BROADCAST EDUCATION BEA ASSOCIATION VOLUME 49 • NUMBER 1 • JANUARY 2008 Feedback [ [FEEDBACK ARTICLE ] ] January 2008 (Vol. 49, No. 1) Feedback is an electronic journal scheduled for posting six times a year at www.beaweb.org by the Broadcast Education Association. As an electronic journal, Feedback publishes (1) articles or essays— especially those of pedagogical value—on any aspect of electronic media: (2) responsive essays—especially industry analysis and those reacting to issues and concerns raised by previous Feedback articles and essays; (3) scholarly papers: (4) reviews of books, video, audio, film and web resources and other instructional materials; and (5) official announcements of the BEA and news from BEA Districts and Interest Divisions. Feedback is editor-reviewed journal. All communication regarding business, membership questions, information about past issues of Feedback and changes of address should be sent to the Executive Director, 1771 N. Street NW, Washington D.C. 20036. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES 1. Submit an electronic version of the complete manuscript with references and charts in Microsoft Word along with graphs, audio/video and other graphic attachments to the editor. Retain a hard copy for refer- ence. 2. Please double-space the manuscript. Use the 5th edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) style manual. 3. Articles are limited to 3,000 words or less, and essays to 1,500 words or less. 4. All authors must provide the following information: name, employer, professional rank and/or title, complete mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, email address, and whether the writing has been presented at a prior venue. 5. If editorial suggestions are made and the author(s) agree to the changes, such changes should be submitted by email as a Microsoft Word document to the editor. 6. The editor will acknowledge receipt of documents within 48 hours and provide a response within four weeks. REVIEW GUIDELINES 1. Potential instructional materials that can be reviewed include books, computer software, CD-ROMs, guides, manuals, video program, audio programs and Web sites. 2. Reviews may be submitted by email as a Microsoft Word document to the editor. 3. Reviews must be 350-500 words in length. 4. The review must provide a full APA citation of the reviewed work. 5. The review must provide the reviewer’s name, employer, professional rank and/or title, email address and complete mailing address. SUBMISSION DEADLINES Feedback is scheduled, depending on submissions and additional material, to be posted on the BEA Web site the first day of January, March, May, July, September and November. To be considered, submissions should be submit- ted 60 days prior to posting date for that issue. Please email submissions to Joe Misiewicz at [email protected]. If needed: Joe Misiewicz, Feedback Editor, Department of Telecommunications, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, USA. Feedback receives support from Ball State University’s College of Communication, Information and Media. BROADCAST EDUCATION ASSOCIATION BEA Customer Service: [email protected] Toll free: (888) 380-7222 FEEDBACK EDITORIAL STAFF EDITOR: Joe Misiewicz, Department of Telecommunications, Ball State University ASSISTANT COPY EDITOR: Kerri Misiewicz, University Teleplex, Ball State University CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Scott Davis, Ball State University Feedback January 2008 (Vol. 49, No. 1 [ CONTENTS ] Click on title to view page. [ ARTICLES ] MEDIA EMPLOYMENT IN THE UNITED STATES: AN EXAMINATION OF SELECTED INDUSTRIES Alan B. Albarran ..........................................................................................................4 THIS AIN’T YOUR DADDY’S NICHE NETWORK: AN ANALYSIS OF G4 PROMOTIONAL ACQUISITION, RETENTION, AND RECYCLING STRATEGIES William W. Anderson ......................................................................................................................13 NEW WAY TO COUNT LISTENERS SHAKES UP RADIO ARBITRON’S ELECTRONIC METERS BEAT DIARIES FOR ACCURACY; PHILLY STATIONS CUT AD RATES Sarah McBride ...........................................................................................................17 10 WAYS TO INSPIRE YOUR TEAM Michelle LaBrosse ......................................................................................................20 [ CASE STUDY ] SUMMERTIME NEWS – A CASE STUDY: DEVELOPING A CURE FOR THE DEARTH OF DAILY DEADLINES IN BROADCAST EDUCATION TO MEET AN UNMET COMMUNITY NEED Tim Lewis ..................................................................................................................22 2007-2008 NATIONAL SALARY SURVEY RESULTS ............................................30 2008-2009 BEA SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS ANNOUNCED .............................31 [ REVIEWS ] 32 [ NEWS & NOTES ] 37 [ DIRECTORY ] 38 BEA—Educating tomorrow’s electronic media professionals 3 [ ARTICLE ] MEDIA EMPLOYMENT IN THE UNITED STATES: AN EXAMINATION OF SELECTED INDUSTRIES By Alan B. Albarran, ABSTRACT Ph. D. The topic of employment in the United States media indus- Professor and Director tries has been all but ignored by scholars. The studies that do of the Center for Spanish Language exist focus almost entirely upon employment success among new Media graduates or skill sets identified for different types of jobs. This Department of Radio, paper examines media-related employment in the U. S. using Television and Film information from the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics The University of for the period from 1990-2006. The data clearly indicates most North Texas media-related employment peaked around 2000, but many Denton, TX 76203 industries have contracted since then including employment in USA the Internet sector. Implications of these findings are discussed [email protected] including the impact on traditional media programs at colleges The author acknowl- and universities. edges the research assistance of Tonya MEDIA EMPLOYMENT IN THE UNITED STATES: Anderson, a former graduate student at the AN EXAMINATION OF SELECTED INDUSTRIES University of North This paper examines the role of employment in the United Texas on this project. States with a particular emphasis on a select group of media industries. As one of the largest developed countries in the This paper was previ- world the United States is also one of the largest employers in the ously presented to the Management and Sales world, with nearly 150 million people working in the country in Division at the 2007 non-farm and non-military roles. Annual Convention The United States is also the long-term global leader in media, of the Broadcast evidenced by the voluminous amount of content generated in the Education Association. form of television and radio programs, motion pictures, news- papers, books and magazines, sound recordings, and websites. The United States has been labeled an “entertainment economy” (Wolf, 1999), as content generated in Hollywood and other cities spans the globe. Surprisingly, there has been little examination of media-related employment in the scholarly literature in the United States. What studies do exist have a tendency to focus on topics related to surveys of new graduates seeking industry employment. A few studies look at the topic of employment from the stand- point of analyzing skills needed by employers for specific types 4 Feedback January 2008 (Vol. 49, No. 1 of positions. Data-based papers showing employment trends are simply not available. Further, many trade associations for specific media industries lack accurate and timely employment related data. Clearly, there is a need for more research and analysis of media related employment in the United States. This paper attempts to provide some benchmarking data on U. S. media employ- ment. As such, this paper analyzes a 15 year period of employment from 1990 through 2006. In the next section, the literature on media employment that can be identified is reviewed and analyzed. LITERATURE REVIEW The following is a review of previous research and literature on employment in the media industries. Much of the literature focuses on the ability of new college and university graduates to locate employment in an area related to their field. Harwood (1989) provides one of the earliest studies on media employment with an examination of employment trends during the 1980s. Becker (1992) found that the unemployment rate among journalism and mass communication graduates went up in 1990, citing possible causes as the recession in the national economy and the influx of a record number of journalism and mass communication graduates into the labor market. Questionnaires were mailed to graduates from 80 different programs, and seeking data about job offers, employer types, part-time versus full-time employment, salaries, job satisfaction, job responsibilities, and type of degree received. The study concluded that more journalism and mass communication students than ever before were looking for work. Giles (1993) explored trends in the newspaper industry including the restructur- ing and rethinking of management, news coverage, advertising, and hiring practices. These changes were warranted by a change in customer needs because customers had more choices than ever before. When old models and expectations of increasing profits through customer sales no longer proved sufficient, the newspaper industry’s focus shifted to marketing and research tools to attract advertisers. Newspapers also became faced with new challenges in how they managed their workforce, particularly in areas