The Job of a Radio Station Manager

To be the station manager of a radio station is a job that is stressful and exciting. You are in charge of the radio programs that are aired and in charge of hiring on-air personalities, audio engineers, as well as radio producers for your station. At some larger radio broadcasting companies, the station manager will need to report to the vice president or president of the company as this company may own more than one radio station.

Station Manager Job Description

Your job description as a station manager will be to oversee each and every radio program that is on your station. As a station manager for radio, you get to make all of the final decisions when it comes to what content is aired, what song are to be played, what news stories are included and more. You delegate these various responsibilities over to each radio DJ and producer in charge of their own shows, but the final decisions are ultimately yours. The station manager for radio can be further broken into sales manager, general station manager, traffic manager, content manager, and others depending on the needs and size of the radio station.

Training

There is nothing specific that you have to study to be a station manager for radio, as you usually work your way up into this position from other smaller radio jobs. A degree in communications, radio production, music, or business management will be helpful if you want to be successful in this job. The radio programs that you choose to have must be interesting and chosen carefully. A course in marketing, advertising, and media will also be of great help.

How to Become a Station Manager

Becoming a station manager will require that you have excellent knowledge of the radio production industry and work very hard to improve your skills and contacts. This will see you as a popular radio professional and will help to get you a job as a station manager, earning a great station manager salary. You should start off your radio career as a radio DJ or even a radio producer if you can as this is where most station managers have started. You can even work your way up from being an audio engineer, to DJ, to producer, and then station manager. If you start your own online radio station, you can be the station manager from the start.

Salary

The station manager, being the highest positions of all the radio jobs, will get the highest salary. The station manager salary will obviously depend on the size of the radio station, where the station is based, and whether it is online or offline. In general a radio station manager will receive an income of between $65,000 and $70,000 annually.