Tradio is a type of

phone-in In broadcasting, a phone-in or call-in is a programme format in which viewers or listeners are invited to air their live comments by telephone, usually in respect of a specific topic selected for discussion on the day of the broadcast. On radio ( ...

radio program formatted to provide a venue for listeners to freely advertise items they have to sell or trade. The concept is analogous to classified ads in local newspapers and most prevalent in the south and

midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

. "Tradio" is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of "trade" and "radio". The format is also often called Swap Shop; Buy, Sell, or Trade; Biz Baz; or Trading Post.

Format

In most tradio programs, listeners can call in to the show and advertise, for free, items they are selling, or request items to purchase from other listeners The caller then provides a phone number so that other listeners can contact the person for further information. Since the increased prevalence of e-mail and other electronic media, most stations permit the sending in of items to sell via e-mail or fax, though due to regular and/or identity theft concerns some stations will assign a code number to anonymize the transaction and keep identifying information off the air. Most stations also permit listeners to send lists of items through postal mail. Tradio programs are particularly associated with the full service format; tradio was commonly found on

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2 ...

in the UK when it used a similar format (up to around 1990). There are usually some limits to what can be bought and sold through tradio programs. Most stations stipulate that only individuals, and no businesses, may use the tradio service, since the financial security of these small stations usually relies on the advertising dollars from these businesses. Federal regulations prohibit the sale of firearms through these services; real estate is also usually not allowed on tradio programs. Restrictions on the sale of

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

s varies from station to station. The name "tradio" does not apply to any one particular program or franchise; there are no national, international or syndicated tradio programs or intellectual properties.

Popularity

Typically tradio and similar programs are only heard on small, rural stations; KDKA in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

is the largest market with a tradio program, airing weekly on Saturday afternoons. A similarly-styled program titled ''Wheelin' and Dealin' with Dave Ramos'' also airs during the weekends on WTAM in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

(but is not in a regular timeslot). In smaller markets, tradio programs can air daily. Various Tradio programs have been the target of prank phone calling by ''

The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was radio syndication, nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WINS-FM, WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The sho ...

''s Richard Christy and Sal Governale.

List of stations with tradio programs

* KCTN/100.1: Garnavillo, Iowa * KECO/96.5: Elk City, Oklahoma * KEDU-LP/102.3: Ruidoso, New Mexico * KDKA/1020:

* KOFO/1220: Ottawa, Kansas * KSRM/920: Soldotna, Alaska * KTRF/1230: Thief River Falls, Minnesota * WCJW/1140: Warsaw, New York * WGAA/1340: Cedartown, Georgia * WKNG/1060: Tallapoosa, Georgia * WLVL/1370: Lockport, New York * WSKV-FM/104.9: Stanton, Kentucky * WTAB/1370: Tabor City, North CarolinaWTAB website, “Anout us”; retrieved July 12, 2023.
/ref> * WTAM/1100:

* WYXI/1390: Athens, Tennessee * WCHE/95.3:

West Chester, Pennsylvania West Chester is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located in the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,671 at the 2020 census. West ...

References

{{reflist American talk radio programs Radio broadcasting Advertising