In broadcast programming, dayparting is the practice of dividing the broadcast day into several parts, in which a different type of radio programming or television show appropriate for that time period is aired. Television programs are most often geared toward a particular demography, and what the target audience typically engages in at that time.
A graveyard slot (or death slot) is a time period in which a television audience is very small compared to other times of the day, and therefore broadcast programming is considered far less important. Graveyard slots are usually situated in the early morning hours of each day, a time when most people are asleep.
With little likelihood of a substantial viewing audience during this daypart, providing useful television programming during this time is usually considered unimportant; some broadcast stations may do engineering or other technical work (e.g. software and technology upgrades) or go off the air during these hours, and some audience measurement systems do not collect measurements for these periods. Others use broadcast automation to pass through network feeds unattended, with only broadcasting authority-mandated personnel and emergency anchors/reporters present at the local station overnight. A few stations use "we're always on" or a variant to promote their 24-hour operation as a selling point, though as this is now the rule rather than the exception it was in the past, it has now mainly become a selling point for a station's website or social media apps instead.
Broadcast programming is the practice of scheduling broadcast media shows, typically radio and television, in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or season-long schedule.
Modern broadcasters use broadcast automation to regularly change the scheduling of their shows to build an audience for a new show, retain that audience, or compete with other broadcasters' shows. Most broadcast television shows are presented weekly in prime time or daily in other dayparts, though there are many exceptions.
Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this class is at its peak and, thus, commercial radio can generate the most revenue from advertising. Drive time usually coincides with rush hour.
Breakfast television (Europe and Australia) or morning show (Canada and the United States) is a type of news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts live in the morning (typically scheduled between 5:00 and 10:00 a.m., or if it is a local programme, as early as 4:00 a.m.). Often presented by a small team of hosts, these programmes are typically marketed towards the combined demography of people getting ready for work and school and stay-at-home adults and parents.
The first – and longest-running – national breakfast/morning show on television is Today, which set the tone for the genre and premiered on 14 January 1952 on NBC in the United States. For the next 70 years, Today was the number one morning program in the ratings for the vast majority of its run and since its start, many other television stations and television networks around the world have followed NBC's lead, copying that program's successful format.
Late-night television is one of the dayparts in television broadcast programming. It follows prime time and precedes the overnight television show graveyard slot. The slot generally runs from about 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., with variations according to the time zone and broadcaster.
In the United States and Canada, the term is synonymous with the late-night talk show, a type of television comedy talk show and variety show. Thus, the late-night programming block is considered more important in North America. On most major-network stations, a late-night news bulletin airs at the beginning of the block.
Discovery Family (known on-air as Discovery Family Channel and abbreviated as DFC) is an American cable television channel co-owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Global Linear Networks and Hasbro Entertainment.
The channel was launched on October 22, 1996 by Discovery Communications (later Discovery, Inc.) as Discovery Kids Channel (later Discovery Kids), a child-oriented offshoot of Discovery Channel featuring science, nature, and adventure-themed programs. In 2010, Discovery Kids was re-launched as The Hub (later Hub Network) through a joint venture with Hasbro led by veteran executive Margaret Loesch. The re-launch pivoted the channel towards a general entertainment format, with dayparts targeting preschool, youth, and family audiences. Hasbro-owned properties served as the basis for several of The Hub's original programs, including game show versions of board games and animated series linked to toy lines like My Little Pony, Littlest Pet Shop, Pound Puppies, Transformers, and Kaijudo.