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PUBLIC RADIO TRAINING & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SURVEY
RESEARCH REPORT
Presented by
Peter Dominowski
Market Trends Research Inc.September 2000
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TRAINING SURVEY BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES
HOW TO READ TABLES AND CHARTS
WHO RESPONDED?
EMPLOYMENT
STATION LICENSEE
MARKET SIZE
ANNUAL BUDGET
PUBLIC RADIO EXPERIENCE
FISCAL YEAR
AGE
GENDER
ETHNICITY
TRAINING ACTIVITIES
TRAINING PRIORITIES
Personal Interest
Station Interest
METHODS OF TRAINING
INVESTING IN TRAINING
Current Training Expenditures
Funding from Individuals
Funding from Stations and Organizations
TRAINING AS A PRIORITY
HOW TRAINING MAKES A DIFFERENCE
RESPONSES FROM MANAGERS
RESPONSES FROM PROGRAMMERS
RESPONSES FROM DEVELOPMENT DIRECTORS
RESPONSES FROM OTHERS
CONCLUSION
ATTACHMENTS
PUBLIC RADIO TRAINING & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SURVEY
"Training and professional development are critical to the future growth and advancement of our product, public radio...and the individual stations."
- In August 2000, Market Trends Research Inc. developed an online survey to provide knowledge about attitudes and behavior concerning training and professional development activities in public radio. 225 persons completed the survey, translating to a standard error in the responses of about +/- 7%.
- The goal of the survey is to obtain information to build a national training initiative that meets public radio's needs.
- Over one fourth of the surveys were completed by general or station managers. About two-thirds came from market sizes 20-50 and over 100. The remaining stations were equally divided between Top 20 markets and those ranked 51-100.
- 73% of respondents participated in at least one conference or professional gathering in the past year. 25% have participated in three or more of these activities in the past twelve months. 76% have participated in at least one training or professional development activity in the past year.
- Areas of training with greatest participation in the past year were: Management Development, Software Training, and Fund Raising.
- The areas of training with the greatest personal interest were: Increasing audience size or loyalty, Management Development, Strategic Planning, and Software training.
- The areas of greatest the importance to the station or organization for training were: Fund Raising, Increasing Audience size and loyalty, Personal Skills [i.e. Stress management, interpersonal communication], Management Development, and Software training.
- Two-thirds or more agreed that training related to fund raising development, audience growth, and announcing should be conducted in programs specifically designed for public radio.
- Only four percent have experienced any type of Internet-based training. Only two areas - Training for improving membership and underwriting, and training to increase the size and loyalty of audiences - rated above average as possible Internet training possibilities.
- When asked to choose budgetary priorities, adding new staff and investing in local programming were the two priorities ranking highest on average. Training ranked sixth of eight possible choices. Only 8% of the sample ranked training as their top priority. 6% ranked training as the least important priority.
- The average annual training budget is $11,136. The median annual training budget is $5,000. For stations in the top 50 markets, the average annual training budget is $18,531. The median annual training budget is $10,000, twice as much as for the entire sample.
- What additional amount might stations invest in future training? The amount is almost identical to the current level of investment. The average future investment was only a 4% increase over current spending on training. The average figure for the top 50 markets was only a 5% increase over current spending.
- Would individuals help to fund future training opportunities? Yes, but to a very limited extent. The average amount an individual would spend on training was $340. The median amount was $200, although 28% indicated that they would be willing to spend $500 or more. These answers were not significantly different in responses from larger and smaller markets.
Market Trends Research Incorporated
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