The Radio Television Digital News Association reports that in the 20 years that it has conducted its annual Newsroom Staffing study, the median radio news operation consists of one full-time staffer. That number hasn’t changed this year, but those staffers are becoming responsible for more stations.
The number of radio news directors overseeing two or more stations has jumped from 53% last year to 62% in the most recent study. The majority of those (28%) handle two, but more than 22% handle four or more stations.
RTDNA found only slight variations in other key figures when it comes to radio newsroom staffing. The number of multistation local groups that operate with a centralized newsroom went up from 79.4% to 81%. The number of full time workers went down 0.3 points from the previous year, but it increased the same amount for part-time workers. There was an increase in new and replacement hires for radio stations as well (0.3 and 0.5, respectively) but the media was still zero.
To see the entirety of RTDNA’s report, click here.
