Broadcast calendar

The broadcast calendar is a standardized calendar used primarily for the planning and purchase of radio and television programs and advertising. Every week in the broadcast calendar starts on a Monday and ends on a Sunday, and every month has either four or five such weeks. Broadcast calendar months thus have either 28 or 35 days.

The key link between the broadcast and Gregorian calendars is that the first week of every broadcast month always contains the Gregorian calendar first of the month. So, for example, if January 1 falls on a Saturday, the broadcast calendar year would begin on that Monday, December 27th. Broadcast January would then have five weeks, ending on January 30th, and the four weeks of broadcast February would begin on January 31st. The number of weeks in a broadcast month is based on the number of Sundays that fall in that month. For example, December 2006 has 5 Sundays, so it has 5 broadcast weeks.

Days and weeks in a broadcast calendar are often referred to by number rather than name, as in Week 47, Day 3. Since each week starts on a Monday, day three is always a Wednesday, while week 47 is always the 47th week of the broadcast calendar year. The Gregorian equivalent in a given year can be looked up on any number of published calendars that are freely available for download on the Web.

Broadcast calendar years can have either 52 or 53 weeks. The broadcast calendar often closely matches certain specialized financial calendars, such as 5/4/4 calendars, but the length of a broadcast month can vary year to year.