A Job Analysis of Radio Announcing in a 250 Watt Commercial Station

This study was concerned with analyzing radio announcing by job analysis in a selected radio station within a somewhat representative group of radio stations. The purposes of the study were threefold: To define the type of radio station to be used in this study and to select the station staff from within this group. To determine the duties of the staff radio announcers of the selected station. To determine the requirements the job makes upon the radio announcer for successful performance, and what training the potential announcer needs. Seven basic factors affecting the job characteristics of radio stations were defined and employed by the writer as criteria in the selection of radio station KOLN for the purpose of this study.KOLN is an unlimited time licensee, 250 watt, amplitude modulation, non-unionized, Mutual Broadcasting System affiliate, located in Lincoln, Nebraska, a city of 100,000 population, and employs combination radio announcer-control board operators. A job analysis of the duties and responsibilities of the KOLN radio announcers was made during the broadcast week of Friday, June 15, through Thursday, June 21, 1951.The daily program logs for the seven days were used as the source of the overall programming activities of the station and the program duties of the announcers.Five announcers were included in the job analysis; including the chief announcer and the program director. As a result of this study the following conclusions are indicated: The tasks of radio announcing are relatively simple. Radio announcing can be acquired by apprenticeship, but can be acquired better through college training. The radio announcer must do more than announce. He must produce programs involving the editing and building of newscasts and sportscasts, and the moderating of informal discussion programs. Therefore he needs broader training than mere microphone techniques. The promotion of the radio announcer in the radio industry is contingent upon his ability to do more than announce. Advisor: Leroy T. Laas