Drive time

In radio broadcasting, drive time refers to dayparts in which radio broadcasters attempt to reach the large number of people who listen to their car radios while driving to and from work. The drivetime periods are when the number of radio listeners is at its peak and, thus, commercial radio can get paid the most for advertising. Drive times coincide with rush hours.

Mainstream stations employ high-status presenters for drive time shows. In the United States, popular national hosts who are associated with morning drive include Howard Stern, Ryan Seacrest and Steve Inskeep, while Sean Hannity is associated with afternoon drive on the East Coast.

Drive time often includes a heavier run of traffic reports, for which many stations employ their own helicopters or hire a third-party traffic reporting service.

For popular music-oriented stations, morning drive-time is typically dominated by the "morning zoo" genre of radio program, with the afternoon portion is often given over to music (often in commercial-free blocks, especially in markets with long commute times) and light entertainment features. For talk radio stations, drive time is characterized by regular news updates, as well as extremely frequent updates on traffic and weather forecasts to help commuters get to and from work. Primary news radio stations are almost always local during this time period.

In the United Kingdom and Australia, the term drive time is used almost exclusively to refer to the peak evening period (most commonly 16:00–19:00); the term used for the period of peak morning listening is breakfast, akin to the phrase breakfast television used for morning TV shows. In circumstances where the phrase drive time may be ambiguous, the term home time may also be used for afternoon drive.

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