PUBLIC RADIO TRAINING & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SURVEYRESEARCH REPORT
TRAINING ACTIVITIES
"I am in favor of as many training sessions as possible. I will never feel like I know everything "there is to know" in the business. And I encourage my staff to assume the same mindset. It keeps us ahead of the curve."
What kinds of training activities have survey participants experienced in the past year?
- Only 27% of respondents claimed not to have participated in any type of conference or professional gathering in the past year. 25% have participated in three or more of these activities in the past twelve months.
- Among all stations, median attendance was two conferences in the past year; for stations in the top 50 markets, median attendance was three conferences in the past year.
- Three of four have participated in some kind of training activity in the past twelve months. Participation was slightly greater for top 50 market stations.
- The chart below shows [Survey Question 9] the percentage of survey respondents that have participated in different types of training activities in the past twelve months. [Because more than one training activity could be chosen, percentages exceed 100%]
Areas of training with greatest participation in the past year:
- Management Development
- Software training
- Development - Membership & Underwriting
For top 50 market stations, the areas of training with greatest participation in the past year were:
- Development - Membership & Underwriting
- Management Development
- Strategic Planning
- Software Training
Where did this training take place [Question 10]?
- The vast majority of training occurred at the station or within the context of a public radio related conference. [Because more than one training activity could be chosen, percentages exceed 100%]
- Only 4% participated in any kind of training over the Internet.
Personal Interest
The survey asked respondents about their personal level of interest [Question 11] in furthering their skills in several areas. Responses were on a 1 to 5 scale, with "1" representing "Very Interested," and "5" representing "Not At All Interested." The lower the average score, the greater the interest expressed in each area.
- The areas of greatest personal interest for training were:
- Increasing audience size or loyalty
- Management Development
- Strategic Planning
- Software training
- It is important to keep in mind that personal interest in these topics is likely to be dependent on the position held at a station, and on the percentage of different areas that are represented in this survey. For example, engineering was represented by only 2% of the respondents.
Respondents were then asked about the importance to their station or organization of furthering skills in several areas [Question 12]. Responses again were on a 1 to 5 scale, with "1" representing "Very Interested," and "5" representing "Not At All Interested." The lower the average score, the greater the interest expressed in each area.
- The areas of greatest the importance to the station or organization for training were:
- Development - Membership & Underwriting
- Increasing Audience size and loyalty
- Personal Skills [i.e. Stress management, interpersonal communication]
- Management Development
- Software training
- What training content did managers rate as important stations?
- Development - Membership & Underwriting
- Increasing Audience size and Loyalty
- Management Development
- Personal skills [i.e. Stress management, interpersonal communication]
- Software training
- Improving Reporting, writing, & editing
- Improving the quality of production
- What training did top 50 market stations rate as important?
- Development - Membership & Underwriting
- Increasing Audience size and Loyalty
- Personal skills [i.e. Stress management, interpersonal communication]
- Management development
- Announcing training
- Software training
- Improving Reporting, writing, & editing
"Training programs are most effective when you can engage the participation of many staff from your station simultaneously -- this way everyone is learning the "same thing at the same time." When this doesn't happen, the person who attended such a program is sometimes shunned because their co-workers just don't understand things on the same level. Some of the people who attended the workshop can turn into a zealot as a result of what they've just learned and everyone else just "doesn't get it" because they didn't go through the same experience."
Some types of training are more general in scope, and may be successfully offered by private companies or universities. Others must be specifically designed for use in public radio. Which types of training fit these descriptions most? Survey participants answered in this question [Question 13].
- While rated very important in previous questions, Management development and personal skills training are the training activities least required to be designed specifically for public radio professionals.
- Two-thirds or more agreed that development, audience growth, and announcing training should be conducted in programs specifically designed for public radio.
- Managers responded to this question almost precisely the same as the entire survey sample. There were no significant differences.
"I find that the small group and one-on-one interaction is invaluable. Not convinced that kind of training would be effective over the Internet."We discovered that only 4% of the survey sample has experienced any kind of training via the Internet. But what of the future? Might the Internet be a viable medium for the future of training? What types of training would be most appropriate for cyberspace? Survey respondents answered in Question 14. Responses were on a 1 to 5 scale, with "1" representing "Very Interested," and "5" representing "Not At All Interested." The lower the average score, the greater the interest expressed in Internet training for each area.
- While overall Interest in most areas of training was relatively high, Interest in Internet-based training remains lukewarm at best. Only two items - Training for improving membership and underwriting [development] and training to increase the size and loyalty of audiences - rated more favorable than 2.5 on this five point scale. Response from top 50 markets was only slightly more favorable to Internet based training.
- The fact that so few individuals have experienced Internet-based training may account for some of this response. It is often difficult to determine how effective a training medium will be until it is tested and experienced.
"People who attend or participate in training/professional development activities see the organization in a whole different light. They return from the experience with new energies and ideas which could help the organization to reach new heights. However, when a station is on a tight budget, it's very difficult to remember the positive impact from the last training program."
Expressing the need for training and an interest in participating is one part of identifying need. But determining whether, and how much, stations and individuals will pay for this training is another matter.
- For the entire survey sample, the average annual training budget is $11,136. The median annual training budget is $5,000.
- Including only responses by general or station managers, the average annual training budget is $7,932. The median annual training budget is $4,000.
- 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 survey sample.
"I feel it is unrealistic to expect public radio employees to "invest" much money in training opportunities until there is an indication that the system is likely to "invest" in increased salaries and promotional opportunities for staff system-wide."
If extensive training and professional development is to be a part of public radio's future, funding will likely come from a variety of sources, including individuals hoping to advance their knowledge through training.Would public radio professionals be likely to help pay for their own training? Survey Question 15 asked how likely individuals would be to use their personal funds to attend a training activity.
- Nearly half of the sample indicated that they would be "Very Likely" or "Likely" to help fund a training experience from their personal funds. One of three was not sure, and about 23% were "Unlikely" or "Very Unlikely" to do so. There was no significant difference in response to this question based on market size.
How much might spent by individuals on any single training opportunity?
- For the entire survey sample, 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.
Funding from Stations and Organizations
"Fortunately, my station does invest in people and training of all types. There's always room for improvement."
We have already determined that the average amount spent on training for the entire survey sample was $11,136, with the median annual training budget $5,000. What is the potential for stations to budget for training if they are convinced of its usefulness?The answers do not indicate an untapped set of resources.
The amount that stations would invest in training is almost identical to the amount they already are investing.
- The average figure was $11,581, only a 4% increase over current spending.
- The average figure for the top 50 markets was $19,415, only a 5% increase over current spending.
- The information is slightly more encouraging when including only responses by general or station managers. The average training budget increase figure is $8,875, a 12% increase over current spending.
"We basically try to hire people who already are trained."
To obtain a context of the importance of training, survey participants were asked [Question 18] to rank several station priorities in order of importance.Responses were ranked from 1 to 8, with "1" representing the "Most Important Priority," and "8" representing "Least Important Priority." The lower the average score, the higher the overall priority to survey participants.
- These data do not indicate a clear consensus, but do indicate that training is not a top priority compared to most of these other activities.
- Adding 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.
- Among managers, training ranked fifth of eight possible choices. Adding staff and investing in local programming were also their two highest-ranking priorities, with salary increases third. 9% of managers ranked training as their top priority. 4% ranked it as the least important among these priorities.
- In responses from the top 50 markets, training ranked fifth of eight choices on average. Ranking ahead of training were: adding staff, investing in local programming, building an Internet site, and staff salary increases.
Training Survey Report
Who Responded?
Market Trends Research Incorporated
727-784-0967
info@MarketTrendsResearch.com
