System and method for providing a digital watermark

1. A method for verifying preemption and broadcast of advertisements, said method comprising:

at a master controller of a hub,

performing analysis of factors, wherein the factors comprise at least one of weather, listenership, ratings, previously played advertising, upcoming programming, day of the week and time of day;

responsive to the performed analysis, instructing a third party radio station, remote from the hub, to preempt a scheduled first ad with a second ad, and providing the second ad to the third party radio station; then

providing, to a recorder controlled by the hub's master controller and disposed remotely from the hub master controller, broadcasting parameters associated with the radio station;

at the recorder controlled by the hub's master controller and disposed remotely from the hub's master controller,

detecting an approximate start time of a broadcast of the second ad, wherein said detecting includes monitoring, based on the provided broadcasting parameters, for occurrence of a broadcast mark;

calculating an approximate end time of the second ad broadcast based on a timed length and an approximate start time of the second ad broadcast; and

recording the second ad broadcast from said mark to said approximate end time;

at a data collector of the hub disposed remotely from the recorder,

retrieving at least the recorded second ad broadcast;

analyzing the retrieved second ad broadcast;

comparing the analyzed second ad broadcast with the second ad provided to the third party radio station, wherein the comparing comprises peak matching of the analyzed second ad broadcast with the second ad provided to the third party radio station; and

generating a report to verify preempting and broadcasting of the second ad, the report including a result of the comparison and the recorded second ad broadcast.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said detecting comprises accessing post traffic merge information available at the third party radio station.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said detecting comprises accessing before traffic merge information available at the third party radio station.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said detecting comprises accessing information in a play log of the third party radio station.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said calculating comprises parsing post traffic merge duration information available at the third party radio station.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said recording comprises disposing the recorder controlled by the hub within the broadcast range of the second ad broadcast.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the broadcasting parameters comprise a broadcast frequency for the radio station.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said recording comprises recording using the internet.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the broadcasting parameters comprise an internet reference of the radio station broadcast stream.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said recording is performed digitally.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said recording includes tagging the recording of the second ad broadcast with at least the time recorded and the frequency of the broadcast.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said broadcast mark is a digital marker.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said broadcast mark is a fingerprint.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein said analyzing includes determining a portion of the retrieved second ad broadcast.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein said analyzing includes isolating the second ad.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein said isolating includes clipping recorded buffer time.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein said analyzing includes signal processing.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein said comparing includes a duration comparison of the analyzed second ad broadcast with the intended second ad to preempt.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein said analyzing includes verifying conditions during the retrieved second ad broadcast.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein said factors include environmental conditions, listenership, ratings, previously played advertising, upcoming programming, day of the week and time of day.

21. A hub for verifying preemption and broadcast of radio advertising, said hub comprising:

a master controller;

a recorder disposed remote from and communicatively coupled to the master controller; and

a data collector disposed remote from and communicatively coupled to both the master controller and the recorder, wherein:

the master controller is configured to:

perform analysis of factors, wherein the factors comprise at least one of weather, listenership, ratings, previously played advertising, upcoming programming, day of the week and time of day;

responsive to the performed analysis, instruct a third party radio station, remote from the hub, to preempt a scheduled first ad with a second ad, and provide the second ad to the third party radio station; then

provide, to the recorder, broadcasting parameters associated with the radio station;

the recorder is configured to:

detect an approximate start time of a broadcast of the second ad, wherein the detection includes monitoring, based on the provided broadcasting parameters, for occurrence of a broadcast mark;

record the second ad broadcast from the mark to an approximate end time of the second ad broadcast, wherein the approximate end time is calculated based on a timed length and the detected approximate start time of the second ad broadcast;

the data collector configured to:

retrieve, from the recorder, at least the recorded second ad broadcast;

analyze the retrieved second ad broadcast;

compare said analyzed second ad broadcast with the second ad provided to the third party radio station, wherein the comparing comprises peak matching of the analyzed second ad broadcast with the second ad provided to the third party radio station; and

generate a report to verify preempting and broadcasting of the second ad, the report including a result of the comparison and the recorded second ad broadcast.

22. A method comprising:

at a master controller of a hub,

performing real-time analysis of factors including environmental conditions, media audience, day of the week and time of day;

responsive to the performed analysis, instructing a third party broadcasting station, remote from the hub, to preempt a scheduled first media play with a second media play, and providing the second media to the third party broadcasting station; and

providing, to a recorder controlled by the hub's master controller and disposed remotely from the hub master controller, broadcasting parameters associated with the third party broadcasting station and a fingerprint of the second media;

at the recorder,

monitoring plays broadcast by the third party broadcasting station, based on the provided broadcasting parameters;

detecting the fingerprint of the second media among the monitored plays to identify an approximate staff time of a broadcast of the second media;

calculating an approximate end time of the second media broadcast based on a timed length and the identified approximate start time of the second media broadcast; and

recording the second media broadcast from the approximate start time to the approximate end time;

at a data collector of the hub disposed remotely from the recorder,

retrieving at least the recorded second media broadcast;

isolating the second media from the retrieved second media broadcast;

peak-matching said isolated second media with the second media provided to the third party broadcasting station, and

generating a report to verify preempting and broadcasting of the second media, the report including a result of the peak-matching and the recorded second media broadcast.

23. The method of claim 22 , further comprising storing the generated report for Sarbanes Oxley reporting.