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E M P LO Y M E N T O U T L O O K IN RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTING OCCUPATIONS UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR OCCUPATIONAL # BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS in cooperation with VETERANS ADMINISTRATION OUTLOOK SERIES • BULLETIN NO. 958 U N ITED STATES D EPARTM EN T OF LABOR M a u r ic e J. T o b in , Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS E w an C la g u e , Commissioner in cooperation with VETERANS A D M IN ISTRATIO N EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK IN RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTING OCCUPATIONS BULLETIN NO. 958 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. Price 30 cents Letter of Transmittal U nited States D epartment of L abor, B ureau of L abor Statistics, W ashington , D . C ., A p r il 8 0 , 1 9 4 9 . The Secretary of L abor : I have the honor to transmit herewith a report on the employment outlook in radio and television broadcasting occupations. This is one of a series of occupational studies conducted in the Bureau’s Occupational Outlook Branch for use in vocational counseling of veterans, young people in schools, and others interested in choosing a field of work. The study was financed largely by the Veterans Administration, and the report was originally published as Veterans Administration Pamphlet 7-4.9 for use in vocational rehabilitation and education activities. The study was prepared, under the supervision of Helen W ood, by Raymond D. Larson, with contributions by John S. M cCauley and Cora S. Cronemeyer. The Bureau wishes to acknowledge the generous assistance and cooperation received in connection with the study from the Federal Com munications Commission, and from representatives of management and of unions in the broadcasting industry. The cover photograph is by courtesy of Television Station W OIC, Washington, D. C. E wan C lague, Com m issioner . Hon. M aurice J. T obin, Secretary o f Labor . CONTENTS IN T R O D U C T IO N : The Broadcasting Industry and Its Employees____________ Broadcasting Occupations________________________________ Outlook__________________________________________________ Earnings_________________________________________________ Page 1 1 6 8 STATE O U TLO O K S T A T E M E N T S: Maine____________________________________________________ New Hampshire and Vermont____________________________ Massachusetts________________________ Connecticut and Rhode Island____________________________ New York City— Northeastern New Jersey Metropolitan Area___________________________________________________ Up-State New Y ork______________________________________ New Jersey_______________________________________________ Pennsylvania_____________________________________________ Delaware, Maryland, and District of Columbia___________ Michigan_________________________________________________ Wisconsin________________________________________________ Ohio______________________________________________________ Indiana___________________________________________________ Illinois___________________________________________________ Minnesota________________________________________________ North Dakota and South D akota_________________________ Iowa and Nebraska_______________________________________ Missouri and Kansas______________________________________ Virginia__________________________________________________ North Carolina___________________________________________ South Carolina___________________________________________ Georgia___________________________________________________ Alabama__________________________________________________ Mississippi________________________________________________ Arkansas_________________________________________________ Louisiana_________________________________________________ Florida__________________________________________________ West Virginia_____________________________________________ Kentucky_________________________________________________ Tennessee________________________________________________ Oklahoma_______________________ Texas___________________________________________________ Idaho and Montana______________________________________ Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada_____________________________ IV 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 21 22 23 26 27 28 29 31 33 34 36 37 39 40 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 50 51 52 55 56 58 Page Colorado_________________________________________________ New M exico______________________________________________ Arizona__________________________________________________ Washington_____________________________________________ Oregon___________________________________________________ California_________________________________________________ 59 61 62 63 64 65 ILLU STR ATIO N S: Map 1 Broadcasting Employment in 1947 by State______ VI Maps showing location of television stations operating, under construction, and applied for by region: Map 2 New England States____________________________ Map 3 Middle Atlantic States__________________________ Map 4 Great Lakes Region_____________________________ Map 5 Midwest States__________________________________ M ap 6 Southeastern States_____________________________ Map 7 West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee_________ Map 8 Oklahoma and Texas____________________________ Map 9 R ocky Mountain Region andPacific Northwest___ Map 10 California_______________________________________ 10 16 24 32 38 49 53 57 66 V MAP BROADCASTING EMPLOYMENT IN 1947 Number of Full-Time Workers Employed by Stations and Networks in Week Ending October II, 1947 2000 and over .SJ^TE.S»/?iP»Jll.,!,»E» .L 0F LAB0R BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS SOURCE: federal communications commission data INTRODUCTION Radio broadcasting is one of the most dynamic industries in the United States. Twice in the last 30 years it has made a revolutionary change in our way of living. Through sound radio it has brought entertainment and education to almost every home in the country. Now, through the miracle of television, it is transforming the easy chair into a box seat to entertainment and to many of our most important national events. Thousands of veterans and other young people are attracted by the vision of a job in this fascinat ing industry. To help them evaluate their chances of getting jobs in radio, they need answers to ques tions such as: How many people work in broad casting? How many are in the occupation in which I am interested, in the country as a whole and in my State and nearby States? What training is needed? Are the jobs easy or hard to get at the present time? What will be the prospects when I complete my training 2, 3, or 4 years from now? The first part of this report presents information on these and related questions for the industry as a whole. Topics discussed include the volume of employment and organization of the industry; the occupational groups employed in broadcasting, the nature of their work and qualifications needed; the employment outlook; and earnings. The sec ond part deals with the outlook for employment and with earnings by States. The Broadcasting Industry and Its Employees The radio broadcasting industry in the United States is made up of four Nation-wide networks, three regional networks, and a sizeable number of independent stations. In addition, a number of groups of stations are banded together as networks on a more informal basis. They have no network personnel. B y mid-1949, the networks and more than 2,000 affiliated and independent stations will have a total full-time staff o f around 45,000 people. All but a few hundred of the stations will be A M (standard broadcast) or combination A M -F M (frequency modulation). There probably will be around 300 separate FM stations and 100 T V (television) stations, most of the latter operated by the licensees of A M or FM outlets. Radio stations vary in size from 100-watt sta tions with a handful of workers to 50,000-watt sta tions with staffs of well over 100. The Federal Communications Commission classifies A M sta tions by power as clear-channel (5,000 to 50,000 watts), regional (500 to 5,000 watts), or local (less than 500 watts). In October 1947, when the lat est available employment survey was made by FCC, the 77 clear-channel stations reporting (ex cluding network key stations)1 had an average of 75 full-time employees per station; the 472 re gional stations had an average of 30 employees; and the 700 local stations, an average of only 14 employees each, for a total of about 10,000 workers altogether. Clear-channel stations are generally located in large cities, regional stations in large and medium-sized cities, and local stations mainly in smaller communities, although some are found in larger towns. About one out of every six workers employed full time in broadcasting was on the staff of one of the Nation-wide networks or of their 10 key sta tions, in October 1947. These networks and their key outlets also employed many of the free-lance artists working in the industry. The bulk of these employees were in three cities— New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Where are the radio and television broadcasting jobs? The maps in this pamphlet show every tele vision station operating, under construction, or for which an application had been made for a construction permit as of November 1, 1948. The location of A M and FM stations is shown in the maps in VA Pamphlet 7-4.2, Occupational Outlook Information— Long-Range Employment Prospects by State and Region: Radio Repairmen and Other Electronic Technicians. Broadcasting Occupations The numbers of workers employed in different occupational groups as reported in the Federal Communications Commission’s 1947 survey are 1 There were 10 stations which in addition to operating as local stations acted as the originating outlets for most network programs. l shown in tables 1 and 2. Table 1 gives figures on employment in a large number of different occupa tions for the networks and A M stations with 15 or more employees. At smaller stations, workers frequently “ double” in different types of work. Men whose primary duties are in the technical or commercial depart ments, for example, may spend a few hours a week doing announcing. Or announcers may write program material, operate controls, and sell time. Because of this interchangeability, stations with fewer than 15 employees report employment only by broad occupational groups. Employment at the smaller stations in October 1947 is shown in table 2. Besides full-time workers, networks and AM stations had about 4,000 nonstaff program em ployees (those who work on a per-program or con tract basis) in October 1947. In addition there were about 4,300 other part-time workers. These part-time workers are included in tables 1 and 2 but not in the tables accompanying the State statements in the second part of this report. Program Employees Program employees either participate in broad casts or telecasts or are responsible for the prepara tion of shows. Announcers comprise by far the biggest group of program workers.2 In October 1947, the indus try had roughly 5,000 full-time employees whose only or chief duties were announcing. In addition, there were a few hundred free-lance announcers in the three major centers of the industry. Most announcers get their first jobs in small radio stations, where, because of limited staffs, announcers are frequently required to perform nearly all duties assigned to program departments. These usually include writing, news casting, and sound effects. In addition, small-station an nouncers sometimes have to go outside the usual sphere of the “ program” department and operate controls or sell time. For this reason, applicants with FCC first-class radio-telephone licenses or a flair for salesmanship have an advantage in getting jobs. At larger stations the work of announcers is more specialized. Here their duties are generally con fined to reading commercials and news flashes, 2 For additional information on this occupation, see Occupational Out look Handbook (U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin No. 940, prepared in cooperation with Veterans Administration), 1948, p. 111. 2 identifying stations, and acting as masters of cere monies. The best-known announcers are those who have established themselves in such specialties as sports announcing and newscasting, or are per sonalities on well-known radio shows. Almost all announcers are men. The prime re quirement for those expecting to become an nouncers is a good voice. In addition, a wellrounded education and a thorough knowledge of the English language are needed. According to a recent survey by this Bureau of announcers affili ated with the American Federation of Radio Ar tists, over two-thirds of those in big cities had some college training and about one-third had college degrees. In reply to a question regarding their specific training for this work, only about half reported radio announcing as their major field of training, while 1 out of 5 had specialized in drama tics, and 1 out of 12 in either public speaking, sing ing, or writing. Many announcers had some train ing in all these fields. As essential as a good voice and sufficient educa tion is the ability to deal readily with unusual situ ations. For jobs in telecasting, announcers must also meet particularly rigid standards as to per sonal appearance. Singers are a much smaller occupational group. During a week in October 1947, fewer than 800 solo and group singers were employed full or part time by the networks and larger stations (table 1). Only 161 of these singers were employed on a full time basis; another 56 were part-time staff mem bers. In addition, 548 singers, who were not regu lar employees, worked for the stations and net works on a “ free-lance” or “ non-staff” basis at some time during the week. Other singers, who were not included in this count but who appeared on broadcasts during the same week, worked for advertising agencies, transcription companies (which make transcriptions for use exclusively in broadcasting), or radio stars with “ package” shows— mostly in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. A few sang at stations with less than 15 employees. The total number of singers who appear on broadcasts during a year is considerably larger than the number who work during a given week, since many singers have radio engagements very irregularly. One out of every two singers in the Bureau’s recent survey of radio artists had work on the radio in less than half the weeks of 1947. The proportion which had other employment be sides radio broadcasts was also about six out of Table 1.— Number of full- and part-time workers employed by networks and stations with 15 or more employees; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 Number of employees Full time T otal_____ ____. . ___________ 7 networks and 10 key stations Total Occupation ___ _ General officers and assistants__ __ _ __ ____ ____ Program employees: Supervisors._ ______ __ ______ .... Nonsupervisory: Staff: Announcers _ Singers . . . Sound-effects men Production men Musicians______ _ ______ _ __ Writers . . News personnel. Actors___ _____ _______ _ _ _ _ _ Other staff program employees ._ _____ Nonstaff: Announcers Singers Sound-effects men Production men Musicians___ Writers. News personnel Actors _ . Full time Part time Full time Part time 29,338 7,070 5,975 1,651 23,363 5,419 1,278 343 101 3 1,177 340 1,264 14 167 1 1,097 13 3,506 161 132 487 1,822 1,100 1,010 39 1,105 361 56 4 31 567 61 97 41 138 162 3 107 181 455 87 143 17 192 21 3,344 158 25 306 1,367 1,013 867 22 913 361 56 4 31 546 61 97 36 125 5 13 271 385 8 33 837 61 179 366 333 84 163 13 29 404 66 79 482 92 355 548 21 62 1,241 127 258 848 425 Other nonstaff program employees Technical employees: Chief engineers or supervisors. __ __ Studio engineers or technicians Transmitter engineers or technicians___ __ __ Research and development engineers. . . Other technical employees __ _____ Commercial employees: Supervisors _ Nonsupervisory : Salesmen. _ _ _ __ __ _ ____ _____ Other._ _____ Promotion and publicity employees: Supervisors. _ _ _ _____ Nonsupervisory _ Clerical employees: Supervisors ___ __ ___ __ __ __ Nonsupervisory____ Building-service employees___________ __ ______ _ _ .. All other emplovees._____ ____ _____ . _ Part time Other stations1 1,047 2,788 2,271 138 156 46 145 182 4 28 78 527 70 70 56 509 6 65 1,656 191 86 18 159 36 269 516 12 26 65 236 572 5,825 1,249 247 15 442 346 116 190 2,272 465 71 2 9 1 2 20 138 24 969 2,261 2,201 68 100 44 145 173 4 27 444 6 1,497 155 84 18 204 280 12 26 382 3,553 784 176 15 422 208 92 1 The number of stations reporting full-time employees was ,706, but only 611 stations reported part-time staff employees or nonstaff program employees. Source; Federal Communications Commission, Employee and Compensation Data by Occupational Classification Reported by Standard Broadcast Stations, Nation-Wide Networks and Regional Networks, for the Week Ending Oct. 11, 1947. 3 Table 2.— Number of full- and part-time employees at 544 A M stations with fewer than 15 employees for the week ending Oct. 11, 1947 Full-time Part-time employees employees at 544 at 397 stations stations Classification of employees Total___________ _ _ ____ 5,382 1,283 541 102 366 1,360 214 14 385 22 136 407 834 261 17 172 24 231 362 77 613 78 38 13 53 12 96 198 39 4,841 1,045 136 General officers and assistants __ __ __ Staff program employees: ________ Supervisory _ _ Nonsupervisory _________ Combination___ __ _ ____ __ Nonstaff program employees. . _____ Technical employees: _ __________ Supervisory__ Nonsupervisory._ __ _ _ _____ Combination._ _ __ _ __ __ Commercial employees: Supervisory__ __ _ __ __________ Nonsupervisory. _ _ _ _______ __ Combination. __ . . . . . . __ Clerical employees __ __ __ _______ Building-service employees._ _ __ _ Other employees __ ... All employees (excluding general officers and assistants and nonstaff program . employees) . . . ____ __ ______ Nonstaff program employees. _ _ __ First-class radiotelephone licensees ______ 1,670 Source; Federal Communications Commission data. seven; and about half of these earned more from another type of work than from radio performing. Sound-effects men are the smallest group of pro gram employees for whom the FCC compiles sep arate employment figures. (See table 1.) Almost without exception, this technical job is handled by persons with considerable experience in broad casting and is heavily concentrated in the major network centers. Production men are the directors of radio shows. They also are drawn almost exclusively from among people with much experience in radio. The best way to break into the occupation is through an nouncing or some other studio job. Broadcasting requires fairly large numbers of production men. In October 1947, the Nation wide networks and their 10 key stations had 179 full-time employees of this type; other stations had more than half again as many. There were also a few production men working for broadcasters on a nonstaff basis, and some working for advertising agencies and transcription companies. Next to announcers, musicians are the largest group of staff program employees. In a week in 4 October 1947, the larger radio stations (with 15 or more employees) had 1,822 full-time staff musi cians, plus 567 who were on their staffs part time and 1,241 who worked for them during the week on a nonstaff basis. In addition, fairly large num bers of musicians worked for advertising agencies and a small number for stations with less than 15 employees. Almost one-fourth of the full-time staff musicians and one-third of the nonstaff musicians working for the bigger stations were employed by the 4 Na tion-wide networks and their 10 key stations. Only one-third of the bigger stations had any full time musicians. Smaller stations rarely have staff musicians. Broadcasting provides employment for a small proportion of the musicians in the country. Only those with a high degree of musical ability or other exceptional qualifications can obtain broadcasting jobs with the bigger stations. For radio work, musicians need broad training and adaptability. They should be able to handle both solos and or chestral parts, to play both classical and modern music, preferably on several different instruments, and to follow strange directors easily. Networks and big stations almost always expect musicians to have had a great deal of experience. Every sizeable radio station employs writers to prepare commercial announcements, dramatic scripts, and other material for broadcasting. Writers are spread throughout the broadcasting industry to a greater extent than any other group of program employees except announcers and pro gram supervisors. Three-fourths of the bigger stations employed full-time writers in October 1947. The proportion of small stations with full time writers is much lower. Where there are no specialized employees of this type, writing assign ments are handled by other staff members, usually announcers. Altogether, the networks and larger stations employed 1,288 writers in October 1947— 1,100 full-time, 61 part-time, and 127 nonstaff. N ot all radio writers, however, work directly for stations and networks. M ajor programs paid for by ad vertisers are generally written by writers working for advertising agencies. Some of the material used by such agencies is written by agenqy staff members, some by writers who have contracts for a certain number of scripts, and some b y free-lance writers who submit scripts and receive pay only if these are used. Prospective writers should, of course, have a talent for writing and mastery of the techniques of composition. Generally, college graduates, es pecially those with radio writing or journalism training, are preferred for entry jobs. Stations sometimes hire inexperienced applicants as clerical workers and promote them to writing jobs after they have learned the business. Working at a small station is one of the best ways of getting ex perience in writing for radio. News 'personnel prepare copy for radio broad casts. Their duties are similar to those of rewrite men and editors in the newspaper business.3 Broadcasters depend largely on newspapers and press associations for their material; so radio has few men who perform the function of newspaper reporters. In October 1947, the news personnel of the net works and larger stations included 1,010 full-time employees, 97 part-time staff members, and 258 people working on a nonstaff basis. Like writers, news personnel are employed at a majority of the bigger stations and the news staff is generally very small. Three-fifths of the bigger stations (ex cluding network key outlets) had full-time news personnel, but an average of only two such em ployees per station. A substantial majority of radio actors are em ployed in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, where the main studios of the networks which originate most of the live dramatic programs are located. Actors rarely have regular staff jobs. The networks and larger stations had only 39 full time and 41 part-time staff actors in October 1947. However, they employed 848 actors on a nonstaff basis during the week covered by the FCC employ ment survey, and hundreds more were employed by advertising agencies, transcription companies, or radio stars with “ package” shows. Only a small proportion of the free-lance actors have contracts for series of broadcasts. The great majority are engaged for single performances only and do not know from week to week whether they will have work. The irregularity of their employ ment is indicated by this Bureau’s recent survey of radio artists. Half the actors included in the survey had work on the radio in less than half the weeks of 1947. Two out of every five earned more in that year from some other type of work than they did from radio performing. College training is now the usual preparation for acting. Nearly two-thirds of the radio actors, 20 to 40 years o f age, in the Bureau’s survey had 3 See Occupational Outlook Handbook, p. 110. had some college education, one-third of whom were college graduates. Practically all had had special training in dramatics, either as part of their college course or in a separate dramatic school. In addition, for a job with a network or advertis ing agency, actors are required to have had con siderable experience. Appearance, as well as a good voice, is, of course, important for television programs. Program departments at television stations have other types of workers in addition to the foregoing groups. Among these are costume designers and make-up artists, whose duties are much the same in T V as in motion pictures ajid stage productions. Technical Employees Technical employees comprised almost onefourth of all the full-time workers with radio sta tions and networks in 1947. Included in the group are: (1) Transmitter technicians, who operate and maintain transmitters and related equipment. (2) Studio operators, who are responsible for the arrangement and operation of studio equip ment, including operation of volume controls and “ mixers” during broadcasts. (3) Maintenance technicians. At small stations, the technicians frequently handle all three types of work. Transmitter and maintenance technicians must have first-class radiotelephone licenses from the. Federal Communications Commission. N o license is needed for studio-operator work, but the major ity of these employees have licenses.4 The great difference beween the staffs of T V stations and A M stations is in the technical de partments. Transmitting any type of video pro gram requires many more technicians than trans mission of sound broadcasts. A news program, for example, must have a video operator in addi tion to those taking care of sound, a cameraman, and usually a motion-picture projectionist. The number of technicians needed for dramatic programs in T V is many times greater than in AM . There are several camermen, a video operator for each camera, and a video director to decide which picture to transmit. Microphone dolly operators move the mikes to where action is taking place, and stage hands shift scenes and equipment. Be fore the play is ready for telecasting, scene de signers and builders, lighting experts, and other technicians prepare the stages. 4 See Occupational Outlook Handbook, p. 87. 5 [ Technicians, like most other broadcast em ployees, usually get their first jobs at small sta tions. Large A M and FM stations generally select applicants with radio experience. Television sta tions have frequently taken men with A M or FM experience and given them special training in tele vision. They also hire workers who have com pleted a well-rounded course at one of the few technical schools equipped to give good T V train ing. M any stations desire engineers with college training in electronics for T V work. Commercial Employees Commercial departments are responsible for obtaining the advertising business upon which sta tions depend for their revenues. Even the tiniest station must have one or more staff members who devote at least part of their time to selling adver tising. Large stations, of course, have a number of full-time salesmen. In October 1947, radio sta tions and networks reported about 3,000 full-time employees in their commercial departments. The great majority of commercial employees are time salesmen, so designated because what they sell is broadcasting time. Like sales personnel in other fields, time salesmen should first of all have pleasing personalities, coupled with the ability to convince prospective advertisers. Big stations ordinarily require applicants to have had experi ence in selling, a good education, and wide knowl edge of the radio industry. Broadcasting, of course, provides a very small proportion of the jobs held b y men with selling ability. Promotion and publicity employees are respon sible for getting as many people as possible to listen to their stations. This is usually done through ad vertisements in newspapers, magazines, and other mediums. Employees must be familiar with ad vertising and selling techniques. Frequently, pro motion and publicity is handled by the commercial department. Where the work is done by special departments, there is close cooperation with com mercial departments. Clerical and Building-Service Employees Clerical employees comprise about one-fifth o f all full-time broadcasting workers. Like announ cers, technicians, and time salesmen, clerks are employed in almost every station. From the viewpoint of persons who seek cler ical work of any kind, broadcasting is a very minor source of employment.5 For people who are in terested in careers in broadcasting, however, cler ical jobs may represent means of getting a foothold 6 in the industry. For example, women who wish to become writers, but are unable to break in di rectly, often take jobs as stenographers or typists. While working in these positions, they may, after a time, be given minor writing assignments and eventually have a chance to become full-fledged staff writers. Because clerical employees are a fairly large group with considerable turn-over, many of the people who choose this method of entering the industry will be able to find jobs. Employees, such as stationary engineers, jan itors, and elevator operators, have much the same duties and qualifications in broadcasting as they have in other industries. A M stations and net works had only slightly more than 1,300 full-time building-service workers in October 1947. Outlook Because the broadcasting industry is small, it provides relatively few job opportunities. In mid-1949, after a spectacular postwar expansion, the industry will still have only around 45,000 full time workers. This is a low figure indeed com pared to the million and a half workers in the rail road industry, the million in automobile manufac turing, the 700,000 in printing, publishing, and allied industries. Employment in broadcasting will probably con tinue to rise for at least another year or two, but at a slower rate than since the war. Some of the 522 new sound-broadcasting stations,6 for which applications were on file with FCC in late 1948, will begin operating in the last half of 1949 and early 1950. N ot all of the applicants are likely to receive permits, however, since in many parts of the country most of the available A M frequencies are already in use. After present applicants who are granted permits complete construction, new stations probably will be added much more slowly. Only about one-third as many applications for new stations were filed in 1948 as the average for 1946 and 1947, and still fewer applications are expected in 1949. More over, the number of applicants who can be granted construction permits will tend to become smaller and smaller. The gains in employment in sound broadcasting in the near future will be mainly in the occupations 5 For a general discussion of the employment outlook in clerical occupa tions, see Occupational Outlook Handbook, pp. 147 and 148. 6 This figure and comparable figures on the numbers of applications in different States given in the second half of this report include only new AM stations and independent FM outlets. Not included are applications for FM channels by existing AM stations, nor requests for AM channels by established FM broadcasters. characteristic of small stations. The bulk of the new stations planned are of this type and they employ mainly technicians and announcers who handle other duties such as writing or operating studio controls, clerical workers, and time sales men. Small stations usually give preference to persons who can do two or more kinds of work. (See p. 2.) Actors, singers, sound-effects men, and production men will find very few opportunities at the new stations. Jobs for writers, musicians, news personnel, and studio engineers will be few also, though probably somewhat more numerous than for the types of artists just mentioned. Besides the opportunities with new outlets, vacancies in a greater variety of occupations will occur from time to time at established stations— owing to turn-over or, occasionally, to expansion in staffs. In the long run, turn-over is expected to provide practically all the openings in staff positions in this branch of the industry. Employ ment will probably not continue to rise in sound broadcasting after the next year or two. In metro politan areas, it may even decline owing to com petition from television. The development of television has not yet gone far enough to indicate how severe its impact on A M and FM broadcasting will be, but the likelihood is that there will be a long-run downward trend both in staff employ ment and in the amount of work for free-lance artists at A M and FM stations. How rapidly is television growing? There were only about 50 operating stations late in 1948, but another 94 companies had been issued construc tion permits; most of these probably will begin operating sometime in 1949. In addition, around 300 companies had filed applications for permits, about 100 of which, however, were for channels also being sought by other companies. To provide time to determine whether additional channels at higher frequencies can be made avail able, the Federal Communications Commission imposed a “ freeze” on applications beginning September 1948. No further construction permits will be issued during this period, which is expected to end before July 1, 1949. If no additional chan nels are made available, there will be room for only around 200 of the present applicants, making probable around 350 stations within a year or two and after that, only a few metropolitan areas would still have space for more stations. On the other hand, if additional channels can be provided, it is likely that there will be frequencies available in most areas for at least the present number of applicants. Under these circumstances, the total number of telecasting stations on the air might be around 450 by the end of 1950 and probably would go on increasing thereafter. The Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has esti mated that there might be 1,000 stations within 7 or 8 years. Since no clear-cut pattern of employment has yet developed in television, and there are so many uncertain factors, it is not possible to predict how many jobs will be provided in telecasting. The number of employees per station will vary greatly. The smallest stations, depending exclusively on network programs, could operate on a 28-hour-week schedule with two technicians and a manager. The largest program-originating stations will need dozens of workers of the types now employed at big sound stations, plus many more engineers and other technical workers to handle duties not found at sound-broadcasting stations. It is unlikely that there will be a preponderance of big programoriginating stations, however, since live programs are very expensive to produce, much more so than comparable sound programs. In all probability, most telecasters will depend on networks or, pos sibly, movies for the bulk of their programs. At many T V stations, much of the work will be handled by the same persons now doing similar types of work at sound stations. A majority of the present telecasters and of the applicants for T V permits also run AM , FM , or combination stations. These companies will be able to handle their T V operations by increasing the size of their present staffs instead of building complete new staffs. In many cases, commercial departments, publicity departments, and clerical forces may only have to be enlarged slightly to handle T V business. Whether or not program departments will have to be substantially bigger will depend on the type of station. Outlets which mostly relay network pro grams or use films will need few program employees. Those originating programs will need varying numbers of additional program personnel. Re gardless of the type of station, however, present operators of sound stations will have to add tech nical workers. It is clear that technical personnel will be the chief beneficiaries of rapid expansion in the number of telecasters. Whereas at sound stations technicians comprise less than one-fourth of the full-time employees, at T V stations roughly one-half the staff will be technicians. Taking all occupations together, the total num ber of people employed in telecasting is extremely 7 small to date. The number of workers needed will increase as more stations reach the air. But not for many years will employment at T V stations reach the present employment level at soundbroadcasting stations. In general, competition for program, technical, and commercial jobs in broadcasting is keen and probably will continue to be so, though the degree of competition will vary by size of community, occupation, and other factors. Positions in the great network centers of New York and Los An geles are hardest to get. In other metropolitan areas the competition is likely to be less intense, but as a rule there is an oversupply of applicants in most occupations. In smaller towns, broadcast ing jobs pay less and are easier to get, although even here there is likely to be an abundance of applicants for some positions. New stations going on the air in small towns will need a core of ex perienced personnel, but most of them will round out their staffs with inexperienced people. This will give a number of young persons a chance to break into broadcasting. Later, when they have gained experience, they may be able to find better paying jobs with bigger stations in larger com munities. There is considerable difference in the degree of competition in the various occupations. Appli cants for announcing jobs, for example, usually far exceed the number of openings. The competition is heaviest for positions at big stations in cities, lightest for jobs in small towns. The latter will continue to provide the best opportunities for prospective announcers. Among actors and singers, competition is extremely stiff in the network cen ters; other metropolitan areas have few such jobs, and email towns practically none. Well-trained technicians are perhaps in the best petition of all the major occupational groups. Men with operating experience will be needed by new stations, and men especially trained in television-operating will be increasingly in demand as more and more T V stations go on the air. On the other hand, there are many men with FCC licenses but no experience who may have trouble finding jobs, especially in the larger communities. Earnings Earnings in the broadcasting industry have an extremely wide range. They vary with the occu pation, the size and location of the station, the ability of the individual worker, and many other factors. Network and key-station staff employees 8 tend to earn a great deal more than workers in the same types of jobs at smaller stations. The data on average scheduled earnings in major staff occu pations in October 1947,7 shown in table 3, makes it clear why jobs with the networks and their key stations are so ardently sought by broadcasting workers. For every group, scheduled earnings were much higher there than at other stations. Among the nonsupervisory employees, musicians had the highest average scheduled weekly earnings, $162, followed by commercial-department em ployees with an average of $139 per week, and writers with an average of $135. Scheduled earnings at other stations with 15 or more employees were much lower. Highest paid among the non-supervisory personnel were the com mercial-department employees, with average sched7 “ Scheduled” earnings represent the basic pay employees are scheduled to receive for the week for which information is reported. Where com pensation is on a commission basis or is not regularly scheduled for some other reason, employers are instructed to give their best estimate of normal weekly compensation. Table 3.— Earnings of full-time employees in selected occupations with nation-wide networks and A M stations; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 UNITED STATES Average scheduled weekly earnings Occupation Executives , _ _ _ __ Program supervisors _ Other program staff1. Announcers Musicians, News personnel _ Production men, _ _ Writers Chief engineers and techni cians _____ , ____ Other engineers and technicians1,, Studio _ Transmitter Commercial supervisors Other commercial employees. Clerical employees 4 Nation wide net works and 10 key stations Other sta Stations tions with with less than 15 15 or more employees employees $378 181 134 120 162 123 126 135 $173 91 65 67 75 70 79 46 $102 58 43 168 96 64 111 112 107 210 139 45 68 72 65 135 90 40 49 74 57 34 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available only for networks and stations with 15 or more employees. Source: pensation Broadcast the Week Federal Communications Commission, Employee and Com Data by Occupational Classification Reported by Standard Stations, Nation-Wide Networks and Regional Networks, for Ending October 11, 1947. uled compensation of $90 per week. Next were pro duction men, with $79 per week, then the musicians, with $75 per week; following them were news per sonnel, with $70 per week. Rates of pay at stations with staffs of less than 15 tended to be still lower. Of the nonsupervisory employees for whom information was available, those in commercial departments once more fared best. Their average scheduled earnings were $57 per week. Technical employees were next, with an average of $49, followed by program-department employees, whose average scheduled compensation was only $43 for the week. Because few actors and singers have regular staff jobs, they are not included in table 3, which gives scheduled earnings only for full-time employees. However, figures on the earnings of both staff and free-lance artists for the year 1947, based on this Bureau’s survey of radio performers, are given in the statements on the New York City metropol itan area, Illinois, and California, in the second half of this report. 9 MAP 2 TELEVISION STATIONS OPERATING, UNDER CONSTRUCTION, OR APPLIED FOR IN NEW ENGLAND 10 November I, 1948 STATE OUTLOOK STATEMENTS MAINE Employment and Number of Stations Maine’s small broadcasting industry is concen trated in the lower half of the State, where most of the population is located. Of the 16 A M , FM , and combination stations which probably will be broadcasting b y mid-1949, all except one, at Presque Isle, will be located in the southern part of the State. It is estimated that the 16 stations will together employ around 250 people on a full time basis. This will represent only a small gain since October 1947, when a survey of the industry showed total employment to be 201 in the 11 re porting A M stations. Nearly four-fifths of the full-time personnel were working in the larger stations with 15 or more em ployees in October 1947. The metropolitan area of Portland provided employment for more than half of all employees in both large and small sta tions. The largest occupational groups were an nouncers, engineers and technicians, and clerical workers. (See table 4.) N o promotion and pub licity employees were employed anywhere in the State, and only eight program employees other than announcers were employed outside of Port land. No television stations have yet been authorized anywhere in the State. Outlook Few employment opportunities are likely to open in radio in the near future. This is one of the few States in the country which did not have a single application for a new sound broadcasting station pending with FCC in late 1948. Further more, there is no prospect of any significant en largement in the staffs of existing stations. What few jobs do arise will be brought about mostly by turn-over. In the long run, employment in sound radio will probably be fairly stable in most parts of the State, provided general economic conditions remain good. Table 4.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 MAINE Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives___ __ Program supervi sors________ _ Other program staff1______ Announcers._ News per sonnel____ Writers. _ __ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio______ Transmitter__ Commercial su pervisors______ Other commercial employees___ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees. __ ___ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled weekly of of weekly employees earnings employees earnings 4 $134 11 $152 2 57 8 75 13 33 54 30 57 64 9 6 50^ 4& 3 66 8 89 8 48 38 17 18 74 74 74 1 31 3 98 4 4 46 34 12 21 77 42 9 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. While no television stations have yet been authorized, three applications were on file with FCC in late 1948 for the two T V channels assigned to Portland. A large proportion of the limited number of new employees taken on would be tech nical personnel. In the course of time, television may also be introduced in a few other communities, 11 with a slight resulting expansion in employment. Earnings Program employees tended to earn less in Maine than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As is indicated in table 4, the average scheduled earnings of announcers in the larger stations were $64 as compared to the national average of $67.1 Program supervisors and news personnel also earned less than the na tional averages for those occupations. However, the $48 averaged by the writers was slightly above the national figure for that field. Both studio and transmitter engineers employed b y large stations averaged $74; this was somewhat above the na tional averages for those types of work. Clerical employees at large stations also tended to earn more in Maine than in the country as a whole. 1 This national average and other averages for employees inithe larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) NEW HAMPSHIRE AND VERMONT Employment and Number of Stations The broadcasting industry is very small in New Hampshire and Vermont. Together, these two small States will have only about 20 sound broad casting stations, with around 350 to 400 full-time employees, by mid-1949. The latest available survey of the industry made in October 1947 showed full-time employment to be 236 in the 13 reporting A M stations. Table 5 shows the num bers employed in each major occupation. N o television stations were operating or under construction in the fall of 1948. Outlook Employment opportunities in the industry are likely to be extremely few in the near future. There were no applications for new sound broadcasting stations on file with the FCC in the fall of 1948. No sizeable increase in the staffs of existing stations is in prospect. Furthermore, there are likely to be only a small number of vacancies owing to turn over, since the total number of people employed in broadcasting is so small in these States. Open ings in television will likewise be few in the near future. Only 2 applications for stations had been filed with FCC by the fall of 1948— one for a sta tion in Manchester and one at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. N o application had yet been made for a T V station in Vermont. In the long run, employment in sound broadcast ing should remain fairly constant in these States as long as general business conditions are good. Employment in television will be exceedingly small but may rise slowly over a period of years provided there are available channels. Earnings Average scheduled earnings tended to be con siderably lower in New Hampshire and Vermont than in the country as a whole during the week 12 Table 5.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 NEW HAMPSHIRE and VERMONT Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives. _ Program supervi sors . _ __ Other program staff1__ __ __ Announcers__ Musicians__ News per sonnel____ Writers_____ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio__ __ Transmitter _ Commercial su pervisors___ _ Other commercial employees. _ _ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees__ __ __ _ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly of weekly employees earnings employees earnings 5 $94 11 $133 4 53 10 64 11 40 64 31 6 49 50 52 5 15 66 40 5 57 6 72 8 40 27 6 21 54 63 52 2 100 5 88 2 7 52 29 15 28 65 33 7 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. ending October 11, 1947. As table 5 indicates, announcers in the larger stations averaged only $50 per week as compared to the national figure of $67.1 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) Musicians, writers, and news personnel also tended to receive earnings that were below the national average. Transmitter engineers in large stations averaged only $52 per week, as compared with the national average of $65. Clerical and com mercial department employees also received less in New Hampshire and Vermont than in the coun try generally. MASSACHUSETTS Employment and Number of Stations Employment in broadcasting has been growing less rapidly in Massachusetts during the last two years than in many other States. B y mid-1949 there will be about 50 broadcasting stations in the State. Employment probably will be around 200 higher than in October 1947 when 30 A M stations reported a total of 966 full-time workers. All but 45 of these workers were at stations with 15 o r more employees. Of all broadcasting em ployees in the 1947 survey for this State, including nonstaff as well as full-time staff personnel, well over one-half were in the Boston metropolitan district. Of the nonstaff program employees, nine-tenths worked in this area. Massachusetts had a relatively large number of full-time program employees other than announ cers. Altogether, 179 such workers were employed in the State in October 1947. (See table 6.) The number of news personnel was unusually high; there were 58 of these employees, 36 of whom worked in Boston. During 1949, the State’s only operating tele vision stations are expected to be those in Boston. Two T V stations were on the air line in that city in late 1948, and one more company had been granted a construction permit. Outlook Broadcast employment probably will expand considerably after mid-1949. In the fall of 1948, about 30 companies were applying for permission to erect new stations (not counting those already issued permits). However, there are already a great many stations in this densely populated re gion; so it is unlikely that all of the applicants can be assigned space on the A M band. M ost of the applications are for low-powered stations, which, if they succeed in getting licenses, probably will take on fewer than 20 employees each. The workers hired will be mostly the types needed by ;small stations. (See p. 2.) There may also be a few opportunities for technicians at stations adding _AM or FM channels, and a small number of open ings in practically all occupations at existing sta tions owing to turn-over. Over the long run, most opportunities at AM and FM stations will come about as a result of turn-over. Since the greater part of the State will be within range of several television stations, employment at “ sound” stations may drop. Table 6.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 MASSACHUSETTS Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives______ Program supervi sors_______________ Other program staff1_____ Announcers__ Musicians__ News per sonnel____ Production men_____ W riters____ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio______ Transmitter. _ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees____ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees___________ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled weekly of of weekly employees earnings employees earnings 4 $86 39 $152 2 61 40 82 10 43 318 139 26 58 62 52 58 68 13 31 90 46 1 65 35 101 15 46 187 107 78 70 73 66 3 74 19 156 2 6 45 31 70 156 79 35 91 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. 13 On the basis of construction plans, Massa chusetts will be one of the leading States in the number of T V stations. Besides the two stations already operating, and the one holding a construc tion permit, seven other Boston companies had filed applications for permits by late 1948. In addition, Fall River, Springfield, and Worcester each had two applicants. Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, and New Bedford each had one. How ever, unless more channels are made available, many of the applicants will not get permits. In Boston, for example, four companies are applying for a single channel and three for another. The majority of T V applicants are not at present in the broadcasting field; as these applicants begin operating they will build up complete staffs. Companies that are at present operating broadcast stations may be able to use some of their employees — commercial and clerical workers, for example— for both T V and broadcasting stations, but would have to hire a good many additional people, espe cially technicians. Over the long run, prospects are bright for continued increasing employment at T V stations, provided more channels can be made available. Earnings Generally, program employees tended to earn less and technical employees more in Massachu setts than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As table 6 indi cates, announcers in large stations had average scheduled earnings of $62, which was somewhat less than the national average of $67.1 Musicians and news personnel also tended to receive less in Massa chusetts than in the United States generally. However, the 13 production men averaged $90 a week, well above the national average of $79. The earnings of the 31 writers were about as high in Massachusetts as in the country as a whole. Both studio and transmitter engineers fared slightly better in Massachusetts than in the country gen erally. Clerical and commercial department em ployees, other than supervisory, earned consider ably less in this State than in the country as a whole. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND Employment and Number of Stations These two small, densely populated States had a total of 558 full-time broadcast employees at 22 reporting A M stations in October 1947. More than one-half of these worked in the Hartford-New Britain, and Providence areas; only 40 workers were at stations with less than 15 employees. As table 7 shows, the biggest groups of full-time workers at the larger stations were announcers (with 89), clerical workers (with 75), and trans mitter engineers (with 70). There will be about 35 stations of all types by mid-1949, representing a considerable gain in the last two years. Employment probably will have in creased by more than ICO above the October 1947 figure. The only operating television station in the region is in New Haven. Only one other (in Provi dence) is likely to reach the air during 1949. Outlook Employment in sound broadcasting will prob ably continue to increase slowly throughout 1949. Stations which had been applied for in the fall of 14 1948 but had not yet been granted permits are expected to begin reaching the air in the latter part of the year. There were seven applicants for new stations in late 1948— to be located in Newport and Middletown, Rhode Island, and in Bridgeport, Norwalk, Torrington, West Hartford, and Willimantic, Connecticut. However, it is unlikely that all these applications will be granted, because the AM spectrum is already crowded in this heavilypopulated region. Since the bulk of the applica tions are for small stations, most of those that get licenses will take on small staffs; the occupational groups needed will be those typical of small sta tions. (See p. 2.) Over the long run, employment in sound broad casting may decline. Excellent television service in this region will provide stiff competition for AM , FM , or combination stations. However, openings will continue to arise from turn-over for many years to come. Telecasting employment will expand moderately in these two States. Besides the one station al ready operating in New Haven, eight other com panies have filed applications with FCC. Of these, only a few will be able to get construction permits Table 7.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly of weekly employees earnings employees earnings Full-time employees: Executives.-. __ Program supervisors__ Other program staff1_________ Announcers. Musicians__ News per sonnel ___ Writers__ _ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio _ _ Transmitter _ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees_____ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees__ unless more channels are made available. One applicant each is in Providence and Bridgeport, three are in Hartford, and two are in Waterbury. As elsewhere, T V stations will have a larger pro portion of technicians than are needed at regular broadcast stations. Over the long run, the num ber of T V stations and employment probably will continue to expand, provided more ^channels are made available. Earnings 3 $143 31 $171 2 52 20 83 16 48 180 89 27 58 61 43 23 20 59 66 2 43 23 100 7 58 130 58 70 75 79 72 3 82 10 125 1 6 99 38 31 75 97 37 6 24 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tionsjsvith 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Engineers and technicians tended to earn more in these States than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. Table 7 shows that the average scheduled earnings of chief engineers and technicians in large stations averaged $100. This figure compares favorably with the Nation-wide average of $96.* Studio and transmitter engineers also averaged more than the national figure. However, program employees tended to earn less in these States than in the country generally. Announcers in large stations averaged $61 a week as compared to the national figure of $67. The average earnings of program supervisors, news personnel, and musicians were also below the national average. Writers in these States earned considerably more than the national average of $46. Clerical employees of large sta tions made an average of $37 a week, somewhat less than the national figure of $40. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) Source: Federal Communications Commission data. NEW YORK CITY-NORTHEASTERN NEW JERSEY METROPOLITAN AREA Employment and Number of Stations This area is the greatest center of broadcasting employment in the country. Here are located the headquarters of the four Nation-wide networks (ABC, CBS, MBS, and N B C ), the stations which originate the networks’ many New York programs, and a sizeable number of other stations. In Octo ber 1947 about 5,000 workers were employed full time in broadcasting in the area. Nearly threefourths of them were working for the networks and three key (ABC, CBS, and N BC) stations; the re mainder were on the staffs of 16 other stations (including W OR, the MBS affiliate in the area). Besides these full-time employees, the industry had a few part-time staff members, and close to a thousand actors, singers, and other program em ployees who were working for the networks and A M outlets on a nonstaff basis. M any others were employed by advertising agencies or transcription companies or, less often, by stars with “ package shows” . Since October 1947, the number of stations in the area has risen sharply. It is expected that nearly 45 A M and FM outlets will be on the air here by mid-1949. The new stations are in general very small, however; their construction has added only a couple of hundred to the number of full time jobs in sound broadcasting in the area. Recent gains in employment owing to television have likewise been small, though this is one of the 15 MAP 3 TELEVISION STATIONS OPERATING, UNDER CONSTRUCTION, OR APPLIED FOR IN MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES November I, 1948 T ro yO O O • A lb a n yO O O O ^P h ila d e lp h ia A t A f A c O O • —* _____A _Cum berlandOO------ 5 Hagerstown Hagerstown O q _erick® • ‘ .? M D. Frederick* \ Baltimore \ Washington, A » \ llmington 7^ j Atlantic C ity O O O \ C7 A OPERATING STATIONS CONSTRUCTION PERMITS O APPLICATIONS UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 16 COMPILED FROM UNPUBLISHED DATA OF FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Nation’s leading T V areas. Five T V stations were operating in New York City and one in Newark in late 1948. An additional New York City station holds a construction permit for television and will probably begin telecasting during 1949. However, all but two of the seven stations are or will be oper ated in conjunction with established A M outlets, which have had to supplement their staffs only moderately, chiefly with technical personnel, to handle telecasting. The networks have likewise used their existing staffs to a great extent for T V work and have only a very limited number of em ployees who are assigned full-time to T V opera tions. In this great center of the radio industry, rela tively large numbers of people are employed in all broadcasting occupations. Employment of cler ical workers is particularly sizeable because of the large clerical staffs needed b y the main network offices. Program employees— especially musicians, actors, production men, and singers— are also employed in much larger numbers than in any other city. Outlook Extremely stiff competition for a limited number of openings in program and technical occupations is to be expected in this area. Though employment in the industry will prob ably tend to increase somewhat in the near future, gains will be slight. Network staffs, which domi nate the employment picture here, have remained about the same size from year to year in the recent past; as already noted, comparatively few em ployees have been added owing to expanding T V operations, and this will probably continue to be true during the next few years. As T V stations increase the number of hours they are on the air, they are likely to need a few additional program and technical workers. Whether there will be further demand for personnel, owing to the opening of new T V stations, will depend on whether more channels can be made available. When the T V outlet now holding a construction permit goes on the air, stations will be operating on every one of the frequencies allocated to the New York City district by FCC. Besides the openings due to television, there are expected to be a few jobs at new A M and FM stations. Six companies (in addition to those al ready holding construction permits) had applica tions on file with FCC in late 1948— two for inde pendent FM stations in New York City; four for AM stations in White Plains and New Rochelle, New York; Perth Amboy, New Jersey; and Nor walk, Conn. It is likely, however, that by no means all these applications will be granted; and the new stations that are built will generally be very small, probably averaging no more than about 10 workers each. This will, of course, represent a very minor addition to employment, in comparison with the total number of workers in the broadcast ing industry’s New York City work force. In the long run, T V operations and employment will probably continue to grow slowly. But the outlook for sound broadcasting is more clouded. Competition from television is likely to force some curtailment of operations in this branch of the industry in New York City; already there are in dications that some sponsors may transfer their accounts from A M -F M broadcasting to television. Whether the curtailment will be slight or drastic is a subject on which there is now sharp disagree ment among persons with an expert knowledge of the field. In any event, openings in staff positions above the clerical level will be few and very difficult to obtain in both television and A M -F M broadcast ing. The networks and major New York stations have long lists of applicants to choose from when ever they have jobs to fill on their technical, pro gram, or commercial staffs. In general, only outstanding individuals with good experience in radio work have a chance of being hired. In addition, there is and will continue to be great com petition for nonstaff program assignments. For announcers, free-lance work in New York is the pinnacle of a radio career, which very few can ever attain. In the case of actors and singers, a size able proportion of the opportunities for radio work in the country are in free lancing in this area. However, the occupations are much overcrowded in this Mecca of theatrical performers, and there is a great deal of unemployment. Only about half of the New York actors and singers in this Bureau’s recent survey of radio artists had any work on the radio during the week of April 4, 1948, for which information was obtained, and some of these people had only a minimal amount of employment. It is reported to be almost impossible for newcomers to obtain engagements, although on rare occasions a casting director in search of new talent may hire some particularly gifted, well-trained, and fortu nate individual. 17 Earnings Broadcasting employees have considerably higher pay in this area than in the country as a whole. Announcers at large New York City stations (ex cluding network key stations) had average sched uled earnings of $119 a week in October 1947, as compared with a national average of $67 for that occupation.1 Earnings in other occupations (given in table 9) were likewise a great deal higher than the corresponding national averages. Em ployees of the Nation-wide networks and their key stations have still higher average earnings in most occupations, particularly in the program de partments. The relatively low earnings of many artists, especially actors and singers, and the extremely high pay received by some are not revealed by the FCC figures on average scheduled earnings for full-time work. N ot only do rates of pay vary widely, but many free lancers are employed very irregularly. This is shown by the data on earnings for the year 1947 obtained in the Bureau’s survey of radio artists, which included people employed as radio performers by advertising agencies and other program builders as well as by stations and networks. One out of every four New York City actors in this survey, who had earnings solely or mainly from radio performing, made less than $1,300 during the year. Of the singers with earnings solely or mainly from this source, one out of four made less than $1,760. Announcers, who were employed much more regularly, had no such grave problem of low yearly incomes. The lowest-paid fourth of the announcers reported earnings ranging up to $5,890. Median earnings were $9,880 for an nouncers, as compared with $3,890 for actors and $3,940 for singers. Far above the earnings of the average artist were those received by a sizeable group of rela tively high-paid people in each occupation. One out of four New York City singers deriving all or most of their earnings from radio performing made over $7,580 during 1947. The corresponding earnings figure for actors was still higher, $10,300, and that for announcers was highest of all, $16,560. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the large stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) UP-STATE NEW YORK Employment and Number of Stations Outlook Up-State New York has a large broadcasting industry which has grown rapidly during the past 2 years. By mid-1949, the State is expected to have about 90 A M , FM , and combination stations, with nearly 2,000 full-time employees outside the New York City metropolitan area. In October 1947, less than half that number of stations re ported a total full-time staff of about 1,400. Almost 1,000 of these workers were located in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls, Syracuse, Albany-Schenecgady-Troy, Rochester, and Binghamton areas. Table 8 shows the numbers of people employed in different occupations in each of these areas for stations with 15 or more employees. Only a small proportion of the broadcasting employees in the State were at stations smaller than this. Television had already gained a foothold in Up-State New York by the fall of 1948. Two stations were on the air— one at Buffalo and one at Schenectady. Seven others, located at Bing hamton, Rochester, Syracuse, and Utica, held construction permits and were expected to go on the air before the end of 1949. A moderate number of openings can be expected in up-State New York sound radio stations during the next year or so. Fourteen companies (besides those already issued construction permits) had applications on file with FCC in the fall of 1948— for new stations at Buffalo, Dunkirk, Elmira, Huntington, Niagara Falls, Patchogue, Rochester, Saratoga Springs, Scriba, Tonawanda, and Utica. It is unlikely that all these applications will be granted, however, since the spectrum is crowded in many parts of the State. Those stations that are authorized will generally be small, probably averaging around 10 employees per station. They will employ mostly people in occupations charac teristic of small stations. (See p. 2.) Other open ings in a wider variety of occupations will be created by turn-over. Such vacancies are likely to be more numerous here than in most other States, primarily because the total number of broadcasting workers employed is relatively large. In addition, there will probably be some openings at stations expanding their staffs, owing to in creases in power or in time on the air or other fac- 18 tors. In late 1948, the number of applications tor increases in power on file with FCC was greater in up-State New York than in many States. Table 8.— Employment in selected occupations at A M stations1 in metropolitan areas in up-State New York; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 Number of employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives_______ Program supervisors Other program staff Announcers__ Musicians___ News personnel Production men Writers _ _ __ Chief engineers and technicians. _ _ Other engineers and technicians__ __ Studio _ _ __ Transmitter. __ Commercial super visors. _ . . . Other commercial emplovees _ _ _ Clerical employees. Nonstaff program em ployees _ _ _ _ _ _ _ AlbanyBuffaloSchenec- Bing Niagara Roches tady- hamton Falls ter Troy Syra cuse 9 15 9 3 11 9 5 5 10 8 25 1 4 8 6 15 2 2 4 35 54 14 1 7 26 5 7 4 5 23 25 11 1 4 9 5 9 8 10 27 20 8 9 39 20 23 19 23 18 3 3 5 3 4 6 37 5 14 12 40 9 21 18 27 101 1 26 26 1 Stations with 15 or more employees. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. Moderate expansion in television employment is expected both in the near future and over the long run. Besides companies already granted permits, 18 had applications on file with FCC in the fall of 1948 for T V stations in Albany, Buffalo, Corning, Elmira, Ithaca, Niagara Falls, Rochester, and Troy. However, under FC C ’s present chan nel allocations, it would not be possible to grant permits to all applicants, because there are fewer unassigned channels in these cities than there are applicants. Of the 18 applicants, the majority were already operating sound stations and could use their present staffs to a considerable extent for television work— though all telecasters will have to take on some additional employees, especially engineers and technicians. Even after the new stations are fully staffed, television employment will be small in comparison to sound radio employ ment. However, it will tend to increase over the long run, particularly if more channels are made available. The long run trend in sound broadcasting em ployment, on the other hand, will probably not be upward. In fact, the number of workers in this branch of the industry may decline eventually, owing to competition from the T V stations which will soon reach most of the State’s population. Earnings Figures on average earnings in up-state New York’s five metropolitan areas are given in table 9, for selected occupational groups at stations with 15 or more employees. Stations of this size in the five areas employed more than two-thirds of all broadcasting workers in up-State New York in October 1947, when the earnings data were com piled. As table 9 shows, scheduled earnings in most occupations were highest in the BuffaloNiagara Falls district. Program employees had higher average earnings in this area than in the country as a whole. In Albany-Schenectady-Troy, they had the same average pay as in the Nation generally, while in the other three areas, they tended to earn less. For engineers and techni cians, average scheduled earnings were greater in Albany-Schenectady-Troy, as well as in BuffaloNiagara Falls, than in the country as a whole; in the other three areas, these workers tended to make less than the national averages for their positions. NEW JERSEY Employment and Number of Stations Northeastern New Jersey is part of the New York City metropolitan area, the greatest radio center in the Nation. This section of the State will have about half of 30 AM , FM , and combina tion stations expected to be operating in New Jer sey by mid-1949. By that time employment prob ably will be about 200 greater than the 231 full time workers reported by 12 AM stations in Octo ber 1947. Newark had the only operating T V station in the State in the fall of 1948. No others are ex pected to reach the air in the near future. 19 Table 9.— Earnings of full-time employees in selected occupations at A M stations in New York Metropolitan areas; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 Average weekly scheduled earnings1 Occupation AlbanySchenectady- Binghamton Troy __ _ _ _ _ ____ ExecutivesProgram supervisors ____ ___ __ Other program staff _ _ _ _ _ _ Announcers _ _ ______ __ __ _ _ _ Musicians___ __ _ _ _ News personnel ________ _ _____ _ _ Production men ___ ___ _ _ Writers__ ____ ____ ____ __ Chief engineers and technicians. _ __ _ __ _ Other engineers and technicians______ __ Studio___ __ ___ _ _ _ __ _ _ ____ __ ________ _ _ Transmitter __ Commercial supervisors _______ __ Other commercial department- _ ______ ___ __ Clerical employees _ _ _ _ _ _ ______ __ ___ 1 Excludes earnings at networks and their key stations. 2Scheduled earnings of only 1 employee. (See table 8, p. 19.) Source: Federal Communications Commission data. $203 85 65 71 224 68 63 45 95 70 67 75 88 46 46 $107 89 61 65 84 55 55 82 50 44 56 123 65 36 Earnings Earnings of radio-station employees in New Jer sey tended to be higher in some occupations and 20 Rochester $219 111 53 58 67 54 50 36 107 62 63 62 149 78 40 $218 107 78 79 74 73 255 52 114 • 82 82 83 221 83 39 New York City-North eastern New Jersey Syracuse $218 103 58 72 47 77 236 46 80 57 55 59 115 73 40 $283 150 102 119 115 88 93 61 138 103 106 102 393 156 45 Table 10.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 NEW JERSEY Outlook In the months following mid-1949, there will be little increase in broadcasting employment. Only five new stations (all 250-watt AM 's) were being applied for in the fall of 1948. Three of these were planned for Atlantic City, and one each for Perth Amboy and Pleasantville. Those which succeed in getting construction permits probably will take on very small staffs. Over the long run, employ ment in sound broadcasting is not expected to in crease much; it may even decline as more and more people buy television sets. The number of T V stations which have been applied for is likewise very small. In late 1948, the FCC had on file only four applications for permits to build T V outlets— three for stations in Atlantic City and one for Trenton. The long-run develop ment of telecasting will probably be slow also. As in the case of sound broadcasting, the T V stations in the New York City area and in Philadelphia together cover most of the State and offer extremely stiff competition to any prospective New Jersey telecasters. For an indefinite period the State will have only a small number of people working in television. BuffaloNiagara Falls Stations with less than 15 employees Stations with 15 employees or more ! Occupation Full-time employees: Executives___ „ Program supervi sors __ ___ Other program staff1 ___ __ __ Announcers Musicians News per sonnel Writers Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio Transmitter. _ Commercial supervisors__ Other commercial employees___ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of of weekly weekly employees earnings employees earnings 4 $118 8 $137 2 58 8 70 4 58 72 39 11 61 63 77 8 5 45 47 3 44 9 95 5 38 42 15 27 79 99 68 4 286 26 29 105 46 1 2 50 32 4 4 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. lower in others than in the country as a whole. Table 10 indicates that, in the week ending October 11, 1947, announcers at the larger stations in the State had average scheduled earnings of $63 a week, as compared to a national figure of I67.1 While musicians and writers earned a little more than the corresponding national averages, production men and news personnel tended to earn much less. For transmitter engineers, average earnings were about the same as in the Nation generally, but for studio engineers they were much higher ($99 compared with $72 in the country as a whole). Both com mercial and clerical employees had higher average scheduled pay in the larger New Jersey stations than in outlets of comparable size throughout the country. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) PENNSYLVANIA Employment and Number of Stations Pennsylvania is among the leading States in volume of employment. B y mid-1949, Pennsyl vania is expected to have well over 100 AM , FM , and combination stations, with over 2,000 full-time employees. A survey made in October 1947 showed that, in 71 reporting A M stations, full-time employees to taled 1,782. More than half these people worked in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, each city having more broadcast employees than many States. ScrantonWilkes Barre with 126 full-time workers and Read ing with 57 ranked next in broadcast employment. In the State as a whole, 5 out of 6 radio workers were in the larger stations with 15 or more em ployees, a greater proportion than in most States. Pennsylvania, therefore, had relatively large num bers of broadcast employees in occupations such as singer, production man, studio engineer, and publi city man, which are found mainly in large stations. Television had already made considerable head way in the State by the fall of 1948. Three stations were already on the air in Philadelphia, and four more had been granted construction permits in Erie, Johnstown, Lancaster, and Pittsburgh. Outlook There will probably be a few hundred job open ings with A M and FM stations in Pennsylvania during the next few years, taking all occupations together. Openings due to turn-over are likely to be more numerous here than in most other States. There are several reasons for this: The total num ber of workers employed in broadcasting is com paratively large in Pennsylvania; many new TV stations will be opening, which will tend to absorb A M -F M employees; and one of the two chief broadcast centers in the Nation, New York City, is nearby. Table 11;— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 PENNSYLVANIA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives_____ Program supervi sors-_ _ Other program staff1_________ Announcers_ Musicians... News per sonnel____ Production men______ Writers_______ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio - __ Transmitter _ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees___ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees__________ _ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly of weekly employees earnings employees earnings 27 $119 74 $201 14 56 72 83 74 39 490 235 82 58 58 58 39 71 28 50 74 43 21 56 66 96 43 44 302 167 131 64 66 61 14 62 28 135 17 36 51 30 73 295 78 37 9 122 1Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. There will be openings at new stations in addi tion to replacement needs. Twelve applications for construction permits were pending in the fall of 21 1948. It is unlikely that all of these will be granted by FCC, since the spectrum is crowded in many areas. Even if all of the applicants do receive per mits, the new stations probably would provide only a few additional job opportunities. In late 1948, four stations were asking for permission to increase power. Television should provide a considerable number of job openings in the next year or two. Besides the 4 broadcasting companies which, in late 1948, held permits for T V stations at Erie, Johnstown, Lancaster, and Pittsburgh, 29 concerns had applied for permits for stations in 15 different towns. How ever, unless more channels are made available, many applicants will not get permits; there are two or more applications for a large proportion of the presently available channels. The majority of the projected stations would be operated in conjunction with existing radio stations, which would probably use their broadcasting staffs to aid in television operations. Some new people, chiefly technical personnel, would have to be added, however. And the few independent T V stations would have to recruit entire staffs. The postwar boom in establishment of new AM and FM stations has already begun to die down. DELAWARE, MARYLAND, i In view of the anticipated large scale television development, A M -FM employment is expected to decline in this State in the long run. Television employment probably will show continued gains for a good many years, provided additional chan nels are made available; the large concentrations of population in the State greatly favor the growth of television. Earnings Radio-station employees tended to earn less in Pennsylvania than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As table 11 indicates, announcers in large stations had average scheduled earnings of $58 per week in this State as compared with a national average of $67.1 Musicians, writers, and production men also aver aged less in Pennsylvania than in the entire coun try, as did studio and transmitter engineers and clerical and commercial-department employees. On the other hand, news personnel had about the same average earnings in Pennsylvania as in the whole United States ($71 compared with $70). 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) rD DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Employment and Number of Stations Outlook This region will have about 40 broadcasting sta tions, with a total employment of well over 1,000 by mid-1949. In October 1947 when the latest available employment survey was made, 24 AM stations reported 907 full-time employees. Prac tically nine-tenths of these workers were employed in Washington and Baltimore. Most of them were at stations with 15 or more employees; altogether, only 79 workers were at smaller stations. The larger stations had 249 full-time staff pro gram employees and 141 nonstaff program em ployees. (See table 12.) Including both staff and nonstaff workers, there were 138 announcers, 51 musicians, and 61 news personnel. However, only 19 actors and singers were employed during the week, and only 1 of these worked full-time. There were 205 engineers and technicians, 61 sales per sonnel, and 180 clerical workers. A number of television stations will also be on the air in 1949. Six were operating at the time this report was prepared in late 1948, and two more had already been granted construction permits. Employment in sound broadcasting is likely to expand in the near future. About 14 companies, besides those already issued construction permits, have requested permission to erect new stations. However, the A M spectrum is crowded in and around Washington and Baltimore, where many of these new stations were planned, and it is unlikely that all of them will be granted permits. There will not be many jobs for program employees other than announcers, because the bulk of the new sta tions planned are small and will have typical smallstation staffs, probably averaging around a dozen workers. On the other hand, some job opportun ities in all occupations will be created by turn-over, and some existing stations may enlarge their staffs. Over the long run, employment at AM and FM stations may decline. Not many more stations of this type are expected to go on the air after the next year or two, and stations which transmit sound programs only face stiff competition from T V sta tions in this heavily populated region. The six operating T V stations in this region al- 22 Table 12.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 DELAWARE, MARYLAND, AND DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives______ Program supervisors_________ Other program staff1__ _______ Announcers__ Musicians. _ News per sonnel____ Production men_____ Writers__ _ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio_____ Transmitter. _ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees_____ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees_________ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly of weekly employees earnings employees earnings 8 $103 31 $198 4 58 35 123 25 46 249 113 15 82 97 73 40 85 28 12 67 51 6 70 37 124 15 57 168 95 71 84 93 74 2 96 11 177 5 10 41 42 50 180 107 42 141 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data ready have a total staff which, though not large in absolute numbers, is greater than the T V staff an ticipated in the majority of States for at least several years. Moreover, employment will expand somewhat in the near future in this region. N ot only have construction permits been granted for an additional station in Washington and one in Wilmington, but four other companies had filed applications for permits in late 1948. All of the latter were in Maryland— one in Frederick, one in Hagerstown, and two companies in Cumberland which were applying for the same channel. As is generally the case, technical personnel will benefit most from gains in T V employment. Over the long run, T V stations and employment are expected to continue to increase, provided additional channels are made available. Earnings Radio-station employees generally had higher earnings in Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As table 12 in dicates, the average scheduled earnings of announ cers was $9.7 per week, which is well above the na tional average of $67.1 The $123 averaged by pro gram supervisors is far above the national figure of $91. Writers and news personnel also fared better in this area than in the Nation generally. How ever, musicians and production men received slightly less than persons holding these same posi tions in the country as a whole. The $93 per week averaged by studio engineers is considerably better than the $72 national figure. Transmitter en gineers earned more ($74) than the $65 national average for that occupation. All clerical employees, and commercial-department employees in large stations also fared better in this area than in the entire United States. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) MICHIGAN Employment and Number of Stations Michigan has a large and growing broadcasting industry. B y the middle of 1949 there will be about 70 sound broadcast stations in the State, with around 1,300 full-time employees. In Octo ber 1947, when the last available survey of employ ment was made, the 40 reporting A M stations had a total full-time staff of 1,012. Nearly 9 out of 10 of these employees were found to be working in the larger stations employing 15 or more people. The survey also showed that about one-half of all broad cast employees in the State were working in De troit. Nearly all of the actors, singers, production men, and musicians were in that city. Outside the program departments, a much larger proportion of the employees were in other communities. The State had at least a few of almost every type of broadcast worker. (See table 13.) Production men, news personnel, and studio engineers were employed in larger numbers than in most States. 23 MAP 4 TELEVISION STATIONS OPERATING, UNDER CONSTRUCTION, OR APPLIED FOR IN GREAT LAKES REGION November I, 1948 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 24 COMPILED FROM UNPUBLISHED DATA OF FEDER AL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Table 13.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 MICHIGAN Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives __ _ _ Program supervisors__ _ _ Other program staff1. _ Announcers Musicians News per sonnel__ _ Production men _ Writers Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio Transmitter __ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees____ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled weekly weekly of of employees earnings employees earnings 16 $93 48 $213 9 52 39 114 32 40 301 123 65 69 61 91 26 75 13 37 89 49 10 59 33 101 21 45 153 68 82 68 72 64 2 58 15 127 15 23 62 30 78 162 114 42 2 61 i Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. As many as six television stations may be on the air in Michigan before the end of 1949. Three were already operating in Detroit in late 1948, and construction permits had been issued for three more stations in other cities. Outlook A few hundred jobs are likely to open up in the next year or so in new sound stations. In the fall of 1948 there were 27 applications for new stations on file with FCC not counting construction permits already issued. Most of the new radio stations will be very small and will hire mainly announcers, technicians, and clerical workers. In addition, a good many existing stations may be expected to increase the size of their staffs, since a sizeable number have applied for increases in power or extension of broadcasting time. There will also be vacancies from time to time owing to turn-over. In the near future, new T V stations probably will begin operating in several Michigan cities. The three construction permits already issued by late 1948 were for stations at Grand Rapids, Kala mazoo, and Lansing. In addition, six applicants were seeking permits for T V stations in Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, and Saginaw. However, unless more channels are allocated, only four of these six applicants will get licenses; in both De* troit and Flint there are two applicants seeking a single channel. Most of the stations under con struction or applied for would be operated in conjunction with existing broadcasting stations, which would use their radio staffs for some of the work connected with television operations. How ever, some new people, chiefly technical personnel, would have to be added. In the long run, employment in sound broad casting will probably not continue to increase. It may even decline in areas with television stations, which will be competing for advertising business. Television, on the other hand, offers promise of continued expansion over a long period of time, provided additional channels are made available. Earnings The average weekly earnings of employees of large stations were higher in Michigan than in the country as a whole, taking all occupations together. As table 13 indicates, staff musicians in large sta tions had average scheduled earnings of $91 per week in this State, as compared with a national average of $75.1 Writers, production men, and news personnel also fared better in Michigan than in the country as a whole. However, announcers earned an average of only $61 per week, as com pared with the national figure of $67. Engineers and technicians employed by large stations earned about as much in Michigan as the national aver ages for those occupations. Commercial depart ment employees in large stations tended to earn considerably more than in the country as a whole. Employees of small stations averaged somewhat less than the national figures for similar positions. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) WISCONSIN Employment and Number of Stations Wisconsin will have twice as many radio stations in 1949 as it had in 1947. By mid-1949, it will have about 60 sound broadcasting (AM , FM , or com bination) stations, employing roughly 900 people on a full-time basis. The latest available survey of the industry, made in October 1947, showed full time employment to be 568 in the 28 reporting A M stations. The largest occupations were clerical workers and announcers. (See table 14.) There was some concentration of employment in Mil waukee; this was particularly true in the case of studio engineers, musicians, and clerical workers. Large stations with 15 or more workers accounted for three-fourths of all broadcasting employment in Wisconsin. One television station was in operation in the fall of 1948 at Milwaukee. None were under construc tion. Outlook There will be a limited number of job openings at new stations in the coming year or so. In addi tion to construction permits already authorized, 10 companies had filed applications for permits by the fall of 1948 for new stations in Madison, Mil waukee, Richland Center, Sturgeon Bay, Watertown, Wausau, and Whitefish Bay. In all prob ability, not all these permits will be granted, partly because additional stations would overcrowd the spectrum in some locations. Those new stations that do go on the air will be small, and their staffs will probably average about 10 people each, mostly in those occupations which are characteristic of small stations. (See p. 2.) A few other openings will arise due to increases in power and extension of broadcast time. Turn-over, of course, will pro vide occasional openings in a variety of occupa tions. Television has been slow in gaining a foothold in Wisconsin, but there is promise of future develop ment. In the fall of 1948, six radio stations had filed applications for construction permits. Three of these companies were in Milwaukee, and three, all applying for the one available channel, were in Madison. None of the applicants which get per mits are likely to start telecasting before 1950. As all the applicants are now A M station operators, existing staffs would undoubtedly be used to take care of much of the T V work, though some supple mentary personnel, chiefly technicians, would have to be taken on. 26 Table 14.— E m p lo y m e n t and earnings in selected occupations at A M sta tio n s; week ending Oct. 1 1 , 1 9 4 7 WISCONSIN Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives___ Program supervi sors__________ Other program staff1____ Announcers _ Musicians__ News per sonnel____ Writers _ __ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio__ __ Transmitter _ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees _ _ _ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees____ ______ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly of weekly employees earnings employees earnings 10 $103 20 $168 11 74 25 91 42 49 145 64 33 56 59 61 11 25 55 41 10 62 21 87 21 44 78 45, 33 64 68 59 3 89 11 109 16 19 ' 72 35 36 77 83 39 10 22 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. In the long run, employment in sound radio will probably level off and remain relatively stable in the northern part of the State where there probably will be little television for some time. However, in the larger cities of southern Wisconsin, there is a possibility of decline in broadcasting employment owing to competition from television. Employ ment in this infant branch of the industry will grow gradually as more telecasting is initiated not only in Madison and Milwaukee but also in other large communities, provided additional channels are made available. Earnings Radio station employees tended to earn less in Wisconsin than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As table 14 indicates, announcers had average scheduled earn ings of $59 per week as compared with the national average of S67.1 Writers, musicians, and news personnel also earned less than the national aver ages for those occupations. Engineers and tech nicians in both large and small stations also tended to earn less in Wisconsin than in the country gener ally. Clerical employees of small stations earned an average of $35 per week as compared with the national figure of $34, while those who worked for large stations earned slightly less than the national average. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) OHIO Employment and Number of Stations Ohio ranked fourth among the States in non-net work broadcast employment in October 1947. At that time, 36 A M stations reported a total of 1,669 full-time employees. Only 2 percent of these worked at stations with fewer than 15 employees. (See table 15.) More than 60 percent of all these full-time employees were in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus. An even greater proportion of the program employees, other than announcers and supervisors, were located in these three cities— about 70 percent of the staff program employees and over 80 percent of the nonstaff program em ployees. Since October 1947, employment and stations have increased greatly. B y the middle of 1949 there will be around 60 A M -F M or combination stations, and full-time employment probably will have risen to around 2,000. The proportion of workers in each occupation, however, probably will not have changed significantly. A relatively large number of television stations probably will be on the air in Ohio in 1949. Two stations in Cleveland, one in Cincinnati, one in Toledo, and one in Canton were already operating in late 1948 and eight additional companies had been granted construction permits for stations in Cleveland, Cincinnati (two), Columbus (three), and Dayton (two). Outlook Broadcasting employment probably will increase considerably in the near future. Around 25 com panies, in addition to those granted permits by late 1948 and scheduled to begin broadcasting early in 1949, have requested construction permits. Be cause the A M band is already crowded, in many sections of Ohio, it is not likely that frequencies can be found for all of the A M applicants. A majority^ of the applications are for low-pow ered stations in small towns. New stations are planned in such towns as Amherst, Defiance, Dover, Table 15.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 OHIO Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives______ Program supervi sors__________ Other program staff1. . . . ........ . Announcers__ Musicians News per sonnel____ Production men______ Writers_____ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio_____ Transmitter__ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees____ Clerical employees Nonstaff program emDlovees Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly of weekly employees earnings employees earnings 3 $116 80 $193 1 44 62 95 14 42 530 183 84 75 71 104 61 80 15 66 78 51 3 70 56 103 6 45 315 157 129 73 78 68 2 79 26 135 3 4 72 50 112 296 106 38 126 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. Mount Vernon, and Oak Harbor. Small stations which get permits will need personnel capable of handling several jobs, especially for their program departments. After the stations now planned reach the air, 27 further growth in the number of A M -F M stations is likely .to be slow. Moreover, Ohio seems likely to be well blanketed by T V stations, so in some cities the number of sound stations and employ ment may decline as a result of competition from the newer medium. Ohio ranked fourth among the States in the num ber of authorized or projected T V stations in the fall of 1948. Besides the 13 stations already author ized or operating, 14 more had been applied for— 5 in Cleveland, 1 in Cincinnati, 2 in Toledo, 3 in Youngstown, 2 in Akron, and 1 in Bellaire. How ever, five of the applicants for stations in Akron, Cleveland, and Youngstown will have to be denied permits unless more channels can be made avail able. A majority of the companies going into television in Ohio are already operating other types of sta tions and will be able to draw on existing staffs to man T V stations. The remainder probably will hire people with experience in sound broadcasting for technical and program jobs. As elsewhere, around half of the employees at T V stations are expected to be technicians. Over the long run, employment will probably continue to rise, if more channels can be made available, although perhaps at a slower rate. Earnings Radio-station employees tended to earn more in Ohio than in the country generally during the week ending October 11, 1947. As table 15 indicates, the average scheduled earnings of announcers in the larger stations were $71 per week, which is somewhat more than the national average of $67.1 The $104-per-week average for musicians was well over the national figure of $75. Writers, program supervisors, and news personnel also averaged more in Ohio than in the entire country. However, production men earned slightly less than the na tional average for that occupation. Engineers, clerks, and commercial-department employees fared better in Ohio than in the country as a whole. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) INDIANA Employment and Number of Stations Indiana had a rather small broadcasting indus try before the last two years of rapid growth. The employment survey made in October 1947 showed only 472 full-time employees at 20 reporting A M stations. This was only tv o thirds as many as were reported in Georgia, for example, a State with a smaller population. B y mid-1949, however, the number of stations of all types in Indiana will have jumped to around 60, and total employment prob ably will be roughly twice greater than that re ported in 1947. A large majority of broadcasting employees worked at the 12 stations that had 15 or more workers, according to the 1947 survey. About onethird of those at the bigger stations were in Indian apolis. Table 16 gives the numbers of people em ployed in the major occupations at both large and small stations. Three television stations were on the air in November 1948; two in Indianapolis, one in Evans ville. Two others, in Bloomington and Indianap olis, held construction permits. Outlook A M -F M employment in Indiana will continue to increase in the near future. In September 1948, 28 14 new stations had been applied for, in addition to those for which construction permits had already been granted. The applications were mostly for small stations; so those which succeed in getting licenses probably will have small staffs. Appli cations had been filed for new stations in the following communities: Frankfort, Gary (four), Hammond, Logansport (two), Muncie, Portland, Valparaiso, and Warsaw. After the next year or two, total employment is expected to level off; eventually it may even decline, especially in areas where there will be strong competition from TV stations. Employment at TV stations is expected to in crease both in the near future and over the long run, provided more channels are made available. In addition to the five companies which held tele vision permits or were already telecasting in N o vember 1948, six had filed applications with FCC— three in Indianapolis, two in Fort Wayne, and one in South Bend. However, only two of the five channels allocated to Indianapolis had not already been assigned. Practically all of the stations would be run by operators of A M or FM stations. The companies which do not already have stations would have to build up complete staffs, while the others would be able to utilize many of their A M - Table 16.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 INDIANA Earnings Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives__ __ Program supervisors__ __ ______ Other program staff1__ _______ AnnouncersMusicians News per sonnel- _ Production Stations with 15 employees or more 6 64 14 93 Announcers tended to earn less in Indiana than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As indicated in table 16, the average scheduled earnings of announcers were about $60, as compared with the national average of $67.1 Musicians and production men also earned somewhat less than the national average. How ever, writers and news personnel fared better in Indiana than in the country generally. Studio engineers in this State averaged only $58 per week, which is considerably below the national average of $72 per week; transmitter engineers earned an average of $67 per week, which was slightly higher than the national figure of $65 for that occupation. Clerical employees in large sta tions earned somewhat less than the national aver age of $40 per week. 15 56 77 46 31 61 58 67 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) 4 80 8 176 8 8 77 35 27 64 98 37 Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of of weekly weekly employees earnings employees earnings 10 $91 16 $157 5 58 15 94 32 39 133 64 12 62 60 59 19 83 6 25 64 49 m en Writers Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio Transmitter Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees____ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees__ _____ FM employees in T V operations. The latter sta tions, however, would have to add a number of workers, especially technicians. 2 4 1Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. ILLINOIS Employment and Number of Stations Chicago is the third largest radio broadcasting center in the United States. The four Nation wide networks and key stations of the ABC, CBS, and NBC networks had about 900 full-time em ployees in this city in October 1947. Ten other large A M stations (with 15 or more employees) em ployed about 600 people on a full-time basis. Since many network programs originate in Chicago, the proportion of program employees is larger there than in any other center except New York and Los Angeles. Approximately one out of every three full-time broadcasting employees in the area was in program work in October 1947, mostly with the networks and their key stations. Several hundred free-lance actors, writers, and other artists were also working for stations or networks on a nonstaff basis or for advertising agencies or other program builders. In the rest of Illinois, outside the Chicago area, 380 full-time workers were employed by large A M stations in October 1947; the numbers in the vari ous occupations are shown in table 17. Small stations afforded only a slight amount of additional employment; those with staffs of less than 15 em ployed a total of only 160 full-time workers in the entire State, including Chicago. The number of stations on the air in Illinois has 29 grown rapidly in the last two years. The State will probably have over 85 AM , FM , and combination stations by mid-1949, though only 43 A M stations were included in the October 1947 employment sur vey. However, most of the new stations are small. Full-time employment at the 85 stations and with the networks will probably total around 2,500. Chicago was the only city in Illinois which had television in late 1948, when this study was made. Four T V stations were on the air there at that time. Construction permits, however, had been issued for a station in Peoria and another in Rock Island. These two will probably begin telecasting some time in 1949. Outlook A moderate number of openings will probably arise at sound broadcasting stations in Illinois during the coming months. Applications for 23 new AM or FM stations were pending with the FCC in the fall of 1948. Some of these applications will probably be rejected, however, owing to lack of room in the spectrum in certain localities. Most stations that are authorized will be low-powered, local outlets, likely to hire an average of around 10 employees each— in occupations characteristic of small stations. (See p. 2.) Vacancies will also occur from time to time in a wider variety of occu pations, as a result of turn-over, and probably there will be some openings at stations expanding their staffs. The television industry likewise shows prospects of expansion in the near future. In addition to the two companies which hold construction permits, nine others had applications on file— five for sta tions in Chicago, the other four for outlets in Peoria, Quincy, Rockford, and Springfield. Under FCC’s present channel allocations, however, it would not be possible to grant all the Chicago appli cations, since there are only three unassigned chan nels there. Furthermore, most of the projected television stations would be operated by companies already engaged in sound broadcasting, which could use their existing staffs for many television activities. Some new employees, mainly tech nicians, would have to be hired, but the total num ber of people taken on for T V work would be small. Television employment will continue to have an upward trend in the long run. Even if no additional channels are made available, several communities outside the Chicago area would still have room for more stations than have been applied for as yet. Employment opportunities are likely to arise also 30 Table 17.— at A M E m p lo y m e n t in selected occupations station s; week ending Oct. 1 1 , 1 9 4 7 ILLINOIS Num ber of empl oyees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives ___ ________ __ Program supervisors______ Other program staff2 _. _ __ Announcers. _ _______ Musicians____ __ _ _ News personnel. _ __ Production men _ Writers_____ __ __ _ Chief engineers and techni cians. _ ______________ Other engineers and techni cians2 _______ ______ Studio___ __ __ __ __ Transmitter.. . . _ Commercial supervisors___ Other commercial em ployees _ _ __ __ _____ Clerical employees. _ . _ _ Nonstaff program employees___ Stations with less than 15 employees Stations with 15 employee s or more Outside of Chicago Chicago1 15 10 58 11 28 8 9 14 16 29 259 62 127 15 13 11 ! j 1 ; 1 19 20 141 57 19 16 4 31 26 16 I 118 ! 79 ! 30 i 8 ; 72 31 41 10 25 123 104 j 35 53 19 j 1Network and key station employees are not included. 2 See footnote 1 for table 16, p. 29. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. as stations increase their time on the air or expand their activities in other ways. Employment in sound broadcasting will probably not continue to rise after the next year or two. It will probably decline eventually in Chicago and other metro politan areas where competition from television will be most felt. Competition for any openings which arise at the larger stations in occupations above the clerical level will generally be keen. Staff positions will be most difficult to obtain in Chicago, where the coveted network jobs are located. They will be. easiest to get with small stations outside the Chi cago area. In the case of free-lance artists, most of the opportunities for employment are in Chicago, where there is and will continue to be considerable competition for work and irregularity of employ ment, especially among actors. It was found, dur ing this Bureau’s recent survey, that only slightly more than half of the radio actors had any work on the radio during the week of M ay 9, 1948. Singers were found to have somewhat more em- ployment; over two-thirds of those in the study had radio engagements during the survey week. Earnings Table 18.— Earnings of full-time employees in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 Average earnings of radio-station employees were much higher in the Chicago area than in the rest of Illinois. This is shown by the figures on scheduled earnings of employees of large A M stations (excluding network key outlets) given in table 18, for the week ending October 11, 1947. The table also shows that pay tended to be higher in large than in small stations. It was highest of all for personnel of the networks and their key outlets (who are not included in the table). The special survey of radio artists affiliated with American Federation of Radio Artists, which was recently made by this Bureau, revealed the rela tively low' earnings of many artists and the ex tremely high pay received by some. One out of every four Chicago actors in this survey who had earnings solely or mainly from radio performing made less than $1,550 during 1947; one out of every two made less than $3,880, Yet the highest paid fourth of the actors earned over $10,310 during the year. Among announcers, the range in earnings was considerably less. The lowest-paid fourth of the announcers with pay only or mainly from radio performing had earnings ranging up to $4,750 in 1947; one out of every two made over $6,670; and the top-paid fourth over $10,940. ILLINOIS Average scheduled weekly earnings Occupation Executives __ _ __ __ _ _ Program supervisors___ __ ___ Other program staff2 _ __ _ __ Announcers _ _ _ __ Musicians___ _______ __ News personnel.. __ ___ _ Production m en _____ _ ________ __ Writers. Chief engineers and technicians. Other engineers and technicians2 Studio _ __ __ _ Transmitter_ Commercial supervisors___ __ Other commercial department. _ Clerical employees___________ Stations with less than 15 employees $113 54 47 65 54 60 51 35 Stations with 15 employees or more Chicago Area1 $192 132 108 104 114 118 105 76 112 90 92 89 227 84 47 Outside Chicago 167 82 50 52 63 54 63 41 79 56 60 54 97 63 39 1 Network and key station employees are not included. 2 See footnote 1 for table 16, p. 29. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. MINNESOTA Employment and Number of Stations Broadcasting employment has been increasing rapidly and spreading out to more small commun ities in Minnesota during the past 2 years. There will be around 40 stations operating by mid-1949, with probably about 700 or 800 full-time employees. During October 1947, 20 A M stations reported just over 500 full-time employees. These workers were heavily concentrated in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area; three out of five of them were employed there. Four out of five of the 80 staff program employees, other than announcers and supervisors, were working in this metropolitan district. Only three full-time musicians, seven writers, and five news personnel were employed in the rest of the State. These figures do not include nonstaff program people, of whom the bigger sta tions employed a moderate number (see table 19). Television is currently limited to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. One station was already operat ing there and two more had been issued construc tion permits, in the fall of 1948, when this report was prepared. Outlook There probably will be a moderate number of jobs created by new stations in the near future. Twelve companies were applying for construction permits in late 1948 (not counting those already granted permits). Because most of the proposed stations would have less than 1,000 watt power, those reaching the air probably will not average more than a dozen employees per station. There will be extremely few opportunities at these small stations for specialized program personnel. Practically all of the job openings will be in smaller towns. In the Minneapolis-St. Paul dis trict only one small station has applied for a permit. The remaining applicants are in Alexandria, Aus tin, Ely, Mankato, New Ulm, St. Cloud, and Still water. Over the long run, job opportunities in AM , FM , 31 MAP 5 TELEVISION STATIONS OPERATING, UNDER CONSTRUCTION, OR APPLIED FOR IN THE MIDWEST STATES November I, 1948 ★ OPERATING STATIONS ft CONSTRUCTION PERMITS O APPLICATIONS UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 32 COMPILED FROM UNPUBLISHED DATA OF FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Table 19.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 MINNESOTA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives___ Program supervisors_ Other program staff1__ Announcers Musicians. _ News per sonnel. _ Writers _ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio Transmitter Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees____ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees__ __ _ _ _ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of of weekly weekly employees earnings employees earnings 11 $99 9 22 19 $201 66 16 105 41 137 57 31 66 75 70 18 14 58 44 i 6 69 17 107 21 45 81 39 37 75 83 72 5 66 5 191 5 12 43 30 26 81 90 35 14 81 1Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. and combination stations will arise mostly through turn-over. New stations probably will go on the air slowly, and the number of stations may even decrease in areas where there will be strong com petition from television. However, in most of Minnesota, sound broadcasting probably will predominate for many years to come. Employment at T V stations will continue to be concentrated wholly in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan district in the near future. In addi tion to the three stations operating or authorized there, three applications were pending in late 1948, of which two were for the same channel. Except for this area and perhaps Duluth, there probably will be few T V stations in Minnesota for many years. Earnings Some occupational groups tended to make more, some tended to make less, in Minnesota than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As table 19 indicates, announ cers at the larger Minnesota stations had average scheduled earnings of $75 per week, which com pared favorably with the national figure of $67.1 However, musicians, writers, and news personnel tended to earn slightly less than the national aver ages for those occupations. Engineers and tech nicians in large stations earned considerably more than in the country as a whole. However, clerical employees earned somewhat less in Minnesota than in the United States generally. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) NORTH DAKOTA AND SOUTH DAKOTA Employment and Number of Stations Broadcasting is a very small field of employment in the Dakotas. These two States together will have about 30 sound broadcast stations by mid1949, employing only around 500 full-time workers. There was a total of 345 full-time workers in 19 reporting A M stations in October 1947, of which about three-fourths were in larger stations em ploying 15 or more. The staffs of the bigger sta tions included a larger proportion of program em ployees, especially in occupations other than an nouncer, than was true in most States with an equally small radio industry. However, the actual numbers of workers involved were small. There were, for example, only 33 full-time staff musicians in the two States and only 10 full-time singers; all of the latter were employed by one North Dakota station. Outside of the program depart ments, technicians and clerical employees were the largest occupational groups. (See table 20.) Outlook Little expansion in radio employment is in pros pect in these States. Applications for only two new stations were on file with the FCC in the fall of 1948. The projected stations will be small and will provide few jobs. They will be located at Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Mitchell, South Dakota. There is not much indication that exist ing stations plan to enlarge their staffs; only two stations had applied for increases in power in late 33 Table 20.— E m p lo y m e n t and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending O ct 11, 1947 NORTH DAKOTA AND SOUTH DAKOTA Stations with 15 employees or more Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly weekly of employees earnings employees earnings Full-time employees: ExebutiVes______ Program supervisors__ __ . Other program staff1_____ Announcers. Musicians__ News per sonnel___ Production men______ Writers_____ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians Studio.___ Transmitter. Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees____ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees___________ 10 $85 13 $159 5 56 8 80 24 43 121 31 33 46 51 42 11 58 5 15 52 43 8 61 9 79 11 51 37 17 19 51 49 51 2 62 6 122 4 9 61 33 14 40 92 34 1 7 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. 1948. Turn-over is not likely to create many openings for radio workers, since total employment is so small in the Dakotas. No television stations were in operation in either State, and no applica tions for stations had been submitted by the fall of 1948. The long-run trend of employment in sound radio broadcasting is likely to be rather level in these States. Not much further expansion is anticipated. There will probably be much less competition from television here, however, than in most parts of the country. Sound broadcasting is best suited to re gions such as this where population is widely scat tered. Television is never likely to gain much foot hold; it is doubtful if more than a few of the largest communities will have a T V station for many years to come. Earnings Radio-station employees earned considerably less in North Dakota and South Dakota than in the United States as a whole during the week end ing October 11, 1947. As table 20 indicates, aver age scheduled earnings of radio announcers were only $51 per week in the larger Dakota stations, as compared to the national average of $67.1 The $42 averaged by the musicians was well below the national figure of $75. Writers and news person nel also received lower earnings in North Dakota and South Dakota than in the country generally. Studio engineers in larger stations averaged only $49; this was well below the national average of $72. The earnings of transmitter engineers also fell considerably below the national average of $65 per week for that occupation. Clerical employees also tended to receive less than workers holding similar positions in the Nation as a whole. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) IOWA AND NEBRASKA Employment and Number of Stations During the past few years, the number of broad casting stations and employees have increased rapidly in these States. There will be about 75 stations and at least 1,500 employees in the region by thie middle of 1949. During October 1947, the date of the latest avail able employment survey, 37 A M stations reported 1,076 full-time employees. The great majority (over 90 percent) of these workers were at the larger stations with 15 or more employees. Nearly 34 two out of five of them were with nine stations in Des Moines, Omaha, and Council Bluffs. The larger stations in these States had unusually high proportions of program personnel other than announcers and supervisors. Considerable num bers of staff musicians, news personnel, and writers were employed. Moreover, these types of program employees were not nearly as heavily concentrated in the bigger cities as they were in most other States. No T V stations were operating in these States by the end of 1948, but four had been authorized to go ahead with construction. Table 21 .— Earnings The average scheduled earnings of radio-station employees tended to be considerably lower in Iowa and Nebraska than in the country as a whole dur ing the week ending October 11, 1947. For e x -. ample, table 21 shows that announcers averaged $56 per week in the States’ larger stations, as com pared with the national figure of $67.1 The $55 per week averaged by the production men was con siderably below the national average of $79 for that occupation. Musicians, writers, and news station s; w eek ending Oct . 1 1 , 1 9 4 7 Outlook It is likely that new stations will take on around 100 employees in the near future. Seven companies have applied for construction permits for 250-watt stations. If all go on the air, Davenport and Red Oak, Iowa, will each have one new station, and in Nebraska, Alliance will have two, Beatrice, two, and Broken Bow, one. Announcer, technician, and clerical jobs probably will be most numerous. A small number of additional employees will be needed at a few stations which have requested more hours on the air or greater power. Employment probably will remain near current levels in communities away from the bigger cities over the long run, but, in metropolitan areas, broadcasting employment may fall off owing to competition from television. However turn-over will continue to create openings. Within the next few years T V stations in the two States probably will have a fairly large num ber of employees. Beside the 4 stations with con struction permits, 10 others had filed applications for permits by the fall of 1948. If all of these stations were to go on the air, there would be five in Des Moines, four in Omaha, two in Davenport, and one each in Ames, Cedar Rapids, and Iowa City. However, in both Des Moines and Omaha there were two stations seeking a single channel. Since all but one of the applicants already operate AM , FM , or combinations stations, in many cases they will shift employees from “ sound” to T V or have them work in both mediums. Over the long run both stations and employment probably will continue to increase, provided more television channels are made available. E m p lo y m e n t and earnings in selected occupations at A M IOWA AND NEBRASKA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives___ Program supervi sors________ _ Other program staff1______ _ Announcers__ Musicians__ News per sonnel. Production men. _ Writers. Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio______ Transmitter. Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees __ __ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees__ __ __ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of of weekly weekly employees earnings employees earnings 8- $92 43 $144 7 62 46 82 22 40 377 132 59 51 56 48 68 61 12 53 55 41 6 63 37 85 17 40 191 96 87 59 59 58 3 60 20 115 5 12 54 31 69 151 74 35 139 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. personnel also earned less in these States than the national average. Moreover, the average of $59 per week earned by studio engineers was well below the national figure of $72, while the average of $58 for transmitter engineers was nearer the Nation wide average of $65 for that occupation. Clerical and commercial-department employees also tended to earn less in Iowa and Nebraska than in the coun try as a whole. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) 35 MISSOURI AND KANSAS Employment and Number of Stations The broadcasting industry has grown rapidly in these States during the last 2 years. The two States together will have about 85 A M , A M -F M , and FM stations in the spring of 1949. This will be about twice as many as the 43 A M stations that reported on employment in October 1947, when the latest available employment survey was made. At that time there were about 1,400 full-time broadcast employees in the two States, of whom only 10 per cent worked at stations with less than 15 employees. A relatively large number of full-time program employees other than announcers and supervisors (around 360) were employed in the bigger stations. (See table 22.) Of these 360 employees, threefifths worked in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas. Few other areas in the country (except New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, the major net work centers) had as many workers in these occu pations as did these cities. One television station was operating in St. Louis in late 1948, and one in Kansas City had been granted a construction permit. Outlook Most of the job opportunities at the new sound broadcasting stations expected to open up in the near future will be in small cities or towns. In the fall of 1948, 16 companies were seeking permits for new stations, roughly three-fourths of which would be in communities of under 50,000 population. It is unlikely that all these applicants will be granted permits. Those stations that are author ized will be mostly small local outlets and will provide employment opportunities for perhaps an average of about 10 people each. There will be some jobs for announcers and technicians; few if any for such specialized program personnel as actors and musicians. In addition to employment opportunities at new stations, openings will result from turn-over and from stations enlarging staffs to operate more hours per day. After a few years, employment at A M -F M sta tions is expected to level off. Near the big metro politan areas where there will be a good many T Y stations, employment at stations which transmit sound only may decline, but many workers will be able to shift from A M -F M to T Y operations, some times under the same employer. Employment at T V stations is likely to increase moderately both in the near future and over the 36for FRASER Digitized Table 22.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 MISSOURI AND KANSAS Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled weekly of weekly of employees earnings employees earnings Full-time employees: Executives. . Program supervi sors______ Other program staff1- . _ __ Announcers. Musicians __ News per sonnel _ Production men Writers Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1! Studio. _ _ _ Transmitter. Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees__ 13 $82 49 $176 10 53 58 84 42 40 509 148 145 64 75 60 58 68 12 59 75 42 58 46 98 43 214 120 87 72 74 69 5 58 17 121 9 16 57 33 65 221 78 39 ii 21 7 115 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. long run. In addition to the stations already operating or authorized, 18 other companies had filed applications for T V stations with FCC by November 1948— 6 for stations in Kansas City, 2 in St. Joseph, 7 in St. Louis, 2 in Topeka, and 1 in Wichita. However, some of the applications, particularly in the case of those for stations in St. Louis and Kansas City, will have to be denied unless additional frequencies are found for tele vision stations. About three-fourths of the appli cants are already operating sound stations, and, as elsewhere, would use many of their experienced workers in T V operations. Over the long run it is likely that both T V stations and employment will continue to increase, provided additional channels are made available. Earnings Program employees in small stations tended to earn somewhat less in Missouri and Kansas than in the Nation generally during the week ending October 11, 19471. As table 22 indicates, program staff members in stations with less than 15 em ployees had average scheduled earnings of about $40 per week; this was somewhat below the na tional average of $43x. In larger stations the pro gram staff averaged $64 per week, about the same as the national figure of $65. Announcers had weekly earnings of about $75, which was somewhat above the national average of $67. Writers, musi cians, and news personnel tended to receive earn ings that were lower than the averages for the en tire country. However, in large stations, engineers and technicians had higher average earnings in these States than in the country as a whole. Cler ical and commercial-department employees tended to earn less in Missouri and Kansas than in the country generally. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) VIRGINIA Employment and Number of Stations The number of broadcasting stations has in creased considerably in Virginia during the past two years, though not as rapidly as in the country as a whole. There will be about 55 sound broadcast stations in the State by m id-1949. Employment probably will have approached the 1,000 mark. B y comparison, there were 659 full-time employees in 32 reporting A M stations in October 1947. At that time stations employing 15 or more workers accounted for four-fifths of all broadcasting em ployment in the State. The largest occupational groups in these stations were the announcers, cler ical workers, transmitter and studio engineers, writers, and salesmen. (See table 23.) Employ ment was concentrated in the metropolitan areas of Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Richmond, and Roanoke. Richmond alone had nearly a third of all radio workers in Virginia. There was one operating television station in Richmond. Outlook Newly established Virginia stations are likely to supply somewhere between 75 and 150 jobs in sound radio in the latter half of 1949. In the fall of 1948, nine applications were on file for stations in Culpeper, Farmville, Harrisonburg, Mount Jackson, Norfolk, Orange, Radford, and Winches ter (not counting construction permits already issued). Some of these applications will probably be dismissed because of lack of room in the spec trum or for other reasons. Most of the new stations which do go into operation will be very small, and their man-power needs will be mainly in the typical small-station occupations. (See p. 2.) In addi tion, two existing stations have applied for increases Table 23.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 VIRGINIA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives___ __ Program supervi sors. _ __ __ Other program staff1 __ __ Announcers __ News per sonnel. Production men Writers____ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio. _ _ Transmitter_ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees __ _ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees __ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled weekly weekly of of employees earnings employees earnings 13 $114 37 $136 11 50 38 62 .26 38 173 91 53 56 18 54 7 35 120 38 11 62 26 73 15 45 117 52 60 48 45 52 5 95 15 121 6 14 52 35 35 80 82 38 8 35 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. 37 CO 00 MAP 6 TELEVISION STATIONS OPERATING, UNDER CONSTRUCTION, OR APPLIED FOR IN SOUTHEASTERN STATES November I, 1948 ★ OPERATING STA TIO N S CONSTRUCTION PERMITS O APPLICATIONS UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMPILED FROM UNPUBLISHED DATA OF FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION in power, another two for extension of broadcast ing time. Some of these, as well as other estab lished stations, may increase the size of their staffs, creating a few job opportunities. Turn-over, of course, will be another factor creating occasional openings. In the next year or two, television stations will open up new employment possibilities, chiefly in the technical field. Eight applications for stations in Newport News, Norfolk, and Richmond, only two of which were for the same channel, were pend ing in the fall of 1948. Since nearly all of these applications were made by sound broadcast sta tions, the employees added would be those needed to perform television operations which the radio staff could not handle. The rapid expansion in sound broadcasting which has taken place since the war is not likely to con tinue much longer. It is possible that, in the long run, broadcasting employment may decline in the larger towns and cities where telecasting sta tions may take business away from standard broad cast stations. This is most likely to happen in Richmond and Norfolk, where so many television stations are already being planned. However, additional television stations will probably open up in other large communities also in the course of time, and offer an expanding field of employment, especially if enough channels are available. Earnings Radio-station employees tended to earn less in Virginia than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As is indicated in table 23, average scheduled earnings of announcers in the larger stations were only $56, as compared with the national figure of $67.1 Writers, program supervisors, and news personnel also tended to earn less in Virginia than in the entire United States. However, the seven production men em ployed by large stations in the State averaged con siderably more than the national figure of $79 for that occupation. It is interesting to note that, contrary to the situation in many States, transmit ter engineers had higher earnings than studio en gineers; the $45 a week averaged by Virginia studio engineers was far below the national average of $72, while the average earnings of Virginia transmitter engineers ($52) was closer to the $65 national average for that field. Although clerical employees in Virginia’s large stations earned less than the national average of $40, clerical workers in the smaller stations made slightly more than the cor responding national figure ($34). 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) NORTH i Employment and Number of Stations North Carolina has an unusually large broadcast ing industry, considering that the total population of the State is only between 3 and 4 million. There will be about 90 AM , FM , and combination sta tions, with around 1,200 full-time employees in the State by m id-1949. This represents a marked growth since October 1947, when a survey of the in dustry showed employment to be 748 at the 47 reporting stations. North Carolina is characterized by small broad casting stations, many of them located in small towns. In October 1947, nearly half the workers were in stations with fewer than 15 full-time em ployees. The largest occupations were announcers, clerical workers, transmitter engineers, studio engineers, and musicians. (See table 24.) Two television stations, at Charlotte and Greens boro, will probably go on the air during 1949, as they held construction permits when this study was prepared in late 1948. No stations had begun tele casting at that time. Outlook The opening of new stations in the next year or so is likely to create around 100 to 150 job oppor tunities in sound radio in this State. In the fall of 1948, 11 companies (not counting; those already granted permits) were requesting permission to build new stations at Brevard, Canton, Elkin, Fuquay Springs, Greensboro, Greenville, Laurinburg, Lincolnton, Marion, and Smithfield. Some of these permits may not be granted, partly because the spectrum is already somewhat overcrowded in certain areas. Moreover, most of the new stations will be very small; the majority of their employees will be announcers, technicians, and clerical workers. In addition to openings at new stations, a few job opportunities will arise as some stations in crease the size of their staffs. In late 1948, several 39 Table 24.— E m p lo y m e n t and earnings in selected occupations at A M sta tion s; week ending Oct . 1 1 , 1 9 4 7 NORTH CAROLINA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly of weekly employees earnings employees earnings Full-time employees: Executives Program supervisors _ _ _ _ Other program staff1 _ _ Announcers _ Musicians. _ News per sonnel__ _ Writers_____ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio__ __ Transmitter __ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees___ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees__ ____ 29 $91 34 $128 26 56 16 69 85 41 138 79 16 50 53 47 8 22 61 38 25 62 21 93 45 47 102 42 57 62 61 64 18 77 16 105 11 32 56 36 27 55 64 40 7 48 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 oxmore persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. stations were applying to the FCC for permission to increase their power, or to be on the air more hours per week or both; this may necessitate hiring some additional personnel. Vacancies will also arise fairly often owing to turn-over, since the total number of workers employed in broadcasting is relatively large in this State. Permits for five more T V stations were applied for by late 1948— to be located at Charlotte, High Point, and Raleigh— in addition to those already authorized in Charlotte and Greensboro. Two of the three applicants in Charlotte sought the same channel. The stations which get permits probably will not be on the air until 1950. Nearly all of these television stations are to be operated in con junction with AM stations and will not take on complete new staffs. However, some additional personnel, especially in the technical departments, will be required to handle television operations. In the long run, broadcasting employment is ex pected to level off. In the larger cities it may even decline since television may cut into the advertis ing revenues of some sound stations and force them to curtail operations. Though expansion in television is to be expected in the larger commu nities, especially if additional T V channels are pro vided, the total number of workers employed will not be large for a long time to come. Earnings The earnings of most groups of radio station employees in North Carolina during the week end ing October 11, 1947, were generally below the na tional average. As is indicated in table 24, the scheduled earnings of announcers in the larger sta tions averaged only $53, as compared with the national figure of $67.1 The 16 musicians earned an average of only $47 as compared with $75 in the entire country. Writers, news personnel, and pro gram supervisors also earned less in North Caro lina than in the country generally. Studio engi neers in large stations earned an average of $61 per week which is less than the $72 average for the United States. It is interesting to note that earn ings of North Carolina’s transmitter engineers averaged higher than those of studio engineers. In fact, the transmitter engineers earned about as much in this State as the $65 average for the entire country. The earnings of clerical workers in sta tions with less than 15 employees tended to be slightly higher in North Carolina than in the United States as a whole. 1 The national average and other averages for employees in the large stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) SOUTH CAROLINA Employment and Number of Stations The broadcasting industry has expanded rapidly in this State during the past two years. South Caro lina will have a total of about 40 independent broad 40 casting stations of all types, and employment will be at least 500, by the middle of 1949. In October 1947, however, only 333 full-time broadcast employees were reported by 19 A M sta tions. One hundred of these workers were at sta tions with less than 15 employees. Employment was concentrated to a considerable extent in big cities here as in most other States; 140 of the 233 full-time workers at the larger stations were in Charleston and Columbia, the State’s major cities. Except for announcers and writers, employment of staff program personnel was almost negligible. (See table 25.) During the survey week, three stations employed 23 non-staff musicians. Only three other nonstaff employees worked that week. Outlook Employment will continue to increase in the near future. Fourteen new stations were applied for in the fall of 1948, not counting those which had con struction permits and were expected to be on the air by mid-1949. Most of the new stations will be small and will have small staffs. Those which succeed in getting licenses will need, mainly, pro gram workers who can announce and also take over other duties, technicians, clerical workers, and time salesmen. Job opportunities will be scattered throughout the State. There were applicants for stations in Aiken, Easley, Georgetown, Greer, Kingstree, Laurens, Spartanburg, and Union. Anderson and Greenville each had three applicants for new stations. Columbia and Charleston, the cities with the largest number of employees in 1947, had no applicants. Some openings will result from turn-over at existing stations, but such vacancies will probably not be numerous, since the total number of people employed in the industry is relatively small in this State. Over the long run, broadcast employ ment is expected to level out and there will be very few openings, except those created by turn-over. South Carolina is not expected to have more than a few television stations for several years. Since T V stations at present have a range of roughly 50 miles, they are usually built where there are heavy concentrations of population. Charles ton, the biggest metropolitan area in South Caro lina, had only 71,000 people in 1940. So far, only one station in Greenville has been applied for. example, as table 25 shows, announcers in the larger stations had average scheduled earnings of $61 per week, which is below the national figure of $67.1 The $41 averaged by the writers is also be low the $46 national average for that occupation. Contrary to the situation in many States, trans mitter engineers received larger earnings than studio engineers. However, the $53 averaged by transmitter engineers was still below the national figure of $65. Although clerical employees in small stations earned about as much in South Carolina as in the entire country, those employed by larger stations did not fare as well in this State as did similar employees in the United States as a whole. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) Table 25.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 SOUTH CAROLINA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: ExecutivesProgram supervi sors Other program staff1 _ Announcers Writers, _ _ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio___ Transmitter Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees _ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees. __ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly weekly of employees earnings employees earnings 11 $83 20 $131 7 54 12 78 27 45 80 45 21 52 61 41 7 65 10 84 15 47 49 20 29 48 39 53 6 63 8 111 9 8 44 34 19 25 78 37 6 26 Earnings Radio-station employees tended to earn less in South Carolina than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. For 1Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. 41 GEORGIA Employment and Number of Stations Georgia has a sizeable and growing broadcasting industry. The State will have about 75 radio stations by mid-1949. When the latest available employment survey was made, in October 1947, 48 reporting AM stations had 717 full-time em ployees, and more than one-third of the broad casting employees in the State were in Atlanta and Macon. More than half of the staff program em ployees, other than announcers and supervisors, were in Atlanta, as were about half of the nonstaff workers of this type. (See table 26.) Atlanta is likely to have the State’s only operat ing television station throughout 1949. The only TV station yet on the air in late 1948 was in that city, and the two others for which permits had been granted were also located there. Outlook Employment in sound broadcasting will probably continue to increase in the near future but at a slower rate than during the past few years. In the fall of 1948 only four companies had applica tions for new stations pending with FCC. Appli cants granted permits probably will begin to oper ate after mid-1949. The new stations are planned for Brunswick, East Point, Valdosta, and Waycross. Even if all of them are licensed, probably less than 50 persons will be hired. A greater number of openings than this are likely to be created by turn over at existing stations. More opportunities in sound broadcasting will probably arise over the long run from turn-over than through the establishment of new stations. The number of stations in Georgia will have almost tripled in the four years since 1945, and it is not likely that many more companies will enter the field. Moreover, competition among sound stations throughout the State and the impact of television in the big cities may bring about a drop in the number of AM , FM , or combination stations. Employment at T V stations is expected to in crease both in the near future and over the long run. In addition to the three stations already operating or authorized in Atlanta, three others had been applied for there in the fall of 1948. However, only four channels had been allocated to Atlanta at that time. One company also filed an applicaton for a station in Macon. All but one of the companies planning stations are already operat ing on the A M band. This will enable them to use many of their present employees for both me42 Table 26,— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 GEORGIA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average scheduled Number scheduled of weekly weekly employees earnings employees earnings Number of Full-time employees: Executives_____ Program supervi sors_________ Other program staff1______ __ Announcers _ Musicians _ _ News per sonnel W riters____ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio _ _ Transmitter __ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees _ _ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees __ __ 36 $85 23 $151 27 56 17 81 62 38 149 72 21 62 64 59 16 23 70 44 62 18 93 40 46 83 24 58 57 62 54 11 70 11 110 13 29 49 32 36 58 74 38 26 . 3 31 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data diums. All of them, however, will have to add a considerable number of technicians to their staffs. Earnings The average scheduled earnings of radio station employees tended to be lower in Georgia than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As table 26 indicates, announ cers in the larger stations averaged $64 per week as compared with the national figure of $67.1 Musicians and writers also had lower average earn ings in Georgia than in the United States generally. Both studio and transmitter engineers averaged about $10 per week less than the national figures for those positions. Clerical and commercial employees also tended to earn less in Georgia than in the country as a whole. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) ALABAMA Employment and Number o f Stations Alabama will have around 60 broadcasting sta tions by mid-1949. This will represent a very sizeable increase during the previous 2 years. Only 29 A M stations reported on broadcast employment in a survey made in the fall of 1947. It is estimated that employment will have risen to around 700 in mid-1949 compared to the 416 full-time workers reported in October 1947. On the latter date, 44 announcers at stations with 15 or more employees comprised the biggest occupational- group. (See table 27.) In the entire State there were no staff singers, sound-effects men, or actors. Only 10 nonstaff program employees worked during the survey week. Birmingham is the only Alabama city which will have television during 1949. Two stations were authorized there in late 1948. Outlook Employment will continue to increase in the latter part of 1949 as the new stations, for which applications were made in the fall of 1948 but not then authorized, begin to go on the air. Sixteen applications were filed with FCC in late 1948 for stations scattered throughout Alabama; in An niston, Atmore, Bessemer, Birmingham (two), Ensley, Fayette, Fort Payne (two), Guntersville (twp), Mobile (three), Roanoke, and Russellville. M ost of the new stations which get licenses will have staffs of less than 15 and will hire mainly announcers who can also handle other work, tech nicians, and clerical workers. Some openings in a wider variety of occupations will occur from time to time at existing stations as workers leave the industry or move to jobs with other stations. After the currently planned stations go on the air, it is likely that employment will level off, as most openings that arise will be due to turn-over. Over the long run, employment in sound broad casting may decline in the heavily populated com munities in Alabama owing to competition from television. To date, however, Birmingham is not only the one city in Alabama which has television but the sole city where plans for television have gone as far as filing an application with FCC. One com pany has applied for a construction permit. It Table 27.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 ALABAMA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives___ __ Program supervi sors__________ Other program staff1. . _ _____ Announcers. Writers_____ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio_____ Transmitter. Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees___ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees. _ __ ._ _ _ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly of weekly employees earnings employees earnings 17 $100 18 $208 10 55 13 85 30 43 60 44 7 62 68 41 15 76 9 103 29 53 60 35 25 78 78 78 6 84 5 94 9 22 69 36 25 41 98 40 5 5 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. probably will be many years before T V employ ment in Alabama even approaches present em ployment at sound broadcasting stations. Earnings The average scheduled earnings of radio-station employees other than program, were higher in Alabama than in the United States as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As is shown in table 27, announcers in large stations averaged $68 per week, which is slightly above the national average. Engineers and technicians also fared better in this State than in the country as a whole. However, program supervisors received somewhat less than the national average for that occupation. 43 MISSISSIPPI Employment and Number o f Stations The broadcasting industry is a very small field of employment in this State. Mississippi will have about 36 sound broadcast stations, employing only around 400 people, by mid-1949. However, these figures represent rapid growth during the past 2 years. In October 1947, 17 reporting A M stations had a total full-time staff of only 194. Only 55 of these employees were in the larger stations with 15 or more workers, while 139 were in stations em ploying less than 15— contrary to the situation in most States, where the majority of workers are in the larger stations. In all stations only 74 full time program employees were employed. The next largest group was the technical employees who numbered 52. (See table 28.) Outlook There will be a few job openings (probably around 40 to 60) with new broadcasting stations in the near future. Six applications for permits to build new stations— at Biloxi, Brookhaven, Greenwood, Pascagoula, and Picayune— were on file with FCC in late 1948 (not counting permits already issued). Very little expansion in staffs at existing stations is expected. Only one station in Columbus has applied for permission to make in crease in power. N o television stations were on the air and none had yet been authorized in the fall of 1948. How ever, one independent company was applying for a permit to build a station at Jackson and, if the ap plication is granted, will provide a small number of jobs in the fairly near future. Employment in A M and FM broadcasting is likely to continue to increase slowly over the long run, so long as general business conditions remain favorable. It is unlikely that there will be much television development in Mississippi for many years, since there are few sizeable cities and aver age per capita income is lower in this State than in any other in the country. Earnings Program employees tended to earn less in Mis sissippi than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As indicated in table 28, the program staff in stations with less 44 Table 28.— E m p lo y m e n t and earnings in selected occupations at A M sta tion s; week ending O ct 11, 1947 MISSISSIPPI Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average scheduled Number scheduled of weekly weekly employees earnings employees earnings Number of Full-time employees: Executives__ _ Program supervi sors______ Other program staff1_________ Announcers __ Writers ___ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Transmitter Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees _ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees___ _ _ 12 $119 7 58 4 ,| $155 62 3 1 42 41 19 11 6 i 37 3 62 j 12 27 64 47 41 29 10 1 7 ! 44 42 8 109 3 ! 72 8 12 66 34 5 1 6 j 81 41 7 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. than 15 employees averaged $41 per week, which is slightly less than the national average of $43.1 It is interesting to note that even smaller earnings were received by the program staff in stations with 15 or more employees; their earnings averaged only $37 per week, as compared with the national aver age of $65. Engineers also fared better, on the average, in small stations than in larger ones. Commercial-department workers in small sta tions tended to earn more in Mississippi than in the country as a whole. The average earnings of clerical workers in this State were just about the same as the national average for these positions. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) ARKANSAS Employment and Number o f Stations Broadcasting employment was small in this State in 1947. The 22 A M stations reporting their em ployment in October of that year had a total of only 275 full-time workers. The majority of these workers were employed at the 16 stations with less than 15 employees, contrary to the situation in most States where employment was concentrated in the larger stations. Table 29 shows the small numbers of employees in different occupations at both large and small stations. By m id-1949 there will be about 30 sound broad casting stations in Arkansas, 8 more than the number of A M stations which reported in October 1947. Employment probably will have increased to about 350. No television stations have yet been granted construction permits in this State. Outlook In the months following mid-1949, employment will continue to increase. About 11 companies were seeking permits for new stations in late 1948. If most of them eventually reach the air, they would provide jobs for around 100 persons. The new sta tions are planned for eight different Arkansas com munities. Batesville, H ot Springs, and Searcy each had two applicants for permits. El Dorado, Conway, Forrest City, Fort Smith, and Osceola each had one applicant. Since the new stations will have small staffs, prospects for specialists such as singers, actors, and news personnel will continue to be meager. Applicants who can handle com bination jobs will have the best chance of being hired. Some additional jobs will result from turn-over at existing stations and the expansion of staff at a few stations to handle longer broadcast periods or increased power. Over the long run, employment in sound broadcasting is likely to remain near the 1950 level, provided business conditions remain good. It probably will be many years before television stations in Arkansas will provide more than a small number of jobs. So far, only two companies, both of them in Little Rock, have applied for construc tion permits. Arkansas is largely rural and has few communities large enough to support television stations, at least until means are discovered for transmitting telecasts greater distances than is possible now. Table 29.— E m p lo y m e n t and earnings in selected occupations at A M sta tion s; week ending O ct 11, 1947 ARKANSAS Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives,. , Program supervi sors, _ _ Other program staff1 __ _ Announcers __ Writers Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio,____ Transmitter _ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees___ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees__ _______ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled weekly of of weekly employees earnings employees earnings 14 $94 9 $103 8 59 6 68 52 39 38 24 5 47 51 30 10 52 6 73 21 52 26 12 13 43 34 52 5 85 3 89 8 15 51 30 7 20 74 38 8 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. Earnings Radio-station employees tended to earn less in Arkansas than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As table 29 indi cates, members of the program staff in stations with less than 15 employees had average sched uled earnings of $39 a week as compared to the national average of $43.1 In larger stations the program staff averaged about $47 per week, which is considerably below the national figure of $65. Announcers earned an average of $51 as compared to $67 in the country as a whole. Engineers, clerks, and commercial-department employees also tended to earn less in this State than in the country generally. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) 45 LOUISIANA Employment and Number o f Stations Louisiana ranks near the middle in terms of the number of workers employed in broadcasting in each of the States. It will have about 45 broad casting stations by mid-1949. Employment prob ably will be greater by around 200 than in October 1947, when 25 A M stations reported 487 full-time employees. Almost four-fifths of these workers were at stations with 15 or more employees. Em ployment was heavily concentrated in New Orleans and Shreveport. About one-half of the reported employees and a much higher proportion of the program workers other than announcers and super visors, worked at the bigger stations in these two cities, but altogether there were fewer than 60 of such workers. (See table 30.) No television stations were operating in late 1948, but three companies in New Orleans had been issued construction permits. Outlook Employment in sound broadcasting will continue to increase in the near future. Approximately 15 companies, in addition to those which already had construction permits, had applications for permits on file with FCC in late 1948. The only two stations of 5,000 watts or over planned were for New Orleans. If licensed, they probably would have fairly large staffs, including a small number of program em ployees such as writers, musicians, and news per sonnel. The remaining stations applied for were smaller, and most of those which succeed in reach ing the air probably will have staffs typical of smaller stations. (See p. 2.) About half of the new stations are planned for New Orleans and Shreveport, and the remainder for smaller towns in Louisiana. In addition to openings at new stations, turn-over and expansion of staffs at some existing stations will also create a few opportunities from time to time. Employment in A M -F M broadcasting may de cline over the long run. It is not likely that there will be many new stations in the State as a whole and, in and around areas like Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Shreveport, where employment is concentrated, broadcasting may give way slowly to telecasting. Employment at T V stations is expected to in crease in the near future. In addition to the three companies in New Orleans which had construction permits in the fall of 1948, three others in this city 46 Table 30.— E m p lo y m e n t and earnings in selected occupations at A M sta tion s; week ending Oct . 1 1 , 1 9 4 7 LOUISIANA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives___ __ Program supervi sors__________ Other program staff1_________ i Announcers Musicians News per sonnel____ Production men Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled weekly of of weekly employees earnings employees earnings 11 $103 24 $171 8 55 21 80 24 35 114 57 14 53 56 60 10 57 6 17 52 45 Writers Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio_____ _ Transmitter. _ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees _ _ __ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees. . ______ 6 57 17 83 21 43 77 28 48 56 56 56 10 58 10 161 5 9 47 31 22 63 76 39 1 19 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. had applications pending. Five applications for TV outlets in Shreveport and one in Baton Rouge had also been filed. However, there were more applicants than available channels in both New Orleans and Shreveport. A majority of the com panies applying for permits were already operating AM , FM , or combination stations and probably would be able to use part of their present staffs for both T V and sound operations. T V employ ment probably will increase over the long run, especially if additional channels are made available. Earnings Radio-station employees tended to earn less in Louisiana than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As table 30 indi cates, announcers in the larger stations had aver age scheduled earnings of $56 per week as com pared to the national average of I67.1 Writers, news personnel, and production men also earned less in Louisiana. Both studio and transmitter engineers in large stations averaged about $56 per week; the national average for studio engineers is $72, while the figure for transmitter engineers is $65. Clerical and commercial-department em ployees likewise tended to earn less in Louisiana than in the United States generally. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) FLORIDA Employment and Number of Stations Florida ranked in the upper third among the States in broadcast employment in October 1947, when 37 A M stations reported a total of 666 full time employees. More than two-fifths of these workers were in Miami and Jacksonville. The great majority (513) were employed by the larger stations with 15 or more workers. At the bigger stations, there were 191 full-time program em ployees, including 89 announcers, 28 writers, 24 supervisors, and 17 musicians. Fourteen of these musicians were in Miami and Jacksonville. There were no full-time singers or sound-effects men and only two full-time actors. In all stations, both large and small taken together, program depart ments had 246 workers, technical departments 173, and commercial departments 87; the clerical force totalled 78. About 75 stations will be operating in Florida by mid-1949, almost twice as many as reported on employment in October 1947. The number of workers will not have increased proportionately, however, because the majority of the new stations reaching the air are small. Three television stations— in Jacksonville, M i ami, and St. Petersburg— are likely to go on the air during 1949. All three had been issued con struction permits before the end of 1948. Outlook Employment in sound broadcasting will prob ably continue to increase for at least another year or so. In the latter half of 1949, some of the 12 new stations, for which applications had been applied by the fall of 1948 but had not yet received permits, will begin reaching the air. However, in areas where the A M band is crowded, it is likely that not all applicants will be granted construction permits. M ost of the applications are for small stations; only one was for a station of more than 1-kilowatt power. Therefore, most of those that do succeed in getting licenses will have small staffs, probably averaging around 10 to 12 employees. Table 31.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 FLORIDA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives____ Program supervi sors________ Other program staff1________ Announcers__ Musicians__ News per sonnel____ Writers _ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio _ __ Transmitter_ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees___ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees | Stations with 15 j employees or more Average Average Number scheduled i Number scheduled weekly of weekly 1 of employees earnings jemployees earnings 17 $91 10 59 32 38 | j 33 $161 24 72 167 89 56 60 40 17 1 8 28 67 48 12 63 27 89 19 46 108 43 65 53 50 55 10 136 54 59 90 46 6 8 20 2 73 ! 53 35 42 ! 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. This means that job seekers who are qualified to do several types of work will get preference, and that there will be very few opportunities for actors, singers, or other specialized types of program em ployees. In addition to openings at new stations, opportunities in a wider variety of occupations will arise from time to time at existing stations, owing to turn-over and increases in staff. In Flor47 ida, as almost everywhere in the United States, employment at sound stations is not likely to in crease much over the long run. Workers are con centrated in metropolitan areas where competition from television stations will be great; so employ ment may even drop as television gains momentum. Besides the T V stations to be erected in Jack sonville, Miami, and St. Petersburg, 15 more had been applied for by late 1948. On the basis of these plans, Miami Beach, Orlando, and Tampa, in addition to the cities named above, will have T V stations. Under FC C ’s present channel allo cations, not all the applicants will get licenses, since there are more applicants than available channels in Miami and Miami Beach. A majority of the 18 companies seeking to enter the telecasting field are already operating A M stations; they prob ably will utilize many of their present employees for both mediums but will have to take on some additional workers, mainly technicians. The trend of employment in telecasting is expected to be up ward both in the near future and over the long run, especially if more T V channels are made available. It probably will be many years, how ever, before telecasting will employ more than a few hundred workers in Florida. Earnings The average scheduled earnings of radio person nel in Florida during the week ending October 11, 1947, were somewhat below the national average. As indicated in table 31, announcers in stations with 15 or more employees averaged $60 a week, as compared with the national average of $67.1 Engineers, musicians, and news personnel also averaged less in Florida than in the country as a whole. However, staff writers and clerical em ployees fared somewhat better in Florida than in the entire United States. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) WEST VIRGINIA Employment and Number of Stations West Virginia has a rather small amount of radio employment. There will be about 35 sound sta tions (AM , FM , or combination) in the State by mid-1949, with a total of around 600 full-time em ployees. In October 1947, the latest available survey of the industry showed employment to be 428 in the 24 reporting A M stations. In the majority of these stations, the only program em ployees were announcers and writers. There were no staff singers, sound-effects men, or actors, al though 13 part-time singers and 16 musicians were hired during the survey week. The largest occu pational groups were announcers, transmitter en gineers, and clerical workers. (See table 32.) No television stations were operating by the fall of 1948, although one company in Huntington held a construction permit. Outlook Few employment opportunities in sound broad casting can be expected in this State in the next year or so. As of late 1948, only four companies, besides those already issued construction permits, had filed requests for new stations— at Logan, Princeton, Weirton, and Wheeling— and some of these applications may be denied. Stations that are authorized will be small and require only a few employees, principally clerical workers, announcers, and technicians. Furthermore, there is not ex pected to be much expansion of staffs at existing 48 Table 32.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct. 11, 194.7 WEST VIRGINIA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives Program supervi sors _ _ Other program staff1 _____ Announcers _ Musicians__ Writers Chief engineers and tchncians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio _ _ Transmitter Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees. _ __ __ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of of weekly weekly employees earnings employees earnings 10 $117 16 $138 6 83 18 77 28 41 104 68 13 14 52 54 44 39 7 68 14 88 20 45 77 26 48 47 45 49 1 92 4 119 10 9 48 30 26 55 80 34 1 31 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. MAP 7 TELEVISION STATIONS OPERATING, UNDER CONSTRUCTION, OR APPLIED FOR IN WEST VIRGINIA, KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE November I, 1948 UNITEO STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMPILED FROM UNPUBLISHED DATA OF FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION stations. Turn-over, of course, will provide a few vacancies. Television employment will be extremely small for several years. In addition to the construction permit held by a Huntington station, only three companies— two at Charleston and one at Wheel ing— had applied for permits by the fall of 1948. All but one of these projected stations will be operated in conjunction with existing broadcasting stations and will therefore take on mostly technical people. Employment in sound radio will probably not continue to show any marked increase in the long run. However, it is less likely to be cut into by competition from television here than in many other States. The television industry is expected to re main small in West Virginia for some time. Earnings Radio-station employees tended to earn less in West Virginia than in the country as a whole dur ing the week ending October 11, 1947. As is indi cated in table 32, radio announcers had average scheduled earnings of only $54 per week in the larger stations, as compared to the national average of $67.1 Writers and musicians also tended to receive less than the national average for those occupations. Nonsupervisory engineers and tech nicians in both large and small stations received somewhat lower earnings in West Virginia than in the rest of the country. It may be noted that, con trary to the situation in many States, transmitter engineers earned somewhat more than studio en gineers. Clerical and commercial-department em ployees had somewhat smaller average earnings in West Virginia than in the entire country. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations (See p. 8.) KEN Employment and Number of Stations Broadcasting has been growing faster in Ken tucky than in many other States. B y mid-1949 there will be about 45 sound broadcasting stations employing an estimated 700 people. B y compari son a survey made in 1947 showed full time employ ment to be 485 in the 22 reporting A M stations. The greatest numbers were employed as clerical workers, announcers, and technicians. (See table 33.) Louisville stations were providing work for over half of the total number of full-time employees, and for all the full-time singers and musicians, and all the non-staff program employees. One radio station in Louisville had begun tele casting by late 1948, while another held a construc tion permit for television. Outlook A limited number of employment opportunities are expected to open up with new stations in Ken tucky in the next year or so. In the fall of 1948, nine companies (in addition to those already holding permits) had applications on file with FCC for outlets in Elizabethtown, Louisville, Middlesboro, Owensboro, Paintsville, Pikeville, Prestonsburg, Princeton, and Richmond. However, some of these applications may be denied, for lack of room on the spectrum or for other reasons. Stations that do go into operation will, as a rule, be very small, em ploying on the average probably around 9 or 10 people each. They will be looking chiefly for announcers, transmitter operators, and clerical workers. Openings at established stations will 50 Table 33.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 KENTUCKY Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives _ __ Program supervi sors__ Other program staff1__ Announcers Musicians__ News per sonnel _ __ Writers _ _ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio _ _ Transmitter Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees___ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees____ ____ _ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly of weekly employees earnings employees earnings 13 $117 20 $183 7 50 26 79 20 45 124 54 21 62 71 68 16 16 61 41 9 60 16 98 14 49 78 42 34 71 75 68 2 100 6 129 2 15 36 3! 22 62 96 38 1 20 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. occur occasionally, owing chiefly to turn-over. No sizeable increases in staff are in prospect at these stations, at least in the immediate future. Television probably will be confined to Louisville in the near future, since no applications have been filed in the rest of the State. In addition to the two authorized stations mentioned earlier, a third AM station there had applied for a television per mit b y the fall of 1948. They probably will use much of the staff they already have for their television operations. T Y stations will need much larger technical staffs than comparable A M sta tions. The rapid growth of new stations and employ ment, which has been taking place since the war, will probably die down in the long run. Employ ment may even decline a little, especially in Louis ville, where competition with television may be keen. Television is likely to continue to grow over the years, especially in heavily populated areas, especially if additional channels are made available. Earnings Engineers and technicians tended to earn more in Kentucky than in the United States generally during the week ending October 11, 1947. Average scheduled earnings of both studio and transmitter engineers in the larger stations exceeded the na tional figures by about $3 per week. As shown in table 33, announcers averaged $71 per week, which compared favorably with the national average of $67.1 However, musicians, writers, news person nel, program supervisors, and clerical workers averaged less than similar workers in the country as a whole. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) TENNESSEE Employment and Number of Stations Broadcasting employment has grown consider ably in this State since the end of 1947, though not as fast as in the country as a whole. By the middle of 1949, Tennessee will have around 60 separate stations, and full-time employment probably will have risen to more than 1,000. In October 1947, 785 full-time employees were reported by 35 AM stations. Seven out of 10 of these workers were connected with the larger stations (having 15 or more employees) in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Mem phis, and Nashville. Employment of program personnel other than announcers and supervisors, was even more concentrated. Of 151 workers in this category almost all worked in these four cities, and more than 2 out of 5 were with Nash ville stations. Nashville had an even higher pro portion of the non-staff program employees; out of a total of 233 such people, 163, or 7 out of 10, were in this city. Table 34 shows the numbers employed in other major broadcasting occupations in the State in October 1947. One television station in Nashville and one in Memphis had been granted construction permits by the fall of 1948 and are likely to begin operating during 1949. Outlook Eight new sound broadcasting stations, in addi tion to those already holding construction permits, had been applied for by late 1948. If all were assigned space on the air, they probably would employ around 100 persons. Most of the planned stations are small and will have typical small-sta tion staffs, with few jobs for specialized program personnel. Three stations will be constructed in Memphis, two in Jackson, and one each in Paris, Sparta, and Springfield. In addition to jobs at new stations, there will be openings at existing stations from time to time, owing primarily to turn-over, though in a few cases to increases in the size of staffs. Over the long run, employment is expected to level off or perhaps decline at sound stations and increase at T V stations. The number of T V stations in the State probably will increase both in the near future and over the long run, especially if additional channels are made available. Besides the two companies already holding permits, eight others were trying to get into telecasting as of late 1948— five in Memphis and three in Nashville. In Memphis, however, there were only four unassigned channels in late 1948. The T V companies will take on a number of technical personnel, among other workers, but because all of them are already operating broad casting stations, they probably will be able to use their present staffs to a large extent for both sound and television. 51 Table 34.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 Earnings TENNESSEE Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly of weekly employees earnings employees earnings Full-time employees: Executives___ Program supervisors_____ _ Other program staff1____ _ __ Announcers.. Musicians__ News per sonnel____ Production men_____ Writers__ __ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio______ Transmitter.. Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees____ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees_________ _ 11 $85 29 $193 13 55 27 95 44 38 256 105 63 59 71 51 12 64 10 36 30 45 14 60 23 87 26 43 112 40 69 62 62 61 6 71 10 122 8 17 47 29 41 98 102 42 1 Radio-station employees tended to earn less in Tennessee than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As table 34 indicates, the program staff of large stations had average scheduled earnings of $59 per week; this figure is below the national average of $65.1 Ten nessee’s 63 musicians averaged only $51 as com pared to the national figure of $75. The average earnings of $30 received by production men in Tennessee was far below the national average of $79. Writers and news personnel also received lower earnings in Tennessee than in the country generally. However, announcers at large stations earned an average of $71 per week as compared to the national figure of $67. In the engineering departments, earnings of studio and transmitter operators averaged $62 and $61 respectively (considerably less than the cor responding national figures— $72 and $65). Clerical workers in stations with less than 15 employees earned an average of $29 per week as compared with the national average of $34. However, the clerical employees of larger stations tended to receive earnings that were slightly higher than in the country as a whole. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) 236 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. OKLAHOMA Employment and Number of Stations Broadcasting employment in this State is con centrated to a considerable extent in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. In October 1947, when the latest available survey of employment was made, full time.employment in the 26 reporting A M stations amounted to 483. About two-thirds of these people were employed by stations with 15 or more workers, and 8 of the 9 stations in this category were located either in Tulsa or Oklahoma City. Consequently, these two centers accounted for a large proportion of the workers, especially in the kinds of jobs typical only of large stations. In the last two years, both broadcast employment and the number of stations have increased in the State. 52 B y mid-1949, 45 radio stations, with around 700 full-time workers, are expected to be on the air. Not more than two television stations will be in operation in Oklahoma during 1949. No station had yet begun telecasting at the time this report was prepared in late 1948. However, construction permits had been granted for a station in Tulsa and another in Oklahoma City. Outlook A few hundred new jobs are likely to become available at new stations in Oklahoma during the next year or so. Eighteen applications for con struction permits were on file with the Federal Communications Commission in the fall of 1948 (not counting permits already issued). Owing to MAP 8 TELEVISION STATIONS OPERATING, UNDER CONSTRUCTION, OR APPLIED FOR IN OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS November I, 1948 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMPILED FROM UNPUBLISHED DATA OF FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 53 crowding of the spectrum in certain localities and other factors, it is likely that some of these applica tions will be turned down. Their geographic distri bution is nevertheless of interest in indicating the extent to which the new stations will be scattered over the State. Three of the applicants are in' Tulsa, three in Norman, two in Cushing, two in Enid, and two in Guthrie; the others are in small communities throughout the State. One of the Tulsa applications is for a 50,000-watt station, which probably would need a large staff, including a variety of different occupations. The rest will be small stations and will need mostly announcers, clerical workers, technicians, and people with seve ral skills who can double in the different jobs. There may be a few openings at the several sta tions which increase their power or their broad casting time in addition to the opportunities at new stations. A few job openings will also arise from time to time owing to turn-over. The two television stations, for which companies held construction permits in late 1948, will probably go into operation during 1949. In addition nine other companies had applied for permits by the fall of 1948 to erect stations in the same two cities. However, only eight channels have yet been assigned these cities, and unless more are allocated only six of the nine applicants can get permits. The majority of these stations will be operated by companies which at present do not have radio stations and will, therefore, have to build up complete new staffs. The large-scale establishment of new sound broadcast stations, which has been going on since the war, will subside over the long run. Employ ment will level off; it may even decline, at least in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, where competition from television will be strong. In other parts of the State, there are large areas too sparsely populated to support television, and most of the stations serv ing these areas should continue to operate as long as general business conditions remain good. Em ployment in television is expected to rise, first in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and later, perhaps, in smaller communities. However, employment in telecasting will not be large in absolute numbers in the foreseeable future. Earnings Radio-station employees tended to receive lower earnings in Oklahoma than in the United States as a whole during the week ending October 11,1947. As is indicated in table 35, announcers had average scheduled earnings of about $60 per week in the 54 Table 35.— E m p lo y m e n t and earnings in selected occupations at A M sta tion s; week ending O ct 11, 1947 OKLAHOMA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Stations with 15 employees or more j Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly of weekly employees earnings employees earnings Full-time employees: Executives______ Program supervi __ sors____ Other program staff1_________ Announcers_ Musicians News per sonnel__ _ Writers___ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio______ Transmitter Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees___ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees._ __ _ 19 $90 19 $97 10 46 22 82 42 36 107 40 20 62 60 63 15 15 82 49 12 52 11 83 25 41 62 34 25 63 61 62 8 69 7 95 14 19 44 32 19 50 67 39 1 35 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. larger Oklahoma stations, somewhat below the corresponding national average of S67.1 Musicians and program supervisors also tended to receive less in Oklahoma than in the country generally. How ever, writers and news personnel fared somewhat better in Oklahoma than in all States taken to gether. The $61 a week averaged by studio en gineers was well below the national average of $72. It is interesting to note that contrary to the situa tion in many States, transmitter engineers had higher average earnings than studio engineers; their average of $62 was only slightly below the national figure for that type of work. Clerical and commercial-department employees also tended to receive less in Oklahoma than in the entire country. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) TEXAS Employment and Number of Stations Texas is expected to have more broadcast sta tions than any other State in the Union. B y mid1949 almost 190 sound (AM , FM , or combination) stations will be operating in the State, and it is estimated that they will employ around 2,500 people full-time. The latest available survey of employment was made in October 1947. Full-time employees then numbered 1,631 at the 84 reporting AM stations. Nearly four-fifths of these people were working in the 47 larger stations which em ployed 15 or more. Table 36 shows the numbers employed in different occupations at both large and small stations. About half of all full-time employees in the broadcasting industry were in the six metropolitan areas of Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. The proportion of program employees in these areas was even greater, with Dallas and San Antonio claiming the most. The six centers provided em ployment for all staff and nonstaff production men and actors, and about two-thirds of the staff and non-staff news personnel, singers, and musicians. Several television stations probably will be in operation by m id-1949. One company was al ready operating in Fort Worth in the fall of 1948, while five more held construction permits for sta tions at Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Outlook Prospects are bright for increasing employment in radio during the next few months, owing to the sizeable number of applications on file for new stations and for increases in the power of existing stations. In the fall of 1948, about 50 companies were applying for new stations, in addition to those which already had construction permits. This was a greater number of applicants than in any State except California. Some of the applications are likely to be turned down by FCC, especially in areas where the spectrum is crowded. Stations applied for range in power from 250 to 10,000 watts; they are likely to employ, on the average, around 10 workers each— mostly announcers, technicians, and clerical workers, with perhaps a few writers and salesmen. In addition, there are expected to be some openings in a wider variety of occupations with growing stations. In late 1948, a relatively large number of stations were applying for in creases in power, increases in broadcasting time, Table 36 .— E m p lo y m e n t and earnings in selected occupations at A M sta tion s; week ending O ct 11, 1947 TEXAS Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives____ Program supervi sors__ __ Other program staff1. . Announcers _ Musicians. _ News per sonnel___ Production m e n .__ Writers __ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio____ Transmitter__ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees___ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees _ ____ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of weekly of weekly employees earnings employees earnings 32 $96 79 $154 23 55 64 84 85 42 436 192 40 53 56 50 55 68 7 71 72 43 29 63 64 80 50 46 268 120 145 53 53 53 11 74 26 104 26 43 39 32 110 171 80 42 4 119 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. or both. Two stations were applying for very large increases in power (from 1 kilowatt to 50 kilowatts and from 5 kilowatts to 50 kilowatts). Turn-over should also add considerably to the sum total of openings, since the total number of people employed in the industry is larger in Texas than most States. Texas was likewise among the leading States in projected television development. In addition to the 5 authorized stations already mentioned, 29 applications had been filed in the fall of 1948 by companies in Amarillo, Austin, Beaumont, Browns ville, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Harlingen, Houston, San Antonio, Tyler, W aco, and Wichita Falls. However, there are more 55 authorizations and applicants than presently avail able channels in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. About a third of the projected stations will be operated in conjunction with sound broadcast sta tions and will use present staffs for many television operations. However, additional staff, chiefly technical personnel, will have to be taken on. The other two-thirds of the stations planned will have to hire all types of people needed for telecasting operations. The current rate of growth in sound broadcasting is not expected to keep up. In some of the larger towns, competition from television over the long run may even cause a decline in sound radio em ployment. The total number of people employed in television will be much smaller than the number in sound radio for a considerable period, but tele casting is expected to grow for a long time to come provided channels are made available. Stations already applied for will not reach all the communi ties which might be able to support television, and the number of such communities is likely to in crease, if the population of Texas continues to grow as expected. Earnings Radio-station employees tended to earn less in Texas than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As is shown by table 36, announcers at the larger stations in the State had scheduled earnings that averaged about $56 a week, as compared with a national average of $67.1 Writers, musicians, news personnel, and production men also earned somewhat less than the national averages for those occupations. Both studio and transmitter engineers averaged $53, an amount considerably below the national aver ages of $72 for studio engineers and $65 for trans mitter engineers. Clerical employees in large stations tended to earn slightly more in Texas than in other States. However, in stations with less than 15 employees, clerical workers received an average of $32 per week, as compared with the national figure of $34. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) IDAHO AND MONTANA Employment and Number of Stations The broadcasting industry in these States is made up chiefly of small stations, and while ap proximately 45 A M and FM stations will be on the air by mid-1949, they are expected to employ only about 550 people in all. A survey of the industry in October 1947 showed that stations with fewer than 15 employees accounted for over half of the total of 314 full-time workers at the 28 reporting A M stations. Table 37 gives the num bers of employees in each major occupation at that time. No television stations were on the air and none had been authorized by the fall of 1948. Outlook A limited number of openings will arise in the near future in sound broadcasting. In addition to construction permits which have already been granted, six applications were on file with FCC in the fall of 1948— for new stations in Moscow and Sandpoint, Idaho, and in Billings and Helena, Montana. However, the stations that are granted permits and go on the air will be small. Their staffs will probably average about 10 employees and will be made up mostly of the types of workers 56 characteristic of the small stations. (See p. 2). A few other openings will arise with growing sta tions; in the fall of 1948, seven stations were ap plying for permission to make increases in power and one was asking for an increase in broadcasting time. Turn-over is likely to create only a very limited number of vacancies in these States since the total number of people employed in the in dustry there is so small. Television is not expected to have a substantial growth in these States in the foreseeable future, since population is scattered and towns are small. By the fall of 1948 only one company had applied for permission to build a T V station— at Boise, Idaho. The fact that television is not likely to gain much foothold here means that sound broadcasting will be subject to less competition from this source than in most other States. The rapid expansion in AM and FM broadcasting which has taken place since the war will probably not continue after the stations presently planned have been completed. However, employment in this branch of the in dustry is expected to remain relatively stable, over the long run in these States, provided that general economic conditions remain good. MAP 9 TELEVISION STATIONS OPERATING, UNDER CONSTRUCTION, OR APPLIED FOR IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION AND PACIFIC NORTHWEST November ★ I, 1948 OPERATING STATIONS J V CONSTRUCTION PERMITS O APPLICATIONS UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMPILED FROM UNPUBLISHED DATA OF FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 57 Earnings Table 37.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 IDAHO AND MONTANA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average scheduled Number scheduled weekly of weekly employees earnings employees earnings Number of Full-time employees: Executives ___ Program supervisors___ . _ Other program staff1. . _ __ AnnouncersWriters Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio Transmitter Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees-. __ Clerical employees 20 $104 8 $173 10 60 9 93 35 45 50 24 16 52 57 45 11 64 7 73 24 49 18 52 15 50 9 74 4 127 13 19 47 37 9 16 83 44 Average scheduled earnings of program em ployees and engineers and technicians in large sta tions were somewhat lower in Idaho and Montana than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. Announcers averaged about $10 per week less than the national figure. Writers also earned less in these States than in the country generally. As shown in table 37, trans mitter engineers averaged only $50 a week as com pared with the national figure of $65h However, clerical employees in both large and small stations tended to earn more than the national averages for comparable positions. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation Source: Federal Communications Commission data. WYOMING, UTAH, AND NEVADA Employment and Number of Stations These States have small numbers of radio sta tions and employees. There will be only about 40 sound broadcasting stations in the region in mid1949, employing around 700 full-time workers altogether. A survey of employment made in October 1947 showed the number of full-time em ployees at that time to be 400 in the 22 reporting A M stations. Table 38 shows the numbers em ployed in each of the major occupations. Taking all groups together, more than half these people were working in Salt Lake City. Few program employees other than announcers were employed by stations outside of Salt Lake City. The Rocky Mountain Radio Council is another possible source of employment for Wyoming artists and writers. This organization includes in its membership about 20 colleges and universities and 20 local stations in Colorado and Wyoming. It seeks out and engages acting, writing, and speaking 58 talent in the colleges and communities which it covers. The council operates a free-lance program building and broadcast-recording service in Den ver. Some of its programs are broadcast by member stations in Wyoming. N ot more than two television stations will be' operating in the region by mid-1949. One was on the air in Salt Lake City in the fall of 1948, and another company in the same city had been granted a construction permit . Outlook Extremely few job openings with broadcasting stations are to be expected in these States in the near future. In the fall of 1948, only one applica tion for a permit to construct a new radio station (a 250-watt station at Murray, Utah) was on file with FCC. Only a few stations had applied for increase in power, which might necessitate taking on some additional program, promotion, publicity, Table 38.— E m p lo y m e n t and earnings in selected occupations at A M sta tion s; week ending O ct 11, 1947 WYOMING, UTAH, AND NEVADA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives__ ____ Program supervisors____ Other program staff1____ Announcers.Musicians__ News per sonnel ___ W riters____ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers •and technicians1 Studio___ Transmitter. Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees___ Jr J Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees ____ ____ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled weekly weekly of of employees earnings employees earnings 8 $121 12 $191 12 63 14 93 26 50 95 38 16 57 64 53 9 18 61 50 9 67 14 92 16 51 47 20 23 60 59 59 9 78 7 138 11 16 90 37 21 41 69 43 5 31 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. and other specialized employees of types not usually found in small stations; the station which had ap plied for the largest increase in power (from 5,000 to 50,000 watts) was in Salt Lake City. Finally, turn-over is not likely to produce many vacancies because total employment in broadcasting is so small in this region. Television may be expected to furnish a limited number of employment opportunities in Salt Lake City in the near future. Besides the station already operating and the one authorized in late 1948, four more had applied for permits to build stations there. However, the FCC has allotted only five channels to Salt Lake City. The long-run trend of employment in broadcast ing is likely to be different in Salt Lake City than in the rest of the region. Broadcasting will face increasing competition from television in this city as it is the only sizeable one in these States. It is possible that some radio stations may have to curtail operations and personnel. The population in most of the remainder of the region, on the other hand, is too widely scattered to support television, and the employment trend in sound broadcasting is therefore likely to be relatively stable. The fact that telecasting will probably be concentrated in Salt Lake City for a long time to come also means that growth in this branch of the industry may slow down greatly after the next few years, when stations currently planned have been completed. Earnings Most groups of broadcasting employees tended to have lower earnings in Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming than in the Nation as a whole in the week ending October 11, 1947. As table 38 indicates, the program staff of large stations had average scheduled earnings of $57 for the week, which is lower than the corresponding national figure of $65.1 The 16 musicians averaged only $53 per week as compared with the national average of $76. Announcers and news personnel also earned less in these States than in the country as a whole. However, the 18 writers earned slightly more than the national average for that occupation. En gineers and technicians at large stations earned an average of $60 per week in these States, as com pared to $68 in the entire country. On the other hand, technical employees at small stations earned slightly more in this region than the national aver age of $49 for small-station engineers and techni cians. Clerical workers in both large and small stations also tended to earn more in these States than in the rest of the country. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) COLORADO Employment and Number of Stations Broadcasting employment is larger in Colorado than in most of the other Mountain States. A survey of employment made in October 1947 showed that 324 full-time workers were employed at the 17 reporting AM stations in the State. Around two-thirds of these workers and an even larger proportion of the program employees were 59 employed in Denver. The survey also showed that four-fifths of all employees in Colorado were work ing in stations which employed 15 or more. The occupations of clerical worker, announcer, and technician (see table 39) employed the greatest number at the bigger stations. Current employ ment is considerably higher than in October 1947, because the number of stations has increased since then. About 35 AM , FM , or combination stations are expected to be on the air by mid-1949, with a staff of around 600 full-time workers. Radio artists, writers, and musicians in Colorado work not only for broadcasters but also for the Rocky Mountain Radio Council. This council includes in its membership 20 colleges and uni versities and 20 commercial stations in Colorado and Wyoming. It seeks out and engages acting, writing, and speaking talent among the colleges and in the communities it covers, and utilizes this talent for a free-lance program-building and broadcast-recording service in Denver. No television stations were in operation in the State by the end of 1948, and none had been issued construction permits. Outlook A limited number of jobs will open up in this State in the near future. In addition to those already issued construction permits, six companies were applying for permits in the fall of 1948 for stations in Denver, Englewood, Alamosa, Long mont, and Grand Junction. Five of these stations will be small and will likely employ small staffs in the occupations characteristic of small stations. (See p. 2.) The sixth permit, if granted, will be for a Denver station operating at 50 kilowatts until local sunset and 25 kilowatts thereafter; this will employ considerably more people in a wider variety of occupations. A few employment op portunities may arise also at existing stations, owing to turn-over and, in rare instances, increases in staff. In the fall of 1948, a 5-kilowatt station in Denver was applying for an increase in power to 50 kilowatts, a very sizeable increase likely to in volve expansion in employment especially in those occupations not commonly found in small stations. In addition, one other station had petitioned for a smaller increase in power and one for an extension of broadcasting time. Though television has been slow to arrive in Colorado, eight companies had applied for permits, by late 1948, to erect television stations in Denver. However, only five channels had been allocated to 60 Table 39.— E m p lo y m e n t and earnings in selected occupations at A M sta tion s; week ending O ct 11, 1947 COLORADO Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives, __ _ Program supervi sors. _ Other program staff1 _ _____ : Announcers Musicians News per sonnel _ _ Production men______ Writers____ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio___ _ Transmitter__ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees____ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees_____ __ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of of weekly weekly employees earnings employees earnings 5 $89 11 $187 1 45 14 76 20 42 81 35 9 58 55 107 15 49 9 6 50 42 5 57 9 103 7 43 56 21 34 73 88 64 5 65 5 110 5 5 58 29 16 50 71 42 1 51 1 ___ 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. this city. Since only two of the applications were from companies which already had AM stations, the rest will have to build complete new staffs. Around half of the workers hired will be techni cians. After the sound broadcasting stations currently planned have been completed, employment in this branch of the industry is likely to be relatively stable in most parts of the State, provided that general economic conditions remain favorable. In Denver, however, there is a strong possibility that employment at sound stations may decline, owing to competition from television. The longrun trend of employment in television will probably be slowly upward in the State, though communities other than Denver are not expected to have more than a few T V stations for many years to come. Earnings Most groups of program employees earned less in Colorado than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. The scheduled earnings of announcers in large stations averaged only $55 per week in this State, as compared with $67 in the entire Nation.1 Writers, production men, and news personnel also received less than in the country generally. However, the nine full time musicians averaged $107 as compared with the national average of $75. As table 39 indicates, studio engineers fared much better in Colorado than transmitter engineers; the $88 figure for studio engineers was well above the national average of $72, while transmitter engineers averaged $64 in Colorado and $65 in the Nation as a whole. Cleri cal employees in large stations earned slightly more in Colorado than the average for the entire country. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) NEW MEXICO Employment and Number of Stations Broadcasting is a very small field of employment in New Mexico, though it has grown rapidly here as in the rest of the country during the past two years. The State will have about 25 A M stations with around 350 full-time employees by mid-1949. In October 1947, however, the 14 reporting A M sta tions had only 205 full-time employees with clerical workers, announcers, transmitter engineers, and salesmen (table 40) constituting the greatest num ber. Employment was about equally divided between the large and small stations. No television stations were on the air in the fall of 1948, but an A M station in Albuquerque had a construction permit for television. Outlook There are likely to be very few employment opportunities in broadcasting in this State in the near future. Only two companies had applications for new sound radio stations on file with FCC in late 1948 (in addition to the few already holding construction permits). These new stations, which are planned for Belen and Clayton, will both be very small and have to hire only a handful of people in typical small-station occupations (see p. 2). From time to time, there may be openings at exist ing stations owing to turn-over, but these will be few and far between, since the total number of workers employed in broadcasting in the State is so small. No significant increase in employment in sound radio is expected over the long run. In Albuquer que, employment may even decline in this branch of the industry owing to competition from tele vision. Telecasting is expected to be an extremely small field of employment in this State for an indefinite Table 40.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 NEW MEXICO Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives___ __ Program supervi sors______ Other program staff1______ __ Announcers.. Writers Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio _ _ Transmitter _ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees. _ _ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees__ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of of weekly weekly employees earnings employees earnings 12 $94 5 $152 9 57 6 55 33 40 40 21 12 45 48 38 9 60 5 75 17 46 20 5 15 47 47 47 3 46 4 60 4 6 39 41 12 12 54 46 4 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. period. One company in Albuquerque held a con struction permit in late 1948, and two others had applications on file for T V stations at that time. Both these applications, however, were for the same channel in Albuquerque. The remainder of the 61 State will be able to support few, if any, T V outlets since towns are small and large desert sections are very sparsely populated. Earnings Average scheduled earnings of radio-station em ployees tended to be considerably lower in New Mexico than in the United States generally during the week ending October 11, 1947. As table 40 indicates, the program staff of large stations aver aged only $45 per week as contrasted with the national figure of $65.1 The $48 averaged by an nouncers was well below the national average of $67. Engineers, writers, and program supervisors also tended to receive lower earnings in New Mexico than in the country as a whole. However, the average of $46 per week earned by clerical employ ees in large stations was higher than the national figure of $40. Clerical workers in stations with less than 15 employees earned an average of $41 per week as compared with $34 for the entire country. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) ARIZONA Employment and Number of Stations Arizona has a very small broadcasting industry, despite recent growth in both the number of sta tions and employment. By mid-1949 there will be around 30 stations in the State, 13 more than re ported their employment in a survey made October 1947. It is estimated that employment will be around 125 greater than in 1947, when the 17 reporting A M stations had a total of 285 full-time employees. About one-half of these workers were in Phoenix. As table 41 shows, clerical workers were the largest occupational group at stations with 15 or more employees, though they numbered only 35. The larger stations reported no full-time singers, sound-effects men, musicians, or actors. During the week they employed a total of 23 non staff program workers. Arizona had no television stations in the fall of 1948 and only one (in Phoenix) had been authorized. Outlook Fifty to one hundred workers probably will be taken on b y a half dozen new AM stations in the months following mid-1949. New outlets are planned for Flagstaff, Glendale, Phoenix (two sta tions), Tucson, and Winslow. The workers needed will be, as a rule, of the types usually required by small stations; announcers who can do other pro gram work or operate studio controls, technicians, clerical workers, and time salesmen. Very few specialized program personnel will be taken on. Because of the small number of workers, not many openings are likely to arise through turn-over. While sound broadcasting will predominate in this thinly populated State for many years to come, employment at A M -F M stations is likely to remain low in the long run. As of late 1948, one T V station was authorized in 62 Table 41.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 ARIZONA Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives- _ __ Program supervisors___ _ __ Other program staff1. _ Announcers__ News per sonnel Writers ___ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio Transmitter__ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees __ _ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees__ __ _ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of of weekly weekly employees earnings employees earnings 7 $90 9 $136 4 63 10 89 21 48 68 34 58 62 9 17 64 52 5 70 8 87 12 57 40 20 19 59 59 62 2 67 5 112 5 7 44 40 31 35 71 47 5 23 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. Arizona, and plans were made for one station at Phoenix and one at Tucson. Employment at T V stations will probably tend to increase slowly over the long run, but it is likely to remain very small indefinitely. Earnings Some occupational groups had lower average earnings and others higher earnings in Arizona than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11,1947. As table 41 indicates, announcers in large stations averaged $62 per week; this com pared with a national figure of S67.1 The $64 a week earned by news personnel was also below the national average of $70 in this field. However, staff writers received somewhat more than the national figure of $46. In the case of technicians, those in large stations tended to be less well paid in this State than in all 48 States taken together, but those at small stations had higher average earnings here than in the country generally. Cleri cal workers also tended to earn more in Arizona than in the Nation as a whole. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) WASHINGTON Employment and Number of Stations Broadcasting employment in Washington is con centrated to a considerable extent in Seattle and Spokane. A survey of the industry in October 1947 showed 691 full-time employees at the 32 reporting AM stations. Well over half these workers were in the two cities mentioned. Moreover, the great majority of them (3 out of every 4) were at the larger stations with staffs of 15 or more. Table 42 shows how many workers were employed in each major occupation and department. The broadcasting industry has expanded mark edly since 1947. Employment will have risen to more than 800 full-time workers by mid-1949, when around 50 A M and FM stations will be on the air. Only one television station is likely to be on the air in Washington during 1949. None were operat ing in late 1948, but a construction permit had been granted for a station in Seattle. Outlook A limited number of jobs will open up at new sound broadcasting stations in the next year or so. In addition to the construction permits already issued eight more had been applied for by the fall of 1948 for A M stations in Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Kelso, Kennewick, Long Beach, Puyallup, Seattle, and Spokane. However, some of these permits may not be granted, particularly in localities where an additional station would overcrowd the spectrum. The new stations, being small, will need employees of the types characteristic of small stations (p. 2); probably their staffs will average around 10 em ployees per station. At existing stations, some openings will arise from time to time owing to turn-over or, occasionally, increases in staff. As of late 1948, a 1,000-watt station in Seattle was asking for permission to increase its power to 50,000 watts, Table 42.— Employment and earnings in selected occupations in A M stations; week ending Oct 11, 1947 WASHINGTON Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives______ Program supervi sors______ ____ Other program staff1___ __ _ _ Announcers __ Musicians__ News per sonnel___ Production men_ Writers _ _ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio_____ Transmitter. _ Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employees__ __ Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees______ _____ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of of weekly weekly employees earnings employees earnings 14 $132 | 35 $149 11 73 26 95 30 55 178 74 5 63 71 47 20 73 10 36 81 49 13 76 20 84 20 78 98 38 57 75 74 73 10 79 11 112 17 19 66 42 43 97 72 44 8 90 i 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. which would make it a large, clear-channel station. Broadcasting outlets of this size usually need pro gram employees of various kinds, promotion and 63 publicity employees, and other occupational groups that small stations do not ordinarily have. Television has been slow in getting started in Washington. However, the Seattle station already authorized will probably start telecasting in 1949, and six additional T V outlets in Seattle had been applied for by late 1948. The FCC also had on file applications for two stations in Tacoma, one in Spokane, and one in Yakima. In Seattle, only three channels are available to the six applicants, in accordance with planned channel allocations so far announced by FCC. A majority of the proposed stations would be run by companies not already operating sound stations and would need complete new staffs. As elsewhere, a larger proportion of technical people will be required for television than for sound broadcasting. Employment in sound broadcasting will probably not continue to increase in the long run. It may even decline in some big cities, especially Seattle, where large-scale television development is ex pected. Television employment will probably continue to expand in the State for a good many years, particularly if more channels are made avail able. Earnings Program employees other than supervisors, in large stations tended to earn somewhat less in Washington than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As is indicated in table 42, average scheduled earnings of the pro gram staff of large stations was $63 per week, which was somewhat less than the $65 national average for these positions.1 However, announcers aver aged $71 per week, somewhat more than the national figure of $67. Engineers and technicians likewise tended to earn more in Washington than in the country generally. The $73 averaged by trans mitter engineers was well above the national average of $65 for that occupation. Studio engineers also earned more than the national average of $72. Clerical workers in both large and small stations had higher earnings in Washington than in the United States as a whole. 1 This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) OREGON Employment and Number of Stations The number of stations in Oregon has expanded considerably in the last two years, though less sharply than in the country as a whole. B y the middle of 1949, there will be about 40 stations in the State with around 600 full-time employees, as com pared with 25 A M stations reporting 461 full-time workers in October 1947. All occupational groups shown in table 43, with the possible exception of staff program employees other than announcers and supervisors, are now somewhat larger than 2 years ago. Employment is heavily concentrated in Port land, which in 1947 had three-fifths of the workers in the State. This city had 6 of the 7 stations with 15 or more employees, and, therefore, the bulk of the workers of types found mainly at bigger sta tions, such as singers, actors, musicians, production men, and news personnel. Oregon had no television stations in the fall of 1948, but one company in Portland had been issued a construction permit. Outlook There probably will be only a small increase in broadcast employment in the months following 64 mid-1949. By the fall of 1948, only four stations had filed applications for construction permits, not counting those which already had permits. Less than 50 workers will probably be needed, few of whom, if any, will be specialized program personnel. Two of the new stations are planned for Portland, one for Astoria, and one for Eugene. Several sta tions are asking for permission to increase power or hours of broadcasting and, if authorized to do so, probably will take on a few more workers. In addi tion, of course, some openings will arise from turn over at existing stations. Broadcast employment probably will level off and may even decline over the long run, since the greatest concentration of employment is in the Portland area where there will be strongest compe tition from television. After the next year or two, most job openings that do arise will be created by turn-over. Television employment is expected to increase for an indefinite length of time. As of the fall of 1948, Portland was the only city which had appli cants for T V stations. In addition to the one company with a construction permit, four others had applications pending, two of them for one of Table 43.— E m p lo y m e n t and earnings in selected occupations at A M sta tion s; week ending O c t 1 1 , 194.7 OREGON Stations with less than 15 employees Occupation Full-time employees: Executives__ _ Program supervisors______ ____ Other program staff1______ _ Announcers __ Musicians__ News per sonnel___ Production men______ Writers____ Chief engineers and technicians Other engineers and technicians1 Studio__ Transmitter.. Commercial supervisors____ Other commercial employee Clerical employees Nonstaff program em ployees__ __ _ _ Stations with 15 employees or more Average Average Number scheduled Number scheduled of of weekly weekly employees earnings employees earnings 20 $125 16 $151 10 72 21 100 24 51 85 31 13 68 76 67 7 75 7 11 74 56 10 73 12 105 18 63 60 33 25 74 71 78 9 80 4 193 8 22 64 42 24 43 98 43 2 the remaining channels. It is likely that additional cities in Oregon will have television stations in the future. Sound broadcasting, however, is likely to predominate in rural areas for many years to come. Earnings Radio-station employees tended to have higher earnings in Oregon than in the country as a whole during the week ending October 11, 1947. As in dicated in table 43, announcers in large stations had average scheduled earnings of $76 per week, as compared with the national figure of $67x. Pro gram supervisors in large stations averaged about $100 per week, which is above the $91 average for this occupation in the entire country. Writers and news personnel also tended to receive more in Oregon than in the United States as a whole. How ever, musicians and production men received some what lower earnings in this State than the national average. It is interesting to note that, contrary to the situation in many States, transmitter engineers in large stations earned more than studio engineers. The $78 a week averaged by the transmitter engi neers was well above the national figure of $65 for that occupation, but studio engineers had about the same average earnings in this State as in all 48 taken together ($71 compared with $72). 1This national average and other averages for employees in the larger stations throughout the country excludes employees of the networks and their key stations. (See p. 8.) 62 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. CALIFORNIA Employment and Number of Stations Los Angeles is the second most important broad casting center in the Nation. Because of the con centration of broadcasting here and to a lesser extent in the San Francisco-Oakland area, Cali fornia is second only to Texas in number of stations operating and authorized and to New York in number of broadcasting employees. In the fall of 1947, California had roughly 3,200 full-time broad casting workers. About 1,200 were employed by the networks and their key outlets; these workers were concentrated in Los Angeles, though a small number were in San Francisco, The remaining 2,000 workers, employed by other stations, were scattered throughout the State, but around a third of them were with stations in Los Angeles. In addition, the State had hundreds of free-lance radio artists, chiefly actors and singers, who were not regularly attached to any station or network. Like network employees, free lancers were heavily con centrated in the Los Angeles area. The distribution of employees by occupation in 1947 is shown in table 44 for the 83 A M stations included in the FCC survey made in October of that year. Networks and their key outlets, which are not included in the table, have greater propor65 MAP 10 TELEVISION STATIONS OPERATING, UNDER CONSTRUCTION, OR APPLIED FOR IN CALIFORNIA November I, 1948 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 66 COMPILED FROM UNPUBLISHED DATA OF FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Table 44.— Employment in selected occupations at A M stations; week ending Oct. 11, 1947 Table 45.— E a rn in g s o f fu ll-tim e em p loyees in selected occupations at A M CALIFORNIA CALIFORNIA Number of employees Occupation Stations with less than 15 employees Full-time employees: Executives______ 40 Program supervisors____ __ 27 Other program staff1.......... 63 Announcers. ___ Musicians- _ News per sonnel ... ... Production men_____ Writers _ _ _ Chief engineers and technicians 24 Other engineers and technicians1 44 Studio__ Transmitter. Commercial su pervisors. 13 Other commercial employees____ 44 Clerical employees____ 46 Nonstaff program em ployees __________ 9 1 Average Scheduled Weekly Earnings Stations with 15 or more employees Total San Los Fran Angeles cisco area area Rest of State 73 23 15 35 60 21 9 30 470 189 104 198 64 67 104 38 23 168 87 14 58 16 14 28 22 43 8 12 9 6 5 25 69 27 10 32 279 134 128 104 57 40 49 31 16 126 46 72 27 8 4 15 117 42 28 47 253 114 45 94 77 39 19 I Occupation __ Executives___ Program supervisors __ Other program staff1__ Announcers____ Musicians___ News personnel__ Production men. Writers _______ __ Chief engineers and technicians____ Other engineers and technicians1____ Studio. ______ Transmitter _ Commercial supervi sors. Other commercial em ployees _ _ _ . Clerical employees__ Stations with less than 15 employees Stations with 15 or more employees Total San Fran Los Angeles cisco area area Rest of State $165 99 73 78 76 84 78 52 $167 80 67 80 162 59 $194 116 92 79 91 92 313 71 80 107 120 107 97 63 83 80 95 94 91 87 89 85 73 74 72 84 150 203 185 112 66 110 46 165 46 93 47 72 47 123 61 54 $175 95 79 73 88 86 39 66 90 70 71 54 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. 19 1 Data on particular occupations in this category are available for sta tions with 15 or more employees and are shown separately only if 5 or more persons were employed in the occupation. Source: Federal Communications Commission data. tions of program and clerical employees. Because the broadcasting industry in California is relatively large, there are many more employees than in any State except New York in almost every occupation, particularly in program work. Employment will be considerably higher in mid1949 than in October 1947. By the middle of 1949, California will have about 170 sound stations of all types (AM , FM , and combination) with about 2,700 workers, excluding those with networks and their key outlets. Regular network and free-lance employment, on the other hand, will not have in creased very much, if at all. Television employment is still small in California. In late 1948, Los Angeles was the only city which sta tion s; week ending Oct . 1 1 , 1 9 4 7 had television. Four stations were operating there ,a t that time, and three more had been authorized. In addition, construction permits had been issued for five more stations in the State— three for San Francisco, and one each for San Diego and Stockton. Outlook Employment at sound stations in California is expected to increase moderately after mid-1949. About 80 applications for new stations (mostly A M ) were on file with FCC in the fall of 1948, not count ing those which already had been granted construc tion permits, but many of the applicants will have to be denied permits because the A M band in and around big cities is already crowded. Applicants who plan to erect stations in small towns away from metropolitan areas probably have the best chance of getting authorizations. It is likely that most of the stations which get permits will be local outlets and will hire small staffs comprised mostly of per67 sons capable of handling several types of radio station duties. Employment at sound stations will probably level off over the long run. As television takes hold in large cities, there may be a decline in employ ment at stations with only sound facilities. How ever, turn-over will continue to create openings indefinitely. In both the near future and the long run the California television industry will expand. In addition to the 8 companies which had been granted construction permits as of late 1948, 30 others had filed applications for outlets in the following cities: Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Visalia. However, unless more channels are allocated, not all these applicants will get licenses because there are more applicants than available channels. The majority of the stations under construction or applied for will be operated in conjunction with existing broad casting stations, which can use their present staffs for some of the television work. T V employment is expected to increase over the long run, especially if additional T V channels are made available. Telecasting activity will be spurred when the west coast joins the Nation-wide T V network in the early 1950’s. Despite the expected moderate gains in employ ment, positions will generally be difficult to obtain in both T V and A M -F M broadcasting. Competi tion is keenest for jobs with.networks and large stations in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas; only outstanding individuals with good radio ex perience have a chance of obtaining staff positions there. Jobs with small stations are somewhat easier to get. But many small California outlets, particularly in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, have lists of experienced applicants for openings in technical or program work. One reason for the surplus of applicants is the large numbers of people with radio experience who have migrated or wish to migrate to California. In the Los Angeles area, there is also great com petition for non-staff program assignments and much unemployment, particularly among actors. Less than half of the Los Angeles actors and only about half of the singers in this Bureau’s survey of radio artists had any work on the radio in the week of M ay 1948, for which information was obtained. It is extremely difficult for newcomers to secure engagements although casting directors occasionally hire a few outstanding new artists. Performers and 68 would-be performers are of course drawn to the area by the lure of motion pictures to an even greater extent than by the hope of radio engagements. Earnings Broadcasting employees tend to have consider ably higher pay in most occupations in the Los Angeles area than in the rest of California. This is shown by the figures in table 45, which gives average scheduled earnings of employees in A M stations (excluding network key outlets) for the week ending October 11, 1947. In the case of announcers, average scheduled pay was about the same in Los Angeles as in San Francisco ($79 and $78 a week, respectively, at stations with 15 or more employees), but in other parts of the State it was lower ($66). Clerical employees were the only group studied that had about the same average earnings at large stations inside and outside the two major metropolitan districts ($46 in the Los Angeles area, $47 in the San Francisco area and also in the remainder of the State). At small stations (with under 15 employees), earnings were below the largestation averages in all occupational groups. On the other hand, network and key-station employees (who are not included in the table) tended to have even higher pay than the averages for employees of other Los Angeles stations with 15 or more workers. (See table 45.) The low earnings of many artists, especially actors, and the extremely high pay received by some are not shown by the FCC data on average sched uled earnings for full-time work. N ot only do rates of pay have a wide range, but free lancers often have very irregular employment. This is shown by the data on earnings of performers in Los Angeles for the year 1947 obtained in the Bureau’s survey of radio artists. The survey included people em ployed as radio performers by advertising agencies and other program builders as well as by stations and networks. One out of every four Los Angeles actors in this survey, who had earnings solely or mainly from radio performing, made less than $1,080 during the year. Of the singers, with earnings solely or mainly from this source, one out of four made less than $2,875. Announcers, who were employed much more regularly, had no such widespread problem of low yearly pay. The lowest-paid fourth of the announcers reported radio earnings ranging up to $4,080. Median earnings were $6,010 for announc ers, as compared with $4,720 for singers and $3,500 for actors. A sizeable group of relatively high-paid people in each occupation received much more than these median earnings. One out of four singers, deriving all or most of their earnings from radio performing made over $8,710 during 1947. The corresponding figure for actors was still higher, $10,000; and that for announcers was highest of all, $11,600. ☆ u . S . GO VERN M EN T PRINTING O F F IC E : 1949-----829344 69
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