The Traffic Manager working in a radio station supervises and coordinates all employees in the traffic department. The individual is in charge of the entire department and everything that happens in it. The traffic department in the radio station is very important. It is responsible for keeping a record of everything aired on the station. This includes advertising and commercial spots as well as programming information. The record that is kept is known as a log and is required by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). The FCC is a government regulatory agency that licenses radio and television stations that broadcast to the public.
In a larger radio station the Traffic Manager may be responsible for 10 or more employees. In smaller stations, the Traffic Manager may be the only employee in the department. His or her responsibilities and duties vary depending on the size of the station. The Traffic Manager is responsible for scheduling all commercials. He or she works with the station general manager, advertising sales manager, and possibly the station owner creating a sequence for the running of commercials. Together they decide how many commercials to put on the air each hour.
The Traffic Manager is responsible for making sure that advertisements and commercials are aired in the most effective way. For example, he or she must take care not to run two commercials for the same product directly after each other. The individual must also make sure that enough public service advertisements are aired. Public service announcements— or PSAs, as they are called—are advertisements made and aired by the station at no fee for nonprofit groups or community- service agencies. The FCC regulates how many PSAs must be aired in a specific time period. The Traffic Manager is responsible for training employees in the department. He or she must make sure that traffic assistants or representatives adhere to all FCC regulations and laws. To do this, the Traffic Manager may have group training sessions or work privately with each new assistant who comes in.
The Traffic Manager may assign the traffic assistants different duties. For example, one assistant may be assigned to work on programming while another may be required to do advertising and public service announcement traffic. The manager may assign one assistant to type logs while another may review them. The individual must make a determination as to what will be most effective for the department and what each individual is best at.
The Traffic Manager is responsible for getting daily logs typed or put into a computer. He or she usually has an assistant perform this task. However, if the individual is working in a smaller radio station, the Traffic Manager may do this him- or herself. All commercials, public service announcements, and programming must be listed on the log. The individual will go over all commercial orders and make sure that the information needed for the log is complete. If an assistant is doing this, the manager will be responsible for reviewing the completed daily log. Every advertisement must be listed with the exact time and date it is to be aired. The Traffic Manager is required to check daily logs after the broadcast day. He or she must make sure that all commercials that were to be aired were done. The manager will see to it that on-air personalities and announcers either check off or initial each entry.
The Traffic Manager may authorize changes in the log sheet. This might occur if an announcer inadvertently forgets to air an advertisement and it must be placed on at a different time or if an advertiser calls up to change the date or time of the airing of a commercial. He or she must make sure when this is done that the daily log is changed and corrected. There is a no room for error in this position. The log sheets will eventually go to the FCC for review.
The Traffic Manager is frequently expected to review commercials for content. The individual must check each commercial and all ad copy for material that either the station or the FCC would find objectionable, sexist, or racist. If there is a problem, the Traffic Manager is responsible for giving the commercial to the advertising sales manager to handle.
The Traffic Manager may be called upon by salespeople to change the daily log in order to fit in an advertiser who wants to buy a lot of time. The manager will try to do this in as easy a way as possible without changing the entire day’s scheduling. The individual must understand the station, its programming, and its advertisers to be successful in this job. He or she may work overtime finishing logs and juggling schedules. The Traffic Manager may be responsible to either the advertising sales manager, the general manager, or the station owner, depending on the structure of the station.
Earnings for Traffic Managers working in radio depend heavily on the size, location, and prestige of the station as well as the experience and responsibilities of the individual. Those working in small-market radio may have salaries of $22,000 to $30,000 annually. Those working in mid-market radio or in major markets may earn up to $49,000 a year or more.
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