Task 1.3 – finding out about radio and the jobs within the medium This task is allowing me to research in depth the medium of radio and structure a list of jobs that it contains.

Creative industry The radio industry is given the title and category of the creative industry, which involves having a creative skill set. The creative industry includes: Advertising Animation Fashion and textiles Film Radio and television.

Radio industry The radio groups have become more and more challenging that the audio content itself can be heard and distributed across a range of mediums. This is due to radio converging on the same platform as telecommunications.

Radio stations All independent radio stations are shared and distributed across four sub sections. The BBC is a independent and highly successful radio station, which happens to be all funded by the public. In the UK there are 120 independent radio stations with almost 180 small community radio stations, and there is only 50 independent radio production companies in Great Britain.

Interesting figures on radio as a whole. 22,800 people are currently employed in radio at this time. This matches up with almost 5% of the workforce. Industry has been condensed into 350 companies, where 23% employ around 2 to 4 people. 25% of companies have 20 or more people working for them at any one time. Radio uses a highly skilled and qualified workforce. One quarter of the workforce is either freelance or employed on short lease contracts. 58% of the workforce who are freelance all hold graduate qualificatrions.

Entry and progression There is no simple and direct route into the radio industry, there are paths that split into a hundred different careers. Some jobs and companies there are courses that enhance and modify your talents to allow you a broader range of skill sets. Companies and employees of these companies suggest that the best way into the industry is by work experience or by volunteering at radio stations and small companies. BBC and commercial radio are currently running new entrant training options and bursaries depending on the needs of the company. The qualification which tends to be accepted by employers is the post entry qualifications which are rated higher than pre- entry. The post entry in continuing professional development was the most highly accepted qualification. Post entry qualifications include the skills like management, technical and business training.

Employment trends and future prospects The digital revolution from the world has had a fast and extraordinary impact on the industries future. Job vacancies within the radio job sector are generally hard to fill. There is a shortage of people showing the like for engineering which is leaving the job bare and unskilled.

Skill requirements and shortages The most common shortages of jobs come from: Engineering Radio broadcasting And commercial awareness. The new skill shortages seem to be: Management Business And IT

Occupational roles 29% work in radio broadcasting with specific roles. 25% work in finance, HR, IT and marketing. 21% work in journalism and sport roles. 10% work in production 8% work in producing

National and regional data The major workforce is based in London but has also spread to: South East North West And Scotland In London alone there is approximately 8,800 people working in the radio medium. This makes up 38% of the industry. In the South East of the UK there are currently 2,400 people working in community or publically funded radio. Currently 86 different and varied radio stations. The North West has 2,500 people working on radio stations. The most used is BBC but the community radio stations pitch up at about 30 different ones. Scotland have got 1,780 people working on the radio industry. There is a range of different radio from large corporate to small and hidden away radio stations. Currently Wales have had the highest ratings from the radio listeners with each person listening to almost 24.4 hrs per week. But surprisingly the radio industry only has 1,000 employees in the valleys.

Salary levels in the industry A normal salary level is £29,200 per year. But this compared to the creative industries pay which is 32,200 per year, which creates a 3,000 pound rise. Those whom retain a secure job get paid more than a freelance worker. This is due to a freelance only being called upon when needed. More amounts of people get jobs within radio in a unpaid position than any other business in the UK. The amount of unpaid workers can completely depend on the contract they are bound to.