Public Radio Leads Radio In Staffing Newsrooms

The latest RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey shows the typical (median) radio news operation has a full-time news staff of 2 for the second year in a row. The average is approaching 4 (3.7). Once again, the larger staff results from public radio. Commercial radio has an average of 2.7 staffers, but the median remains at 1. Non-commercial radio averages 6.7 with a median of 3.

The increases vary across the board. Large and medium markets are up in average staff size; major and small markets each slipped by 0.2. The median staff size is up in major and large markets and remains the same in medium and small markets. Part time mostly is up or even. Overall, mostly a win.

The overall staff size difference between commercial and non-commercial stations remains steady at around 3:1, non-commercial to commercial, but non-commercial stations are more likely to be found in large and major markets.

As usual, the larger the market, the larger the news staff is likely to be. 

The problem isn’t anywhere near the level as it is in TV, but staff burnout in radio is relatively high — with 41.4% of news directors and general managers saying they see more evidence of burnout this year. The problem was the worst in major markets (58.5%) and in the largest newsrooms (62.9%). Non-commercial stations were higher than commercial ones, but the difference was just 4 points.