RTDNA Survey Finds Modest Gains in Radio News Staffing

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, October 28, 2026 | 2:32pm CT

RTDNA

Radio newsroom staffing showed modest improvement in 2025, with the median number of full-time news employees returning to two after declining the previous year, according to the latest RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey.

The annual survey found that the average radio newsroom employed 3.8 full-time news staffers, while part-time staffing remained unchanged at an average of 1.7 employees.

Non-commercial stations continued to maintain larger newsrooms than their commercial counterparts, reporting a median of three full-time news employees compared with just one at commercial stations.

Staffing gains were reported across most market sizes, with large markets experiencing the biggest increase, averaging 2.7 additional employees. No market-size category reported a decline in full-time newsroom staffing.

Despite the overall improvement, most radio stations reported little change in their individual staffing levels. The percentage of stations adding employees dropped by more than half to 8.6%, while those reporting no staffing changes increased nearly eight percentage points to 77.6%.

The survey also found that 71.6% of radio stations relied on centralized newsrooms serving multiple stations, a slight decline from the previous year. That figure remains below pre-pandemic levels, when centralized news operations routinely accounted for more than 80% of stations.

Non-commercial broadcasters were more likely than commercial stations to both increase and reduce newsroom staffing, reflecting their generally larger news operations.

Digital newsroom staffing declined slightly for the second consecutive year, primarily because of reductions in major markets. However, part-time digital staffing increased modestly overall.

Hiring activity showed improvement, with both replacement hires and newly created positions averaging 0.9 employees each. The median number of hires reached one for the first time in nine years.

Reporters remained the most frequently hired employees, both for replacement positions and newly created jobs, followed by sales and promotional personnel.

The report also noted that ongoing staffing reductions at iHeartRadio, PBS and NPR stations could influence future survey results, although the full impact of those cuts has not yet been determined.

The RTDNA/Newhouse School Survey was conducted during the fourth quarter of 2025 and included responses from nearly 600 radio stations and more than 1,100 television stations.

The research is supported by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. The findings were reported by Tim Mirabito, Keren Henderson and Akshaya Chandrasekaran.