Media Programming Directors
Direct and coordinate activities of personnel engaged in preparation of radio or television station program schedules and programs, such as sports or news.
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Media Programming Directors. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Annual wage thresholds
USD per year
Hourly wage thresholds
USD per hour
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $45,780 | $22.01 |
| 25th | $62,670 | $30.13 |
| 50th · Median | $90,360 | $43.44 |
| 75th | $134,800 | $64.81 |
| 90th | $198,540 | $95.45 |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
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What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
Expand more title examples (14)
Typical tasks
- Operate and maintain on-air and production audio equipment.
- Check completed program logs for accuracy and conformance with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules and regulations and resolve program log inaccuracies.
- Read news, read or record public service and promotional announcements, or perform other on-air duties.
- Direct and coordinate activities of personnel engaged in broadcast news, sports, or programming.
- Monitor and review programming to ensure that schedules are met, guidelines are adhered to, and performances are of adequate quality.
- Prepare copy and edit tape so that material is ready for broadcasting.
Expand more tasks (17)
- Coordinate activities between departments, such as news and programming.
- Perform personnel duties, such as hiring staff and evaluating work performance.
- Establish work schedules and assign work to staff members.
- Develop promotions for current programs and specials.
- Plan and schedule programming and event coverage, based on broadcast length, time availability, and other factors, such as community needs, ratings data, and viewer demographics.
- Monitor network transmissions for advisories concerning daily program schedules, program content, special feeds, or program changes.
- Develop ideas for programs and features that a station could produce.
- Select, acquire, and maintain programs, music, films, and other needed materials and obtain legal clearances for their use as necessary.
- Evaluate new and existing programming to assess suitability and the need for changes, using information such as audience surveys and feedback.
- Conduct interviews for broadcasts.
- Confer with directors and production staff to discuss issues, such as production and casting problems, budgets, policies, and news coverage.
- Review information about programs and schedules to ensure accuracy and provide such information to local media outlets.
- Direct setup of remote facilities and install or cancel programs at remote stations.
- Develop budgets for programming and broadcasting activities and monitor expenditures to ensure that they remain within budgetary limits.
- Cue announcers, actors, performers, and guests.
- Act as a liaison between talent and directors, providing information that performers or guests need to prepare for appearances and communicating relevant information from guests, performers, or staff to directors.
- Participate in the planning and execution of fundraising activities.
Skills used in this work
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Expand more skills (29)
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
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