Academic Degrees

• Avoid abbreviations: Billy Bob, who has a doctorate in philosophy.
• Use an apostrophe in bachelor’s degree, a master’s, etc.
• There is no apostrophe in Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science.
• Use abbreviations such as B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. only when the need to identify many people by degree on first reference would make the preferred method cumbersome; use the abbreviations only after a full name and set the abbreviations off with commas: Samuel Cotton, Ph.D., lectured yesterday on bioethics.

Datelines

• Put the city name in CAPITAL LETTERS, usually followed by the state, country or territory where the city is located, abbreviated in accordance with AP Style abbreviations (see States below).
• Do not abbreviate Canadian provinces and territories.
• In most cases, use the conventionally accepted short form of a nation’s official name. Example: Argentina rather than Republic of Argentina. But there are exceptions.
• Use an article with El Salvador (but not with Gambia, Niger and so on).
• Within stories: Follow the city name with further identification in most cases where it is not in the same state or nation as the dateline city.

States

• Spell out the names of the states in text when they appear alone: Wildfires continued to rage through southern California yesterday.
• Abbreviate them when they appear in conjunction with the name of a city, town, village or military base: Needham, Mass., Oxnard Air Force Base, Calif.
• Do not abbreviate Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah (the two states that are not part of the contiguous United States and the states that are five letters or fewer).
• When abbreviating U.S. states in written text, as opposed to part of an address block, do so as follows: Ala., Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kan., Ky., La., Mass., Md., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., N.C., N.D., N.H., N.J., N.M.,N.Y., Neb., Nev., Okla., Ore., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.D., Tenn., Va., Vt., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.

United States

• As a noun, United States: The prime minister left for the United States yesterday.
• As an adjective, U.S. (no spaces): A U.S. soldier was killed in Baghdad yesterday.

Awards

• In award lists, such as the Crystal Radio Awards or Marconi Radio Awards, use the state abbreviations noted above – not the postal code abbreviations.
  
  Examples:
  News/Talk Station of the Year
  WBZ-AM Boston, Mass.
  
  Small Market Station of the Year
  WKDZ-FM Cadiz, Ky.

• 8VSB: 8-Level Vestigial Sideband Modulation. The technical standard for DTV transmission.
• ATSC: Advanced Television Systems Committee. International association establishing technical standards for digital TV.
• AWRT: American Women in Radio and Television. Promotes the role of women in broadcasting.
• BROADCAP: Broadcast Capital. Capital fund for minority investors in the broadcasting industry.
• CAB: Cable Advertising Bureau. Promotes cable TV as an advertising medium.
• CAB: Canadian Association of Broadcasters. The association of non-government broadcasters in Canada.
• CEA: Consumer Electronics Association.
• COFDM: Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing. The European technical standard for DTV transmission.
• COLRAM:Committee on Local Radio Audience Measurement. NAB committee that monitors the effectiveness of methods used for measuring radio audience listening.
• COLTAM: Committee on Local Television Audience Measurement. NAB committee that monitors the effectiveness of methods used for measuring TV audience viewing.
• CRTC: Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission. Canadian government agency responsible for regulating broadcasting and telecommunications systems.
• DAB: Digital Audio Broadcasting. Over-the-air digital radio.
• DBS: Direct Broadcast Satellite. Services that transmit programming to consumers by satellite dish. DMA: Designated Market Area. A geographic area used by Nielsen to identify a TV market.
• DTV: Digital Television.
• IBOC: In-Band On-Channel radio. The technology currently being used for the transition from analog radio to digital radio. Allows both analog and digital to be broadcast on the same frequency.
• LCCR: Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. A coalition partner on the DTV transition.
• LMA: Local Market Agreement. Agreement among station owners to share station operations.
• LPFM: Low Power FM. Small, non-profit radio stations with very limited range.
• LPM: Local People Meter. Nielsen’s new electronic device for gathering daily demographic ratings on TV viewing.
• LPTV: Low Power Television. Stations licensed to use low transmitter power, usually in areas not locally served by full-power stations.
• MPAA: Motion Picture Association of America.
• MRC: Media Ratings Council. Accredits services for measuring media audiences, such as those provided by Nielsen and Arbitron. NAB has a seat on the Council.
• MSO: Multi-System Operator. A company that owns or operates more than one cable system.
• MSRC: Media Security and Reliability Council. An advisory committee to the FCC on the security of TV broadcasting sources.
• NABEF: National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation
• NABPAC: National Association of Broadcasters Political Action Committee
• NABOB: National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters. Promotes the role of African Americans in the broadcasting industry.
• NASA: Network Affiliated Stations Alliance. An advocacy organization representing network affiliates before the FCC.
• NASBA: National Alliance of State Broadcast Associations
• NATPE: National Association of Television Program Executives. Represents program producers and syndicators.
• NCTA: National Cable & Telecommunications Association
• NTIA: National Telecommunications and Information Administration. A division of the U.S. Department of Commerce concerned with the effective use of telecommunications in the U.S.
• NTSC: National Television Systems Committee. The NTSC Standard is the technical standard, established in 1953, for TV broadcasting in the U.S.
• PPM: Portable People Meter. Electronic device that measures TV and radio audiences both in and out of the home.
• PSIP: Program and System Information Protocol. Technical method assisting with the digital broadcasting of TV programs. Standard established by the ATSC.
• PTAR: Prime Time Access Rule. Establishes what portion of prime time may be devoted to network versus local programming.
• PTC: Parents Television Council. A watchdog group promoting family-friendly TV programming.
• RAB: Radio Advertising Bureau. An association promoting over-the-air radio as an advertising medium.
• RIAA: Recording Industry Association of America
• RTDNA: Radio Television Digital News Association. The trade association serving the electronic news profession.
• SBCA: Satellite Broadcast Communication Association. The trade association of DBS TV and radio program services.
• SBE: Society of Broadcast Engineers. Professional association.
• SMPTE: Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. Develops broadcast engineering standards.
• TVB: Television Bureau of Advertising. Promotes over-the-air TV as an advertising medium.
• WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization.