Aircheck is the radio industry term for a recording that has dual meanings: a demonstration to show off the talent of an announcer or programmer to a prospective employer, and an archival record of content broadcast over-the-air made for legal archiving purposes.
In an unscoped aircheck, all programming is left intact and unedited, including music, commercials, newscasts, jingles and other on-air events.
The term is also applied by some to recordings made "off-the-air" by listeners, using consumer or semi-professional equipment.
One of the oldest known surviving airchecks consists of a 15-minute broadcast by Bing Crosby on Los Angeles station KHJ and the CBS network from September 2, 1931.
The recordings were made by RCA Victor at the request of rival network NBC, which apparently wanted to monitor the then-rising young singer.
Airchecks are also recorded at radio stations to send to clients to demonstrate how their live commercials, remote breaks or contests sounded.
Many have been donated to online aircheck "museums", such as Reelradio, Airchexx.com by Archivist Steve West in Connecticut, and Rock Radio Scrapbook by Dale Patterson in Canada.
With the advent of video sharing websites such as YouTube, video airchecks have been posted, and made viewable by the public, of TV programs (including news programs, sporting events, short-lived sitcoms and game shows) not seen since their original broadcast, or otherwise previously considered rare or even lost.