MIW Releases Gender Analysis Study
The Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio (MIW) Group this week released its annual MIW Gender Analysis Study, and the results are being hotly discussed:
1) Out of 11,301 AM and FM radio stations, as of December 31, 2017, 1,974 stations (18.1%) have women General Managers. This is a slight uptick from 2016, where that number was 17.8%, and this trend continues to show growth from 2004, when the percentage was only 14.9%. In the Top 100 markets, the number of female GMs is slightly higher than the national average and is actually showing growth year-over-year — in 2017, 18.5% of stations in the Top 100 markets were managed by women, up from 17.7% in 2016.
2) Overall, the best management opportunities for women in radio continue to be in sales management — in 2017, 31.9% of all radio stations have a female Sales Manager, up almost a half-point from last year. In the Top 100 markets, 32.7% of the radio stations have female Sales Managers — up more than a full share point from 2016.
3) The study shows that greatest challenge for women in radio management continues to be as Program Directors — women currently program only 10.5% of all radio stations in the country, and that percentage has basically remained flat for the last 11 years. The news is slightly better in the Top 100 markets where women programmers represent 11.7%; however, that number is down slightly from last year. In an effort to further support that particular segment of the industry, the MIW Group announced a new mentoring opportunity in 2017, the MIW-Nielsen Music Mentoring Program.
“Compiling this data is one of the most significant projects we undertake each year,” said MIW Group Spokeswoman Denyse Mesnik. “Our hope is that the MIW Gender Analysis sparks conversation within each company, and at each radio station, about ways to develop internal efforts that encourage the advancement of female leadership.” This annual study is compiled, analyzed and released by the MIW Group from information provided by PrecisionTrak.
