- published: 26 Feb 2015
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In Broadcast programming, dayparting is the practice of dividing the day into several parts, during each of which a different type of radio programming or television programming apropos for that time is aired. Television programs are most often geared toward a particular demographic, and what the target audience typically engages in at that time.
Arbitron, the leading audience measurement ratings service in the United States, divides a weekday into five dayparts: morning drive time (6:00am–10:00am), midday (10:00am–3:00pm), afternoon drive (3:00pm–7:00pm), evenings (7:00pm–12:00am), and overnight (12:00am–6:00am).
In radio broadcasting through most of the 1990s, dayparting was also used for censorship purposes. To wit, in many cases if a certain song was deemed unsuitable for young listeners, the song in question would only be allowed airplay during the late evening or overnight hours when children were presumably asleep. Even today, the Federal Communications Commission dictates less stringent decency requirements for programming aired between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am local time.