News staffs are shrinking at U.S. radio stations
Sept. 2, 2025 — The latest RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey shows the typical (median) radio news operation in 2025 has a full-time news staff of one. You may recall that last year, the median staffing number doubled to two, marking the first time this milestone was reached in the survey’s history. The change was driven by responses from non-commercial radio stations reporting a median of three news staff, but it was short-lived.
Staffing changes were a mixed bag at best. The average radio news operation dropped by 0.5 to 3.2 full-timers, while part-time employees also decreased slightly to 1.7. Breaking these results down further by market size shows a similar picture. Average staffing declined across nearly every category — major, medium, small, commercial, and non-commercial. However, the medians dropped only in major markets, with a 4% decrease. Large markets stayed the same (3.9) in median staffing from last year.
The percentage of centralized newsrooms used by multi-station groups returned closer to pre-COVID levels last year (75.9%). That percentage climbed 2.3% to 78.2% this year. Before the pandemic, stations averaged approximately 85%.
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About the Authors
Bob Papper is Research Professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Syracuse University and has worked extensively in radio and TV news.
Keren Henderson is Associate Professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Syracuse University and has worked as a news producer and video editor.
Tim Mirabito is Assistant Professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Syracuse University and worked in television, radio, print and online media.
This research was supported by the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and the Radio Television Digital News Association.
About the Survey
The RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2024 among 1,918 operating, non-satellite television stations and a random sample of 4,763 radio stations. The television response rate is different for every question, but valid responses came from as many as 1,406 television stations (73.3%) and 599 radio news directors and general managers representing 1,632 radio stations. Some data sets (e.g. the number of TV stations originating local news, getting news from others and women TV news directors) are based on a complete census and are not projected from a smaller sample.