The number of minorities at radio stations reached a ’90s-era high, and women news directors in TV reached an all-time high according to the latest report, released Monday afternoon, from RTDNA/Hofstra University Annual Survey.
Still, as far as minorities are concerned, the bigger picture remains unchanged. In the last 24 years, the minority population in the U.S. has risen 11 points; but the minority workforce in TV news is up less than half that (4.6), and the minority workforce in radio is up 2.2.
Some other points from the report:
— In TV news, minorities made up more than 22 percent of total employment, marking a 13 year high.
— Smaller stations have more minorities.
— On TV, “For the first time, black women outnumber black men. It’s close, and black men still outnumber black women in top 25 markets, but, overall, the balance has tipped.”
— There are more women working as TV news directors than ever before, at 30.8 percent, but “that’s 0.6 higher than the previous record set two years ago.” Those women are working at bigger stations.
— On the radio, there are 2.5 percent more women working as news directors.
— On radio news staffs, the numbers remained the same:
News staffs with women stayed largely the same. Women as a percentage of the workforce fell from last year’s 34.2% to this year’s 31.1%. Again, non-commercial stations employed a higher percentage of women than commercial stations.
