Reviewed by Peter Berk, President and Chief Media Strategist, Berk Marketing · Last reviewed 16 August 2026
Independent Radio Advertising Agency
✅ We Represent Advertisers, Not Media Companies
✅ SiriusXM, National, Local & Remnant Radio
✅ Campaign Planning, Negotiation & Tracking
✅ Peter Berk: Radio Experience Since 1979
✅ Commercial Writing & Production Available
FREE Radio Media Plan
Tell us who you want to reach and what you want to accomplish. We’ll recommend a radio strategy based on your goals and budget.
Why Advertisers Choose Berk Marketing
Because Berk Marketing offers what is best for the client, not what is best for the media.
Buying Directly From One Station
- The representative sells one company's inventory
- Recommendations may be limited to available station inventory
- Advertiser evaluates the proposal alone
- Separate relationships may be required for each market
- Limited comparison across alternatives
Working With Berk Marketing
- Berk can compare multiple stations and options
- Recommendations begin with the advertiser's audience and goals
- Berk reviews rates, schedule quality, frequency and added value
- Berk can coordinate local, national and SiriusXM campaigns
- Berk can compare formats, stations, networks and schedules
Radio stations and media companies sell their own inventory. Berk Marketing works for the advertiser. We compare SiriusXM, national, local, remnant radio and television opportunities based on your audience, goals and budget. We then help with campaign planning, rate negotiation, creative production, tracking and ongoing optimization.
✓ Audience-First Media Recommendations
We begin with your audience, geography, goals and budget before recommending stations, programs or platforms.
✓ Independent Media Comparison and Negotiation
We compare available opportunities, review schedule quality and negotiate rates and added value on the advertiser’s behalf.
✓ One Agency for Local, National and SiriusXM
Berk Marketing can coordinate local radio, national networks, SiriusXM, remnant opportunities and television campaigns.
✓ Commercial Writing and Production
We help develop clear, memorable commercials with appropriate calls to action, voice talent and market-specific versions.
✓ Tracking and Ongoing Optimization
We help track calls, web responses, lead quality and sales so campaigns can be adjusted based on actual results.
✓ Radio Advertising Experience Dating Back to 1979
Peter Berk brings decades of radio sales, management, media buying and direct-response advertising experience to every campaign.
Industries Berk Marketing Helps
✓ Insurance
✓ Financial Services
✓ Attorneys and Legal Services
✓ Healthcare, Dental and Hearing
✓ HVAC, Plumbing and Home Improvement
✓ Pest Control
✓ Automotive
✓ Franchises and Multi-Location Businesses
✓ B2B and Professional Services
✓ Retail and E-Commerce
✓ Political and Advocacy Campaigns
✓ Local, Regional and National Advertisers
Audience & Goals
We begin by defining who you want to reach, where you want to advertise and what you want the campaign to accomplish.
Media Planning & Negotiation
We compare SiriusXM, national, local, remnant and television options, then build and negotiate a schedule around your goals and budget.
Tracking & Optimization
We monitor calls, web responses, lead quality and sales where possible, then adjust the media or creative based on performance.
Radio & TV Advertising Services Built Around the Advertiser
From SiriusXM and national radio to major-market local stations, remnant opportunities and television, Berk Marketing helps advertisers choose the media options that best fit their audience, goals and budget.
A Long-Term National Radio Partnership
Since 2011, Berk Marketing has worked with Term Provider and Big Lou on creative development and media placement across SiriusXM and radio stations nationwide. The long-running relationship includes memorable creative, national media planning, campaign management and ongoing optimization. It demonstrates the value of consistent messaging and experienced radio buying over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does radio advertising cost?
Radio advertising costs vary by market, station, format, schedule and audience — there’s no single flat rate. Contact us for a free estimate based on your goals.
What does a radio advertising agency do?
A radio advertising agency researches stations and formats, compares options across markets, negotiates rates and schedules, and helps produce and track campaigns on the advertiser’s behalf.
Why use a media buyer instead of buying directly from a station?
A station representative can only offer that station’s inventory. An independent buyer compares multiple stations, networks and formats before recommending a schedule.
Does Berk Marketing buy local and national radio?
Yes. We plan and buy campaigns across local major-market stations, national networks, syndicated programs and SiriusXM.
Can Berk Marketing place ads on SiriusXM?
Yes, we help advertisers select channels and programs, negotiate schedules, and manage creative and tracking for SiriusXM campaigns.
What is remnant radio advertising?
Remnant radio advertising is unsold airtime that becomes available closer to broadcast, typically at a reduced rate with less schedule control.
Does Berk Marketing produce commercials?
Yes. We write commercials in-house and work with subcontracted voice talent for production.
How is a radio campaign measured?
Through dedicated tracking numbers, call tracking, vanity URLs, promo codes, landing pages, branded search lift and CRM source tracking, depending on what’s available for your campaign.
What budget is required?
Budgets vary by market and campaign type. Rather than publish a blanket minimum, we review your goals and markets and recommend a realistic starting budget.
How quickly can a campaign launch?
Timelines depend on inventory availability, creative readiness and the markets involved — ask us for a specific timeline once we know your goals.
In Good Company
Join the ranks of our satisfied clients who have achieved success through our tailored advertising solutions. Unlock the potential of remnant advertising to extend your brand's reach without exceeding your budget.
Uncover the Power of Remnant Advertising
Four areas Berk Marketing specialises in
SiriusXM and satellite. Satellite behaves differently from terrestrial radio: a national footprint, a subscriber base, and targeting by channel and content affinity rather than by market. It is also sold as several distinct products — satellite channels, streaming, podcast and off-platform inventory — that arrive bundled in a single proposal more often than not. Berk Marketing takes those apart, weighs each against terrestrial alternatives for the specific offer, and says plainly when satellite is not the right fit. See SiriusXM advertising.
National and network radio. Networks, syndication, multi-market terrestrial and sponsorships each assemble differently, and the decision that matters most is rarely price. It is clearance — whether your commercial actually airs, and in which markets. Two campaigns with identical invoices produce very different results depending on where they cleared. Berk Marketing checks clearance against the affidavit rather than the proposal. See national radio advertising.
Major-market local radio. Buying New York or Los Angeles is a different exercise from buying a mid-sized metro: more stations, more formats, more competition for the same listener, and commute patterns that change which dayparts are worth paying for. The station list is built from who actually reaches your customer, not from who has the strongest overall numbers. See local radio advertising.
Remnant and unsold inventory. Unsold airtime lowers the cost of entry and brings real limitations with it — preemption, unpredictable availability, and less control over placement. It suits broad, evergreen offers that can absorb an inconsistent schedule. It does not suit launches, events or anything with a deadline. Berk Marketing's position is that remnant is a tool, not a strategy. See remnant radio advertising.
The facts behind the positioning
Every claim on this page is checkable. Here are the specifics rather than the adjectives.
| On the air since 1978 | Peter Berk began as a college disc jockey at KCHO in Chico, and became a paid professional broadcaster in 1979. |
| Selling radio since 1979 | More than 45 years of radio advertising and media buying experience, beginning at KEVA in Evanston, Wyoming. |
| Two decades on the station side | Account executive, then sales manager at KABC/KMPC in Los Angeles, then general sales manager at 91X in San Diego. Peter has sat in the chair where the rate card is defended. |
| RAB certified, 1980 | Certified Radio Marketing Consultant, Radio Advertising Bureau, certificate No. 589, awarded 2 December 1980 after examination. |
| Agency founded 1999 | Berk Advertising Services, Inc., trading as Berk Marketing. Built to represent advertisers rather than media companies. |
| Never a station representative | Berk Marketing has never taken on station representation and does not sell airtime on behalf of any station, network or platform. |
The order of those matters more than the length of the list. Two decades selling radio is what makes the buying side useful: Peter knows what a station will accept, what it will never admit it will accept, and which parts of a proposal are structural rather than negotiable.
What Berk Marketing handles
- Media planning. Defining the audience, the markets and the schedule shape before any station is contacted.
- Availability and negotiation. Requesting availability across relevant stations, networks and platforms, then negotiating rate, placement and terms.
- Proposal review. Reading a proposal you have already been sent and explaining what it actually contains, with no obligation to place the buy.
- Commercial writing and production. Copy written in house, with professional voice talent subcontracted as required, so message and media are built together.
- Response tracking. Tracking numbers, landing pages and baselines established before launch, then correlated against the airing log.
- Optimisation and reporting. Consolidated reporting across every station bought, and schedule changes where the evidence calls for them.
What happens after you request a plan
No obligation attaches to any of this, and nothing is placed until you approve it.
1. A conversation about the objective. What the campaign has to achieve, in terms that can be counted — calls, orders, form fills, showroom visits, a launch. A goal that cannot be measured cannot be optimised toward, so this comes before any discussion of stations or budget.
2. Audience and market definition. Who your customer actually is and where they are. This determines the station list. Doing it the other way round — picking markets first, then hoping the audience matches — is the most common reason a radio budget underdelivers.
3. Availability requests. Requests go out to the relevant stations, networks and platforms. This is the step that takes real time, because the numbers have to come back from the sellers themselves. It is also the only way to produce a rate that means anything.
4. A plan you can actually evaluate. Station, daypart, spot length, spots per week, rate, total, placement terms, preemption terms and cancellation rights — itemised. If a proposal does not contain those, it is not yet a plan.
5. Creative and measurement, before launch. Commercials are written in house with professional voice talent subcontracted as needed. Tracking numbers, landing pages and a baseline are set up before the first spot airs, because attribution retrofitted afterwards is guesswork.
6. Tracking and adjustment. Response is tracked against the schedule and the buy is changed where it needs changing — including moving budget away from stations that are not performing.
One person handles all of it. The person evaluating stations and negotiating rates is the person who answers your call. See radio media buying for how a schedule is assembled, or read about Peter Berk's background.
Situations advertisers usually arrive with
"A station has sent me a proposal and I cannot tell whether it is any good." The most common one. A proposal listing spots and a price has told you almost nothing about audience fit, frequency, placement or preemption exposure. Peter will read it and explain what it contains, and what it leaves out.
"We tried radio and it did not work." Usually the structure rather than the medium: budget spread across too many markets to build frequency, a schedule weighted into cheap dayparts, or no measurement in place to tell whether it worked at all. Worth diagnosing before writing off the channel.
"We are being pitched SiriusXM and do not understand the numbers." Satellite proposals frequently bundle several distinct products behind one headline figure. They have to be separated before they can be compared to anything.
"We need to go national and do not know where to start." The first decision is not which network. It is whether a national buy or a set of assembled markets better matches where your customers actually are.
"Our agency handles everything else but nobody there really knows radio." Berk Marketing regularly works alongside an advertiser's existing agency, handling the radio component while the agency runs the rest.
Where to start reading
If you are researching rather than ready to buy, these are the places to begin. All of them are written to be useful whether or not you ever contact us.
The complete guide to radio advertising — how the medium works, what it is good at, and where it falls down. Start here if radio is new to you.
What radio advertising costs — why there is no universal rate, what actually moves the price, and an interactive planning tool that shows how a budget divides across markets and weeks. It does not quote rates, because nobody honestly can without station availability.
What an independent radio media buyer does — how buyer-side representation differs from a station seller, the thirteen factors a schedule is judged on, and a full disclosure of how Berk Marketing is compensated.
Radio media buying — how a schedule is planned, negotiated and evaluated.
Talk radio advertising — why talk inventory behaves differently from music, how to buy by programme rather than by station, and how to handle adjacency and brand safety.
The Big Lou case study — a long-running national radio relationship, and what it looked like in practice.
What you will not be told here
A short note on what is deliberately absent from this site, because the omissions are the point.
No guaranteed savings figure. You will not find a percentage discount promised anywhere on this site. What a station will accept depends on that station, that quarter and its inventory position at the moment you ask. Any firm quoting a fixed saving before seeing a single availability request is quoting a marketing claim, not a media outcome.
No published rate card. A rate is only real once a specific station returns availability for specific dates. A number published here would be wrong for most advertisers most of the time, and wrong in an unpredictable direction.
No audience statistics without a source and a date. Audience composition changes continuously, varies by market for the same syndicated programme, and shifts when a host changes. Current data belongs in a campaign-specific analysis, not on a web page that would be stale within a quarter.
No claim that radio is right for everyone. It is not. An independent buyer is free to say so, and that conclusion is one of the main reasons the independent model exists.