Glossary
Broadcast Announcer Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential broadcast announcer terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key broadcast announcer vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in broadcast announcer training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Back-sell
- Naming songs just played.
- Board
- Mixing console.
- Cold open
- Starting without intro.
- Dead air
- Unplanned silence.
- FCC
- Federal Communications Commission.
- Liner
- Short station promo.
- Live broadcast
- Real-time transmission.
- Market
- Broadcast area.
- On air
- Broadcasting live.
- Play-by-play
- Live sports narration.
- Ratings
- Audience size.
- Rundown
- Show order.
- Spot
- Commercial.
- Studio
- Recording space.
- Voice tracking
- Pre-recorded breaks.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Broadcast Announcer practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Broadcast Announcer training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.