airtimen.
/ˈɛːtʌɪm/, U.S. /ˈɛrˌtaɪm/ 1.
a. The time allotted to something for broadcast on radio or television; time spent on the air.
ΚΠ
1926 Southtown Economist (Chicago) 31 Aug. 9/1 The hours the daily programs devote to women's interest is one of the most important divisions of the air time.
1955 T. H. Pear Eng. Social Differences xi. 246 The listening public's approval or disapproval of the ‘air-time’ given to each.
1968 Melody Maker 30 Nov. 7 On radio there are only two programmes giving air time to the music.
1999 S. Broughton et al. World Music: Rough Guide I. ii. 396/2 Turkish classical musicians..gained an increasing share of radio and television airtime.
b. The time at which a particular programme is broadcast on radio or television.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > [noun] > time of broadcast or place in schedule
fixed point1778
time1924
airtime1931
spot1937
adjacency1947
prime time1947
airdate1950
space1956
slotting1959
airspace1960
time slot1962
slot1964
strand1979
1931 Evening Tribune (Albert Lea, Minnesota) 19 May 4/3 Weber and Fields shift their air time beginning next week... They will go on each Monday night at 7:15.
1968 N.Y. Times 29 Apr. 86 Some of his nightly quips are ‘blipped’ from tape before air time.
2002 L. Purves Radio (2003) iv. 65 They rolled in with three minutes to airtime and whammed down a script for me.
c. Time available for making prepaid or free calls on a mobile phone (= talk time n. (b) at talk n. Additions); (also) the time during which a mobile phone is in use.
ΚΠ
1984 Capital (Annapolis, Maryland) 15 Oct. 16 (advt.) Access and a fixed amount of airtime every month.
1998 What Cellphone Nov. 56/1 Its..recommended tariffs..are essentially based around bundles of inclusive airtime; basically, the more airtime the more expensive the monthly charge and the cheaper the additional peak-rates.
2006 Wall St. Jrnl. 23 Oct. r4/5 The old bill..had a header that read, ‘Voice Airtime Summary’. In the redesigned bill, the header is much more comprehensible: ‘Minutes Used’.
2. Time spent in the air, spec. (a) the duration of a particular flight on an aircraft; the time an aircraft, pilot, etc., spends in flight; (b) the time a person spends in the air during a jump on a skateboard, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > [noun] > stretch, period, or portion of time > time it takes to do a particular thing
paternoster-whilec1400
the space of a paternoster1561
travel time1851
airtime1928
run time1964
1928 Bee (Danville, Va.) 27 Jan. 8/2 The air time to Fairbanks from McGrath..is three and a half hours.
1928 Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press 31 Jan. 1/7 With a little more than 13 hours of actual air time to her credit.., she took her first flight alone.
1989 M. Owen Hang Gliding 82 John had knocked up a few hours' airtime in sailplanes.
1998 Boards May 8/2 Crashes and big airtime were inevitable.
2007 Wall St. Jrnl. 3 Jan. a11 (advt.) The private-jet membership program... More air-time with peak & non-peak pricing.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.1926