Time Broker

Day to day, you're buying blocks of broadcast airtime — radio or TV — at wholesale prices and reselling them to advertisers, often with packaged creative services bundled in. You're negotiating rates with station representatives, building a roster of advertiser clients who buy time from you repeatedly, and managing the inventory positions you've committed to hold.

The rhythm is deal-driven with rate card negotiations, insertion orders, and client relationship calls shaping each week. Station relationships need maintenance — the rates you can secure depend on the rep you've built with traffic and sales teams. Advertiser relationships also need cultivation; clients who renew quarter after quarter are the business model's engine.

The hard part is the margin compression and uncertainty inherent in speculation. You're buying airtime before you have a buyer for it, betting on your ability to sell it at a premium. Managing unsold inventory, handling station makegoods when spots don't run, and maintaining advertiser relationships through the inevitable scheduling issues is the daily operational grind beneath the deal-making.