used in early Ampex Quad Tape systems and is still used today either as voice or digitally for station automation systems. In the early days of bicycled programs cue tracks along with a printed time line was used to inform the engineer of brakes or jam (insert) spots in the tape including a 5 count to the brake in and out locations. Because the program tape or film never stopped. Often the original recording engineer would add comments of his own regarding the program, sometimes humors. When smaller networks that supported independent stations programs, were assembled and the mew track often had the original engineer's voice and the assembling engineer's voice and humor too.
Cume
Cume
In the practice of measuring the size of US commercial broadcasting and newspaper audiences, cume, short for "cumulative audience," is a measure of the total number of unique consumers over a specified period....
:Short for cumulative audience. A similar term of measurement to a newspaper or magazines' circulation figures.
D
DAB - Digital Audio BroadcastingDigital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
: The use of digital encoding to send higher quality or a greater number of radio services to equipped receivers.
DAC - Digital-to-analog converter
Digital-to-analog converter
In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter is a device that converts a digital code to an analog signal . An analog-to-digital converter performs the reverse operation...
: Equipment that changes digital signals into pictures or sound.
Dayparting
Dayparting
In Broadcast programming, dayparting is the practice of dividing the day into several parts, during each of which a different type of radio programming or television programming apropos for that time is aired...
: The radio station's broadcast programming day is normally split up (starting at 6am) into a series of 4 hour sessions containing one or more shows.
DB or Decibel
Decibel
The decibel is a logarithmic unit that indicates the ratio of a physical quantity relative to a specified or implied reference level. A ratio in decibels is ten times the logarithm to base 10 of the ratio of two power quantities...
: One tenth of a bel. See also Bel.
DBS - Direct-broadcast satellite: Television and radio programmes distributed by satellite
Communications satellite
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications...
for reception via a dish
Satellite dish
A satellite dish is a dish-shaped type of parabolic antenna designed to receive microwaves from communications satellites, which transmit data transmissions or broadcasts, such as satellite television.-Principle of operation:...
at the receiver's property.
Dead air
Dead air
Dead air is an unintended interruption in a radio broadcast during which no sound is transmitted.The term is most often used in cases where program material comes to an unexpected halt, either through operator error or for technical reasons, although it is also used in cases where a broadcaster...
: The time on-air where there is no audible transmission. This silence can be down to any of the following:
- * DJ, Producer or Engineer error
- * Equipment error or failure
- * Act of GodAct of GodAct of God is a legal term for events outside of human control, such as sudden floods or other natural disasters, for which no one can be held responsible.- Contract law :...
- * Deliberate silenceSilenceSilence is the relative or total lack of audible sound. By analogy, the word silence may also refer to any absence of communication, even in media other than speech....
for remembrance.
DJ - Disc Jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
: A radio presenter who links records.
DOG - Digital on-screen graphic
Digital on-screen graphic
A digital on-screen graphic is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to identify the channel...
: A station logo, BUG or slogan permanently displayed on screen during a programme. Controversial due to "screenburn" issues.
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
: Also Dolby D. The standard for 5.1 channel (surround sound) audio. Six discrete channels are used (Left, Center, Right, Left Rear Surround, Right Rear Surround, and Subwoofer
Subwoofer
A subwoofer is a woofer, or a complete loudspeaker, which is dedicated to the reproduction of low-pitched audio frequencies known as the "bass". The typical frequency range for a subwoofer is about 20–200 Hz for consumer products, below 100 Hz for professional live sound, and below...
).
Double pumping:Putting out two episode
Episode
An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...
s of a show back-to-back, either to boost ratings in a given slot or to burn off episodes of a cancelled show.
Drive time
Drive time
Drive time is the daypart analog to prime time for radio broadcasting. It consists of the morning hours when listeners wake up, get ready, and/or head to work or school, and the afternoon hours when they are heading home and before their evening meal. These are the periods where the number of...
: Drive time refers to the period of time where the majority of radio listeners travel to work. This is traditionally 6-10am and 2-6pm and is normally accompanied by the stations highest listenership. Commercials are normally more expensive during such times.
Drop The Light:Drop the Light is very common industry-wide term meaning 'Lower the Light Levels'. This is often yelled while shooting when the director wants to continue shooting the action of the scene after the light levels are lowered. It has nothing to do with any physical dropping of a lighting fixture during the scene.
Drops: These are excerpts of TV, movies and other audio programmes that are used to accentuate programming.
Drop Song: Temporary unselecting a playlist song to better accommodate an accurate clock hour.(Or in English: a song scheduled but not played for timing reasons.)
DSNG - Digital Satellite news gathering:Use of digital satellite transmission from remote broadcast
Remote broadcast
In broadcast engineering, a remote broadcast is broadcasting done from a location away from a formal television studio and is considered an electronic field production . A remote pickup unit is usually used to transmit the audio and/or video back to the television station, where it joins the...
locations for the purpose of live television
Live television
Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
news event coverage.
Dustbin Dave: The accidental deletion of all media from all video server
Video server
A video server is a computer based device dedicated to delivering video.Unlike personal computers, being multi-application devices, a video server is designed for one purpose; provisioning video, often for broadcasters. A professional grade video server records, stores, and playout of multiple...
locations within a transmission environment, resulting in a service to go to black to air (BTA).
DTH - Direct To Home: Television and radio programmes distributed by satellite for reception via a dish at the receiver's property.
DVB - Digital Video Broadcasting: The MPEG-2 based standard of digital transmission and reception. Comes in variants according to the type of broadcast, eg DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
for terrestrial.
E
EncryptionEncryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
:The scrambling of a signal to allow reception via a decoder only be specific viewers, eg after the payment of a fee.
F
FeedbackAudio feedback
Audio feedback is a special kind of positive feedback which occurs when a sound loop exists between an audio input and an audio output...
: A loud noise produced when the amplified sound from an output ( loudspeaker
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
) is picked up by an input ( microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
, phonograph
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
) feeding that loudspeaker
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
. This can be potentially damaging to both the speaker(s) in question, as well as the hearing of the subjected listener. This phenomenon is usually the result of poor engineering, but more likely due to the lack of understanding (or drunkenness, or both) by an announcer or performer as he walks in front of a live PA speaker. This may also occur when an input is directly patched into an output of the same device, usually due to operator error.
In radio broadcasting, feedback may occur when a DJ increases his or her headphone volume to a high enough level that the microphone is able to pick up the sound coming from the headphones, usually when the DJ's head is turned to one side or another.
FCC - Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
:The regulator of broadcasting in the United States.
Format Clock: A format clock is a diagram produced by a programme director or a producer to illustrate where each programming element appears in a typical hour.
FPS - Frames per second:The number of times
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
the television is refreshed in a second of time. As a rule of thumb, this is the same as the local Alternating Current electricity supply - 60 Hz or 50 Hz.
Front sell: The act of introducing a song about to be played.
G
Gain: VolumeGHz - Gigahertz: Thousand million cycles per second. The measurement for satellite frequencies.
H
Hammocking: Placing a new or poorly-performing programme between two established popular programmes in order to boost viewing figures.HDTV - High Definition Television
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
: In modern terms, broadcasting using a line standard of greater than 1000. Prior to World War II, "high definition" was used to mean a line standard greater than 240 lines.
Hit The Post: Where a DJ continues to talk right up to the point where the vocals commence.
I
Ident: A station's symbol or logo, often accompanied by music, a jingle or an animation.Image Liner:
A short audio clip played frequently on a radio station between songs and ads to identify the station that is being aired. I.E the stations call letters or positioning statement.
ITU - International Telecommunication Union
International Telecommunication Union
The International Telecommunication Union is the specialized agency of the United Nations which is responsible for information and communication technologies...
: Originally the International Telegraph Union, the ITU is the international organization established in 1865 to standardize and regulate international radio and telecommunications.
iTV - interactive television: Systems that allow viewers to interact (eg play games, shop for related items or find further information) either two-way, via a telephone line, or one-way, via MHEG graphics.
ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
- Independent Television: The UK's first commercial television network.
J
JingleJingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...
:A produced programming element usually in the form of vocals to accompanying music often produced in-house to identify the show, DJ or the station.
K
kHz - Kilohertz: Thousand cycles per second. kHz is used to measure mediumwave and often shortwave frequencies.L
Legal ID: In the US, the station identification consisting of the station call letters followed by the community of license. Given as close as practical to the top of the hour at a natural break in program offerings.Letterbox
Letterbox
Letterboxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting videographic image has mattes above and below it; these mattes are part of the image...
:The appearance of black bars at the top and bottom of a picture when 16:9 or 14:9 widescreen material is shown on 4:3 sets. See also pillar box and postage stamp.
Liner:A piece of written text that the DJ says over the intro of a song or between spots and songs. Liners are designed to invoke the imagination.
Line standard:The number of lines broadcast to make up a television picture. Generally, 525 in NTSC areas and 625 elsewhere.
Live: Any programming which is broadcast immediately as it is being delivered (a live report); performed (a live concert or show); or captured (live news or sports coverage). Requires an unbroken communications chain without any intervening recording or storage technology. Considered the most exciting form of broadcasting, delivered “as it happens”.
Live-on-tape: A pre-recorded program produced in real time, usually with a studio audience, for later broadcast. Requires precisely timed pauses for insertion of station breaks and commercials at time of broadcast. Typically employed for network broadcast across multiple time zones. Also applies to live broadcasting which is simultaneously recorded for rebroadcast at a later time or date.
Log:A written record of broadcasting. There are typically three logs:
- * A Music Log recording what songs were played.
- * An Engineer's Log detailing technical production settings.
- * A Commercial Log recording which commercials were played during the day.
- See also PASB.
Lower third: Portion of screen of regular broadcast reserved for textual and static visual content; i.e., news ticker
News ticker
A news ticker resides in the lower third of the television screen space on television news networks dedicated to presenting headlines or minor pieces of news. It may also refer to a long, thin scoreboard-style display seen around the front of some offices or public buildings...
, time, title of segment, title of programme, channel bug
Digital on-screen graphic
A digital on-screen graphic is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to identify the channel...
, etc. Upper third has sometimes been used alongside lower third, as in the case of MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
since 2010.
M
MacrovisionMacrovision
Rovi Corporation is a globally operating, US-based company that provides guidance technology, entertainment data, copy protection, industry standard networking and media management technology for digital entertainment devices and services...
:A trademarked system designed to prevent unauthorised copying of video material.
MHz: Million cycles per second. The bandwidth area for FM broadcasts and television.
Miscue:A mistake by the DJ or production engineer resulting in two audio elements being played at the same time, eg an interview and the next song.
N
Nat/VO - Video Only with Natural Sound: (Television News) Video with natural sound played at full volume intended to accompanied by a news correspondent reading a news story.NBC - National Broadcasting Company
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
: A television network in the United States. Formerly also a radio network.
Network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
: A system which distributes programming to multiple stations simultaneously, or slightly delayed, for the purpose of extending total broadcast coverage beyond the limits of a single radio or television signal.
NEMO: (Not Emanating Master Operations) An early term used in remote broadcast operations. It was often used when the DJ/announcer operated his/her own mixer board that directly fed, via the station's master control, without a dedicated licensed broadcast engineer continuously monitoring the incoming remote signal, directly to the transmitter. The on-air talent/engineer needed an FCC third class broadcast license to operate the NEMO remote system.
News ticker
News ticker
A news ticker resides in the lower third of the television screen space on television news networks dedicated to presenting headlines or minor pieces of news. It may also refer to a long, thin scoreboard-style display seen around the front of some offices or public buildings...
or news crawl: scrolling ticker at the bottom of the display of television content. It is usually reserved for text headlines or numeric statistics (or both) depending upon the focus of the channel.
Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
: Survey of US viewers by the AC Nielsen Company to establish the audiences for individual programmes and their demographics.
NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
- National Television Standards Committee: An American committiee formed to set the line standard and later color standard for broadcasting. Gave its name to the method of color reproduction used in the Americas (except Brazil) and in Japan.
O
OfcomOfcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
- Office of Communications:The regulator of broadcasting in the United Kingdom.
Optical:Generically, any on-screen graphic. Specifically, a graphic inserted between a programme and an advertisement or between individual advertisements.
OOV - Out Of Vision: A stage instruction noting that a character is not seen when speaking. Also, in continuity announcing, the practice of speaking over a caption rather than appearing on screen.
OB: onsite broadcasting vans used to give signals directly to satellite from remote locations
P
PALPAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
- Phase Alternating Line: Television broadcast system used in Europe and Australia & New Zealand, also parts of Asia, Africa and South America.
PASB - Programme As Broadcast: A BBC term for a (supposedly contemporaneous) log of a channel's output - also a video (or film) recording of an individual live programme.
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
: Reception of a scrambled film or sporting event after the payment of a one-off fee for that broadcast.
PGF - Pink and Green Flashing: The erroneous effect of pink and green flashing on a video signal usually caused by a disturbance to the SDI input/output of broadcast equipment.
PIF - Public Information Film
Public information film
Public Information Films are a series of government commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the UK. The US equivalent is the Public Service Announcement .-Subjects:...
: A government-produced commercial, usually shown for free, giving safety information or advice.
Pillarbox
Pillar box (film)
The pillarbox effect occurs in widescreen video displays when black bars are placed on the sides of the image. It becomes necessary when film or video that was not originally designed for widescreen is shown on a widescreen display, or a narrower widescreen image is displayed within a wider...
:The appearance of blank bars on either side of the picture when 4:3 material is shown on a 16:9 widescreen television set.
Pilot:A one-off episode of a proposed series, usually in extended form, to gauge audience reaction. If successful, the rest of the series is made and the pilot becomes the first episode.
Pips: Slang term for the time signal
Greenwich Time Signal
The Greenwich Time Signal , popularly known as the pips, is a series of six short tones broadcast at one-second intervals by many BBC Radio stations to mark the precise start of each hour...
broadcast by some radio stations at the top of the hour.
Pink Event: A term used to describe a close up shot of an individual's genitalia.
Playlist
Playlist
In its most general form, a playlist is simply a list of songs. They can be played in sequential or shuffled order. The term has several specialized meanings in the realms of radio broadcasting and personal computers.-In radio:...
:The official songs that a radio station will play during a given week. The playlist is not usually chosen by the DJ.
Positioning statement: A radio station's mission statement or vision statement. A one to two sentence statement that conveys what you do for whom, to uniquely solve an urgent need. These are usually aired during Image Liners.
Postage stamp:The appearance of a black border all around the picture, usually in error, when 4:3 material is converted to 16:9 and then back to 4:3 before broadcast.
Pot - Potentiometer
Potentiometer
A potentiometer , informally, a pot, is a three-terminal resistor with a sliding contact that forms an adjustable voltage divider. If only two terminals are used , it acts as a variable resistor or rheostat. Potentiometers are commonly used to control electrical devices such as volume controls on...
: A round knob control for increasing or decreasing the volume on a channel.
Production Element:A Production Element is a piece of audio that is used in the final audio mix. This may include commercials, music, sound effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
s, audio effects (eg echo) station id or program signatures or announcements.
Producer:The person who performs or manages the day to day business operations of a station. Also the person responsible for an individual program - a radio producer
Radio producer
A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. There are two main types of producer. An audio or creative producer and a content producer. Audio producers create sounds and audio specifically, content producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature...
or a television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
.
Promo
Promo (media)
A promo, shorthand for promotion, are a form of commercial advertising used in broadcast media, either television or radio; promos are generally used to promote a program airing on a television station, radio station, television network or radio network.-Background:Promos typically run a standard...
:An announcement (either recorded or live) used to promote the station's image or other event.
PSA - Public Service Announcement
Public service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...
:A PSA is intended to change the public interest
Public interest
The public interest refers to the "common well-being" or "general welfare." The public interest is central to policy debates, politics, democracy and the nature of government itself...
, by raising awareness of an issue, affecting public attitudes, and potentially stimulating action.
Q
QuadraphonicQuadraphonic
Quadraphonic sound – the most widely used early term for what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of the listening space, reproducing signals that are independent of one another...
: Sound reproduction utilising four speakers. Now superseded by Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound.
R
Racks : Control panel where several television cameras are matched together by operator(s) for exposure, colour balance and black level.Ramp : An intro to a piece of music.
S
SB - Simultaneous Broadcasting or SimulcastSimulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
: British term for the broadcast of the same programme from multiple transmitters.
Screenburn:Where a permanent mark is burnt into the mask of the TV screen due to prolonged display. Common with sets tuned to one channel for promotional purposes or on ordinary sets from DOGs inserted by broadcasters. Also known as Phosphor burn-in
Phosphor burn-in
Screen burn-in, image burn-in or ghost image, colloquially known as screen burn or screen afterimage, is a permanent discoloration of areas on an electronic display such as a cathode ray tube display or computer display monitor or Television set caused by cumulative non-uniform usage of the...
.
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
:American satellite radio platform.
Slipmat
Slipmat
A slipmat is a circular piece of slippery cloth or synthetic materials disk jockeys place on the turntable platter instead of the traditional rubber mat....
:A slipmat was a mat that was placed on a record deck between the deck and the record. Normally made by the DJ, it was cut significantly oversized when compared to a vinyl record. The DJ would cue the record to the beginning of a song and then holding onto the mat would turn the turntable on whilst the record stayed at the beginning of the song. The DK could then introduce the record and then release the mat onto the already spinning deck thus reducing the spin up speed to 33 or 45 rpm. The effect was to reduce the whirl effect produced by the turning on of the turntable.
SOT
Sot
- Geography :* Sot , a village in Vojvodina, Serbia* Sot River, a river in north India* Stoke-on-Trent, a city in England- Other meanings :* Sotho language* Strong operator topology, a mathematical structure...
- Sound on Tape
Sound on tape
SOT is an acronym for Sound on tape . It refers to any audio recorded on analog or digital video formats. It is used in scriptwriting for television productions and filmmaking to indicate portions of the production that will use room tone from the time of recording, as opposed to audio recorded...
: (Television News) Any video with recorded quote, music or sound intended to be aired without voiced commentary.
Soundbite
Soundbite
In film and broadcasting, a sound bite is a very short piece of a speech taken from a longer speech or an interview in which someone with authority or the average "man on the street" says something which is considered by those who edit the speech or interview to be the most important point...
:A small portion (usually one or two sentences) of an audio recording (often an interview) used to illustrate a news story in the words of the interviewee (c.f. a quotation
Quotation
A quotation or quote is the repetition of one expression as part of another one, particularly when the quoted expression is well-known or explicitly attributed by citation to its original source, and it is indicated by quotation marks.A quotation can also refer to the repeated use of units of any...
from a politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
). See also SOT.
Sponsorship:In the United States, the practice of a company funding the making of a program in order to entertain an audience and sell a product. In the UK, an advertisement inserted between the end-of-part caption and the breakbumper.
Spot:A radio
Radio commercial
Commercial radio stations make most of their revenue selling “airtime” to advertisers. Of total media expenditures, radio accounts for 6.9%. Radio advertisements or “spots” are available when a business or service provides valuable consideration, usually cash, in exchange for the station airing...
, television commercial or underwriting spot
Underwriting spot
An underwriting spot is an announcement made on public broadcasting outlets, especially in the United States, in exchange for funding. These spots usually mention the name of the sponsor, and can resemble traditional television advertisements in commercial broadcasting...
Spot advertising: A commercial or commercials run in the middle of or between programmes, sold separately from the programme (as opposed to sponsors' messages).
Stop set:The place where commercials are played during a typical broadcast hour. There may be several scattered throughout a typical 60 minute period. Stop set length can vary much between local stations and even network programming.
Subtitle
Subtitle (captioning)
Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added...
s:Text version of a programme's dialogue, overlayed on the screen either at broadcast or at reception (often via Teletext or Closed Captioning) for the hearing impaired
Hearing impairment
-Definition:Deafness is the inability for the ear to interpret certain or all frequencies of sound.-Environmental Situations:Deafness can be caused by environmental situations such as noise, trauma, or other ear defections...
or for when a speaker is unclear or speaking in a foreign language.
Sweeps:A period, usually in February, May, July and November, where the ACNielsen
ACNielsen
ACNielsen is a global marketing research firm, with worldwide headquarters in New York City. Regional headquarters for North America are located in Schaumburg, Illinois. As of May 2010, it is part of The Nielsen Company.-History:...
Company undertakes audience measurement
Audience measurement
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites...
to record the Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of all shows in all markets with all demographics. This allows networks and local stations to spot surprise hits and unexpected failures. It is also a time when a successful network will try pilot episodes of new shows, whilst a failing network will often put existing successful programs in place of poorly performing shows to boost average ratings.
T
Tape sync:An interview conducted by phone and recorded in both locations, with the two recordings to be mixed later.Teaser or Cold open
Cold open
A cold open in a television program or movie is the technique of jumping directly into a story at the beginning or opening of the show, before the title sequence or opening credits are shown...
:A part of a program played before the title sequence, usually featuring a cliffhanger or prefiguring the plot of the episode to follow.
Teletext
Teletext
Teletext is a television information retrieval service developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. It offers a range of text-based information, typically including national, international and sporting news, weather and TV schedules...
:Electronic information inserted into the unused parts of a television signal and decodable by an equipped television set.
Television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
:The transmission of pictures and sound by radio frequency or cable for public reception.
Tiling
Tiled rendering
Tiled rendering is the process of subdividing a computer graphics image by a regular grid in image space to exploit local spatial coherence in the scene and/or to facilitate the use of limited hardware rendering resources later in the graphics pipeline...
:The appearance of large non-congruent blocks on a video display when a digitally generated broadcast (i.e., image) was received by the monitor in an incomplete form. Tiling also occurs when the video signal has degraded or been partially interrupted as it was received by the monitor.
Transponder
Transponder
In telecommunication, the term transponder has the following meanings:...
:A physical part of a satellite that broadcasts the signal. In colloquial use, the satellite equivalent of the "channel" a television station is broadcast on (eg "broadcasting from Transponder 2C of the satellite").
U
UHF - Ultra High FrequencyUltra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
: Frequencies between 300 MHz (wavelength 1 meter) and 3.0 GHz (wavelength 10 centimetres), used for television broadcasting.
V
VBI - Vertical Blanking IntervalVertical blanking interval
The vertical blanking interval , also known as the vertical interval or VBLANK, is the time difference between the last line of one frame or field of a raster display, and the beginning of the first line of the next frame. It is present in analog television, VGA, DVI and other signals. During the...
:The blank area out of sight at the top and bottom of a television picture that allows the raster gun to reset. The space created is often used for Teletext and other services.
VHF - Very High Frequency
Very high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
: Frequencies from 30 MHz (wavelength 10 m) to 300 MHz (wavelength 1 m), used for radio and television broadcasting.
VJ - Video Jockey: A term invented by MTV as the television version of a Disc Jockey.
VO - Voice Over: Recorded voice announcer played as off-screen narration in drama or advertising.
VO - Video Only: (Television News) Video without commentary intended to to be aired along with a news correspondent reading the news story.
VTR - Video Tape Recorder
Video tape recorder
A video tape recorder is a tape recorder that can record video material, usually on a magnetic tape. VTRs originated as individual tape reels, serving as a replacement for motion picture film stock and making recording for television applications cheaper and quicker. An improved form included the...
: A method of recording television pictures by electromagnetic pulses on a sensitised plastic strip.
W
WARCWorld Administrative Radio Conference
The World Administrative Radio Conference was a technical conference of the International Telecommunications Union where delegates from member nations of the ITU met to revise or amend the entire international Radio Regulations pertaining to all telecommunication services throughout the world...
- World Administrative Radio Conference: The regular meetings of the CCIR (now ITU-R
ITU-R
The ITU Radiocommunication Sector is one of the three sectors of the International Telecommunication Union and is responsible for radio communication....
) to allocate radio frequency spectrum
Frequency spectrum
The frequency spectrum of a time-domain signal is a representation of that signal in the frequency domain. The frequency spectrum can be generated via a Fourier transform of the signal, and the resulting values are usually presented as amplitude and phase, both plotted versus frequency.Any signal...
.
Wendy : A large carpeted wedge used to display items for shooting.
Watermark
Digital watermarking
Digital watermarking is the process of embedding information into a digital signal which may be used to verify its authenticity or the identity of its owners, in the same manner as paper bearing a watermark for visible identification. In digital watermarking, the signal may be audio, pictures, or...
: A common practice of displaying a company's logo during a television broadcast, typically a translucent image in the right hand bottom corner. (See also Bug and DOG)
Y
Y:LuminanceLuma (video)
In video, luma, sometimes called luminance, represents the brightness in an image . Luma is typically paired with chrominance. Luma represents the achromatic image without any color, while the chroma components represent the color information...
in many color models used for television broadcast, such as YIQ
YIQ
YIQ is the color space used by the NTSC color TV system, employed mainly in North and Central America, and Japan. It is currently in use only for low-power television stations, as full-power analog transmission was ended by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on 12 June 2009...
and YUV
YUV
YUV is a color space typically used as part of a color image pipeline. It encodes a color image or video taking human perception into account, allowing reduced bandwidth for chrominance components, thereby typically enabling transmission errors or compression artifacts to be more efficiently...
.
Z
Zoom: To go from a long shot to a close-up (or vice versa) with the camera. In the UK, the name given by Associated TeleVisionAssociated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
to their idents
Station identification
Station identification is the practice of radio or television stations or networks identifying themselves on air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name...
.