2012 RTDNA/Hofstra Newsroom Study Looks At Station Websites

Newsroom Study Looks At Station Websites

Almost all radio stations have websites (while every TV station running local news has one) and about 80% include local news on those sites, the latest release from the RTDNA/HOFSTRA study of broadcast newsrooms asserts.

The fourth part of BOB PAPPER's annual study shows 100% of major and large-market stations, 92.3% in medium markets, and 96.8% in small markets with websites.  83.3% of major-market station websites include local news; 84.6% of large market stations, 78.9% of medium-market stations, and 76.7% of small-market stations feature local news on their sites.  Fewer offer blogs and websites, and "assemble your own newscast" offerings dropped to zero this year.  Unlike for TV, very few stations offered their own apps, and only 24.7% of stations' web content is exclusive to the web.  Only 6.5% of radio websites include user-generated content.  Staffing, despite what radio news directors told PAPPER, has gone down from 1.2 to 0.7 average full-time web staffers.

12.8% of radio websites reported a profit, with another 12.8% breaking even and 14.7% losing money; 59.6% "don't know."  The numbers represent a 3% decline in the number of stations making a profit.

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