As a barter radio network, part of our pitch to prospective affiliates has been: Instead of letting your unsold commercial inventory “go to waste,” give them to us in exchange for some top-notch news and sports to enhance your station’s programming. Win-win.

So Google buys dMarc Brodcasting, a radio advertising firm whose technology allows national advertisers to buy unsold station inventory, and automatically inserts those commercials into the stations’ unsold slots.

In the online world, Google AdWords enables advertisers to find the lowest-possible rates publishers will take, and helps publishers find the highest-paying spots. This technology could greatly enhance the process of national ad buys — making it more efficient on both ends. [Analysis by RAIN]

Big Question: Will barter networks like ours someday (soon) have to compete for this inventory? Will station managers put his unsold avails in a big Google basket rather than barter them for programming? That might not be the question at all. I don’t pretend to understand what’s happening here. And there has always been rep outfits that promised to sell a station’s unsold avails, but most stations wisely steered clear of hese guys. Be interesting to see where Google heads with this technology.