Notes on radio traffic
How the work actually goes — what breaks, why, and what to do about it. Written for the person doing traffic at a small station, which usually means the person doing four other jobs as well.
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Cartwright now asks for 15-character passwords
The FCC's program chain security rule takes effect September 29, 2026. Here is what it asks of passwords, whether traffic software is covered, and what Cartwright now enforces.
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A break time is a label, not a promise
The minute shown against a break says which break a spot belongs in. It is not a prediction of when it will air, and treating it as one is the most common misreading in radio traffic.
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An empty rate and a rate of zero are not the same thing
Typing 0 into a rate field is how most traffic systems spell "comp", and it makes free airtime indistinguishable from unpriced airtime in every revenue report afterwards.
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How to prove a spot actually aired
An advertiser asks whether their spot ran. The schedule cannot answer that question — only the as-run can. What reconciliation actually checks, and the two ways it quietly gets the answer wrong.
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Why a traffic log you delivered never aired
A traffic log can be written correctly, land in the right folder, and still produce nothing on air. The cause is timing, not the file — and the window closes earlier than most stations expect.