airtime

noun

air·​time ˈer-ˌtīm 

1

: the time or any part of the time when a radio or television station is on the air

2

: the time at which a radio or television broadcast is scheduled to begin

Examples of airtime in a Sentence

The committee plans to buy radio airtime for the campaign ads.

Recent Examples on the Web

Later that year, Herman became Senior Vice President of Programming & Production of Access Entertainment Network (AEN), a company that traded graveyard hours of cable TV airtime to infomercial companies. — Tom Tapp, Deadline, 31 Aug. 2026

So much airtime is given over to such gatherings that, in effect, making and promoting the show become the beats of the show. — Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2026

There’s some debate over how much airtime to give the cause of death. — Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 4 Aug. 2026

The price list is upside down The deepest flaw gets the least airtime. — Sachin H. Jain, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1924, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for airtime

• bedtime
• daytime
• downtime
• enzyme
• halftime
• lifetime
• longtime
• lunchtime
• mealtime
• meantime
• nighttime
• noontime