How long should an aircheck be?

Two to four minutes for a music jock, with most published advice landing around three. A morning show earns more — four to five minutes — because there is more to show: bits, characters, interaction, features. Err toward the short end. A program director listening to twenty reels stops when they have decided, and it is better they stop because they are convinced than because they are bored.

What is a scoped aircheck?

A scoped aircheck has the music removed, leaving only the talk breaks joined together. That is what a program director wants: they are hiring your voice and your judgment, not the songs, which the station picked anyway. An unscoped or unscoped-with-music version is a different thing, useful for showing how you ride a bed or hit a post.

Should I use my best break first or last?

First. You are being listened to by someone deciding within seconds whether to keep listening. Lead with something strong enough to earn the next thirty seconds, hold attention through the middle, and close fast on something that makes them want to hear it again. Never open on a break you are only lukewarm about.

Can I edit inside a break?

Yes, and you should. The good part of a break is rarely the whole break. Take the seventeen seconds that work and leave the rest. You can also condense a long bit by cutting its middle and splicing it so it flows — a PD does not need the whole three-minute character bit, and anyone listening can tell it was edited for time, which is expected. Send the full-length version as a separate file if they ask.

Can I use a break where I stumbled?

Often yes, if you take the clean part. A break that was good except for one fumble is still a good break minus a fumble. Daypart matters: on a morning show a small stumble is expected and reads as live radio, where in another daypart the same thing can read as unprepared.

What should I never put on an aircheck?

A mistake you recovered from, in the opening slot. It is tempting because salvaging it well is genuinely a skill, but a program director also hears a host that something went wrong for. If you use it at all, bury it in the middle between two strong breaks. Also avoid station imaging and sweepers as content — a PD did not sit down to listen to your production director.

Does it matter which days the breaks come from?

More than almost anything else, and it is the mistake most people make. If one break says "welcome to your Friday" and the next says "thanks for hanging out on your Wednesday", you have told the listener you could only find a few usable breaks in an entire week. Keep a reel to one day, or use breaks with no day reference in them.

What format should I send it in?

A single MP3 at 192kbps or better, named with your name and the station — not "aircheck.mp3". Put your name, email and phone in the file metadata too, because files get separated from the emails they arrived in. Host it where it plays in a browser without a download or a login, and link the single track rather than your whole profile.

Should I send the same aircheck to every station?

No, and this is the most repeated advice in the business. A CHR or top 40 station wants short, punchy links and one-liners. A classic hits, country or news-talk station wants longer and more informational ones. A reel built for one format is audibly wrong at the other, and a program director can tell within a break or two whether you listened to their station before applying.

How should I actually send it?

Ask first. An unsolicited reel is easy to ignore; one somebody agreed to receive gets listened to. Never apply from your current employer email address, and never send one mid-shift from the station you are working at. Both get noticed and neither reads well.

How to make an aircheck

An aircheck is the two or three minutes that decide whether a program director calls you. This is what goes in it, what stays out, and the order it goes in — written with a working morning show host rather than assembled from other people's advice.

What an aircheck actually is

An aircheck is a short recording of your on-air work, edited down to the talk. The version you send when applying for a job is scoped: the music is removed and only your breaks remain, joined together. A program director is hiring your voice, your judgment and your personality. The songs were on the station's log, not yours.

You will sometimes be asked for an unscoped version, with the music left in, to show how you ride a bed and hit a post. Send that as a second file. It is never the one you lead with.

How long it should be

Two to four minutes for a music jock, and most published advice lands around three. A morning show earns more — four to five — because a morning show has more to demonstrate: bits, characters, features, interaction with a co-host or a caller. That a morning show gets extra room is the one point every source agrees on.

Err on the short side. Nobody was ever turned down for a reel that left them wanting more. A PD working through a stack of applications stops listening when they have decided, and you want that decision made while they are still impressed.

Tailor it to the station

This is the most repeated advice in the business and the easiest to skip. A CHR or top 40 station runs short, punchy links and one-liners. A classic hits, country or news-talk station wants longer and more informational ones. The same reel cannot be right for both.

Build the reel for the station you are sending it to. A program director can usually tell within a break or two whether you have listened to their station, and that judgment arrives before any judgment about your voice.

Which breaks to keep

Record the whole shift, not the breaks you think went well. You are a poor judge in the moment — the break you would not have bothered saving is frequently the one that plays best a week later.

Then listen through once and mark anything worth a second pass. Most of a shift is ordinary: segues, teasers, weather, song intros. That is fine. That is the material. A reel made only of comedy bits misrepresents the job you are applying for.

Do aim for variety across the breaks you keep, though. Four segues in a row shows one thing four times. A contest or a phone call, some interplay with a co-host, a song intro that goes somewhere, and a moment where you share something of yourself will between them show a range that four good song intros cannot.

Cut inside the break

This is the part most people skip, and it is where reels are won. The good part of a break is rarely the whole break. If ninety seconds contains seventeen that genuinely work, use the seventeen.

The same applies to long bits. A three-minute character bit does not need to run in full — cut the middle out and splice the front to the end so it flows. Anyone listening can tell it was edited for time, and that is entirely expected. If they want the whole thing, send it separately.

A break you stumbled in is often still usable

A break that was good except for one fumble is a good break minus a fumble. Take the clean part and leave the rest.

Daypart changes this. On a morning show a small stumble reads as live radio and is more or less expected. In a tightly formatted midday or afternoon shift, the same moment can read as unprepared.

What keeps a reel out of the pile

Mixed days

This is the most common own goal. If one break opens with "welcome to your Friday" and the next says "thanks for hanging out on your Wednesday", you have just told a program director that a whole week of shows yielded three usable breaks. Keep the reel to a single day, or choose breaks with no day reference in them.

Leading with a mistake you saved

Recovering from an on-air mistake and making it funny is a real skill, and it is tempting to lead with it. Don't. A program director hears two things at once: a quick host, and a host that something went wrong for. If you use it at all, put it in the middle where it is bookended by strong breaks — and if it is the only thing you have, that is worth knowing about the rest of the reel.

Imaging as content

Sweepers, promos and station imaging are not your work and are not what is being evaluated. A short piece of imaging as a cold open is a stylistic choice some people make deliberately; a reel that spends fifteen seconds on production before your voice arrives is spending somebody else's patience.

Dropping in mid-thought

If you split a long bit, do not start the reel's next segment in the middle of it. Landing a listener halfway through an idea reads as an editing mistake rather than a highlight.

The order

The working assumption in the industry is that a program director has largely made up their mind in the first fifteen to thirty seconds. Whether or not that is literally true, it is how the reel should be built: everything is arranged around the opening.

Build it as a sandwich. Lead with your strongest break— something that earns the next thirty seconds outright. Hold attention through the middle with the solid, ordinary, competent material that shows you can do the actual job. Close fast, on something that makes them want to play it again, or at least means they heard it all the way through.

There should be no weak break anywhere in it. If a break is only there to reach two minutes, the reel is better at ninety seconds.

Joining and exporting

Hard cuts between breaks. No crossfades, no music stings between segments unless you are deliberately showing production. A short fade on the final break is normal; everything else is butt-joined.

Export a single MP3 at 192kbps or better. Name the file with your name and the station — not aircheck.mp3, and not demo_final_v3.mp3. Put your name, email and phone in the MP3 metadata as well: files get separated from the emails they arrived in, and a reel nobody can trace back to you is a reel that cannot get you called.

Host it where it plays in a browser with no download and no login, and link the single track rather than your whole profile. Every extra step between a program director and your voice costs you some of them.

Sending it

No preamble. Do not introduce yourself before the audio starts. It opens on your first break. Your name belongs in the file name, the metadata and the email — not in the first ten seconds a program director hears.

Ask before you send. An unsolicited reel is easy to ignore. One that somebody agreed to receive gets listened to.

Not from your station email, and not mid-shift. Applying from your current employer's address, or from the studio while you are on the air for somebody else, gets noticed. Neither reads the way you want it to.

Questions

How long should an aircheck be?: Two to four minutes for a music jock, with most published advice landing around three. A morning show earns more — four to five minutes — because there is more to show: bits, characters, interaction, features. Err toward the short end. A program director listening to twenty reels stops when they have decided, and it is better they stop because they are convinced than because they are bored.
What is a scoped aircheck?: A scoped aircheck has the music removed, leaving only the talk breaks joined together. That is what a program director wants: they are hiring your voice and your judgment, not the songs, which the station picked anyway. An unscoped or unscoped-with-music version is a different thing, useful for showing how you ride a bed or hit a post.
Should I use my best break first or last?: First. You are being listened to by someone deciding within seconds whether to keep listening. Lead with something strong enough to earn the next thirty seconds, hold attention through the middle, and close fast on something that makes them want to hear it again. Never open on a break you are only lukewarm about.
Can I edit inside a break?: Yes, and you should. The good part of a break is rarely the whole break. Take the seventeen seconds that work and leave the rest. You can also condense a long bit by cutting its middle and splicing it so it flows — a PD does not need the whole three-minute character bit, and anyone listening can tell it was edited for time, which is expected. Send the full-length version as a separate file if they ask.
Can I use a break where I stumbled?: Often yes, if you take the clean part. A break that was good except for one fumble is still a good break minus a fumble. Daypart matters: on a morning show a small stumble is expected and reads as live radio, where in another daypart the same thing can read as unprepared.
What should I never put on an aircheck?: A mistake you recovered from, in the opening slot. It is tempting because salvaging it well is genuinely a skill, but a program director also hears a host that something went wrong for. If you use it at all, bury it in the middle between two strong breaks. Also avoid station imaging and sweepers as content — a PD did not sit down to listen to your production director.
Does it matter which days the breaks come from?: More than almost anything else, and it is the mistake most people make. If one break says "welcome to your Friday" and the next says "thanks for hanging out on your Wednesday", you have told the listener you could only find a few usable breaks in an entire week. Keep a reel to one day, or use breaks with no day reference in them.
What format should I send it in?: A single MP3 at 192kbps or better, named with your name and the station — not "aircheck.mp3". Put your name, email and phone in the file metadata too, because files get separated from the emails they arrived in. Host it where it plays in a browser without a download or a login, and link the single track rather than your whole profile.
Should I send the same aircheck to every station?: No, and this is the most repeated advice in the business. A CHR or top 40 station wants short, punchy links and one-liners. A classic hits, country or news-talk station wants longer and more informational ones. A reel built for one format is audibly wrong at the other, and a program director can tell within a break or two whether you listened to their station before applying.
Should I introduce myself at the start?: No. No preamble, no "hi, I am so-and-so, here is my reel". It starts on your first break. Your name belongs in the file name, the metadata and the email — not in the first ten seconds of audio a program director hears.
How should I actually send it?: Ask first. An unsolicited reel is easy to ignore; one somebody agreed to receive gets listened to. Never apply from your current employer email address, and never send one mid-shift from the station you are working at. Both get noticed and neither reads well.