Advertising your idea may be more expensive than you think. Radio is certainly more affordable than television as an advertising medium, but you have to understand the medium to make it work effectively. Radio is sold three different ways: Network (national), regional and local. Each as a different coverage pattern of listeners, and each has a different pricing system. Radio listeners are also more committed to a single station. They don't channel chase like television viewers. Therefore you will need to advertise on several local stations to reach the maximum audience for your advertising buget or buy regional radio advertisements. Network radio will probably be too expensive for you, and will most likely result in adverising in areas that you do not serve. There is also the concept of "reach and frequency". Reach means that you want to advertise to the widest audience possible for your busget. Frequency means that you want to repeat the commercial to that audience the optimum number of times. Usually you would want to repeat the commercial to them three or four times per week. Any less than three times and the audience fails to identify the goods/services with the advertiser. Any more than three or four times and the commercial beomes annoying...people will not purchase the service because they hate the commercials. There is also the concept of diminishing returns. If you saturate your market by over spending on your advertising budget you will increase frequency greatly while at the same time only minimally increasing reach. You will also need to consider audience availability. The maximum number of listerners are available between 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM in the morning and 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM in the evening. This is because most people listen to the radio while driving to and from work. This is called drive time in the broadcast industry, and it is the equivalent of prime time in television advertising. Each of the daily broadcast time periods is broken down into different blocks, and is priced accordingly.
 
If you are serious about radio advertising, you will need a considerable budget. You should also consult the services of a media buyer. The media buyer will be able to advise of of audience trends of the radio advertising
within the area in which you want to market your services, and will buy the media for you that best suits your needs. The media buyer will also charge a fee.