Radio and Television Time Sales Representative

Selling broadcast advertising time — radio and TV spots, sometimes streaming inventory — means working the campaign cycles of advertisers and their agencies. The job involves prospecting and maintaining a book of accounts, presenting audience data (Nielsen, Arbitron), building campaign packages against rate cards, and managing renewals. The media itself is the product, but the actual sale is often about reach, frequency, and the pitch that their target audience is listening or watching.

The dual-medium nature of the role varies by employer. Some reps sell radio and TV under the same roof at a media group; others specialize in one. Radio and TV are meaningfully different selling environments — radio is typically more local, lower rate, and sold in shorter packages; TV involves larger buys, more complex scheduling (daypart selection, program adjacencies), and longer client relationships. Streaming inventory adds a digital layer with different metrics and targeting capabilities than traditional broadcast.

What this role is really about is relationship management under campaign pressure. Advertisers are thinking about their next promotion, their Q4 push, their seasonal spike. Reps who understand the client's business well enough to proactively bring a package before they're asked — and who have the audience data to back it up — build the kind of long-term account relationships that create renewal revenue and referrals. New business development requires a different skill than renewal management; strong reps tend to do both.