RTDNA/Hofstra Study Shows Gains For Women, Minorities In Radio Newsrooms

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Part 7 of the RTDNA/HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY 2012 TV and Radio News Staffing and Profitability Survey focuses on minority and female representation on news staffs, and radio showed a rise in the percentage of both minority and female staffers and news directors on the radio side.

Radio news's minority workforce rose from 7.1% in 2011 to 11.7% in 2012, still well below the proportion of minorities in the general population (36.3% in 2012) and below 1995's peak of 14.7% in radio.  In radio news, 88.3% of staffers are Caucasian, with 5.2% African-American (up from 3.9% in 2011), 4.6% Hispanic (up from 2.6%), 0.8% Asian-American (up from zero), and 1.1% Native American (up from 0.6%).  Non-commercial stations had more than double the percentage of minority staffers as commercial stations (18.5% to 7.3%).  Market size made a difference -- the larger the market,the higher the minority percentage -- but staff size had no effect.  The percentage of minority radio news directors rose 2.5%, with gains in every ethnic minority category.

The percentage of women as news directors almost doubled from 10.7% to 19.1%, and women as a percentage of radio news staffs rose over 10%.

Also in the study, 95.3% of radio General Managers were Caucasian and 80.7% were male.  This represented a gain for women but a loss for minorities.

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