1. CREDITS
Michael Bowlds, RMP I WKU Student Researcher
Dick Taylor, CRMC/CDMC I WKU Faculty Advisor, School of Journalism & Broadcasting
WKU Office of Research & Development I Funding
MEthodology
This FUSE Research Grant Project conducted an anonymous survey of Kentucky radio station General Managers and Pro-
gram Directors who are members of the Kentucky Broadcasters Association. General Managers and Program Directors were
separated into those that manage or oversee music oriented radio stations and those that manage or oversee talk oriented
radio stations.The Kentucky Broadcasters Association emailed their membership during May and June 2013 inviting General
Managers and Program Directors to anonymously take the online survey. WKU’s Easy Survey program was used. There are
300 radio stations in the database of KBA membership. Those stations are managed by 120 General Managers and 100
Program Directors. Our response rate for GM’s was 27.5% and for PD’s 11%. This is considered an excellent response rate
for an online survey.
OBJECTIVE
Our objective was to see how radio would look as we approached in the industry’s one hundredth birthday in the year 2020.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Radio PRogram Director Survey
As well as General Managers, we surveyed the Program Directors of
Kentucky radio stations via a survey link distributed by the Kentucky
Broadcasters Association during the month of June 2013.While the
number of Program Directors who participated was much smaller
than that of the General Managers, their results filled the missing
pieces and gave us a complete picture of Kentucky Radio Opera-
tions. Participation in our survey was voluntary and anonymous.
For future job opportunities, 71% of those surveyed said that they
will be in Sales. After that it was tied at 43% between Engineer-
ing and Air Personalities and then 29% for Internet Directors.These
numbers agree with the General Manger results that Sales is, with-
out a doubt, the largest growing area of Kentucky Radio and Engi-
neering/Internet Directors are not too far behind.
On the subject of how many stations they would manage in the
future, Program Directors agreed that they would either manage the
same or oversee more.
Program Directors’ results concurred with the trend of our survey
that Kentucky radio stations tend to use satellite/network/syndi-
cated types of programming versus voice-tracking.
The majority of directors indicated that about 75% of their pro-
gramming was hosted by a live, local personality. However, all of
the talk directors showed that only 25% of their programming was
hosted live and locally.
In the area of social media, all of the directors said they use Face-
book and over half use Twitter as well.
For both music and talk, the programming is mostly picked by the
Local Program Director. Most music stations don’t survey their lis-
teners on what to play though most do feature local artists on some
type of scheduled basis.The talk directors agreed with the talk man-
agers’ results that local guests are featured at the very least on a
weekly basis.
When it comes to future programming with live and local talk show
hosts, it is split between half and less than a quarter.Taken with the
results of the talk General Managers, we can see that talk programs
featuring live and local hosts will play an important role in the fu-
ture of Kentucky talk radio.
The majority of the directors who participated in our survey told us
they have worked in radio at least five years.
Along with those of the General Managers, these results should be
used as a guide to future trends in radio as it approaches its 100th
birthday in the year 2020. We are grateful for the time spent by
top radio management of the Blue Grass State participating in our
survey. It is our hope that collectively Kentucky’s radio leaders have
been able to discern what the future of the radio industry will look
like in the years ahead.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Radio General Manager Survey
We surveyed the General Managers of Kentucky radio stations via
a survey link distributed by the Kentucky Broadcasters Association
during the month of June 2013. Participation in our survey was
voluntary and anonymous.
What we found was that the most job opportunities will be in the
area of sales (79%). It was by far the most predicted area for job
growth in radio in Kentucky in the years ahead. We also found that
increase in use of social media means that radio stations will be
adding Internet directors and content creators to their staffs.
General Managers have seen both the number of stations, as well
as the number of people they supervise increase substantially over
the past five years. However, managers surveyed see this trend of
consolidation has been maxed out and will remain much the same
as today going forward.
Kentucky radio stations tend to use satellite/network/syndicated
types of programming versus voice-tracking our survey found.
Half of the managers in our survey say a live, local personality now
only fills 25% or less of their program schedule.
When it comes to the use of social media, Facebook dominates with
Twitter in as a strong second place. Radio managers then listed a
variety of other methods, such as emails, clubs and their own web-
sites as distant third place.
More than half of those stations programming mainly music told us
they do not pick the music they play by local management. More-
over they don’t survey their listeners to find new music, and a quar-
ter say they never play music by local artists.
Talk stations on the other hand feature local guests on a daily or
weekly basis.
When it comes to live and local talk show hosts, the managers in
our survey said they see more of these locally produced programs
being created to fill their program day in the years ahead.
The majority of the managers who participated in our survey told us
they have worked in radio at least five years.
The results should be used as a guide to future trends in radio as
it approaches its 100th birthday in the year 2020. We are grateful
for the time spent by top radio management of the Blue Grass State
participating in our survey. It is our hope that collectively Kentucky’s
radio leaders have been able to discern what the future of the radio
industry will look like in the years ahead.
School of
Our Focus is Your Future
Our Focus is Your Future
Journalism & Broadcasting
School of
Journalism & Broadcasting
Kentucky Radio 2020

2. School of
Journalism & Broadcasting
PD 100%
PD 100%
GM 13% PD 14%
PD 14%
GM 88% PD 89%
GM 12% PD 11%
GM 69% PD 72%
GM 19% PD 29%
GM 6% PD 14%
GM 19% PD 14%
GM 13% PD 29%
GM 47% PD 100%
GM 33%
GM 63%
GM 37%
GM 86%
GM 20%
GM 25% PD 14%
GM 18%
PD 33%
GM 59% PD 75%
GM 41% PD 25%
GM 49% PD 30%
GM 36% PD 10%
GM 12% PD 60%
GM 67% PD 100%
GM 38% PD 56%
GM 33% PD 0%
GM 12%
GM 47%
GM 41% PD 63%
GM 6% PD 25%
GM 6%
PD 12%
GM 22% PD 56%
GM 9% PD 11%
GM 18%
GM 51%
GM 58% PD 0%
GM 8% PD 14%
GM 13% PD 14%
GM 8% PD 43%
GM 13% PD 29%
GM 79% PD 71%
GM 54% PD 29%
GM 50% PD 43%
GM 54% PD 29%
GM 42% PD 14%
GM 17% PD 14%
GM 29%
GM 21%
GM 21%
GM 17% PD 14%
GM 42% PD 0%
GM 3% PD 0%
GM 25% PD 0%
GM 17% PD 43%
GM 13% PD 57%
GM 29% PD 44%
GM 8% PD 14%
GM 33% PD 14%
GM 25% PD 14%
GM 5% PD 14%
HOW OFTEN DOYOU FEATURE MUSIC BY LOCALARTISTS?
Quarterly
Monthly
Weekly
Daily
Never
No response
HOW MUCH OF YOUR MUSIC PROGRAMMING
IS VOICE-TRACKED?
Three-quarters
Half
A quarter or less
WHO PICKS THE LOCAL TALK SHOW TOPICS?
Local Program Director
Show Host
Combination of above
HOW OFTEN DO YOUR TALK SHOWS FEATURE
LOCAL GUESTS?
Daily
Weekly
HOW MUCH OF YOUR STATION’S TALK SHOWS USED
TO BE HOSTED BY A LIVE, LOCAL HOST?
A quarter
IN THE FUTURE:
50% predict half will be done live and locally
50% say less than a quarter will be done this way
DO YOU SURVEY YOUR LISTENERS TO FIND NEW MUSIC?
No
Yes
WHO HIRES THE AIR TALENT?
GM/Station Mgr/PD together
Only the GM
Only the PD
Done outside the Station
DID YOU WORK IN RADIO 5-YEARS AGO?
Yes
No
AMOUNT OF PROGRAMMING HOSTED BY A LIVE,
LOCAL PERSONALITY
All of their programs
Three-quarters
Half of their programs
One-quarter of their programs
STAFF SIZE A GM/PD WILL LEAD IN 5-YEARS
21 or more people
16-20 people
11-15 people
6-10 people
1-5 people
NUMBER OF STATIONS A GM/PD OVERSEES TODAY
5 or more stations
4 stations
3 stations
2 stations
1 station
SOCIAL MEDIA USED BY KENTUCKY RADIO
Use Facebook
Use Twitter
Tumblr/Pinterest/MySpace+
HOW MUCH PROGRAMMING WILL BE SATELLITE/NET
WORK/SYNDICATED IN THE FUTURE?
Less than a quarter
One quarter
Half
Three-quarters
All of the programming
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN THE YEARS AHEAD
Sales
Air Personalities
Engineering
Internet Directors
News Directors
Reporters/Journalists
Traffic/Bookkeeping
Promotions Directors
General Manager
Other
WHO PICKS THE MUSIC?
Satellite/GM/Consultant/DJ
Local Program Director
Local PD/Group PD/Corporate
More than one above
None of the above
TheWKU FUSE Research Grant Project
conducted an anonymous survey of
Kentucky radio station General Managers
and Program Directors who are members
of the Kentucky BroadcastersAssociation.
Color key:
Michael Bowlds, RMP I Student Researcher
DickTaylor, CRMC/CDMC I Faculty Mentor
WKU FUSE Grant,WKU Office of Research I Funding
Kelley Coppinger I Design
General Manager
Program Directors