Radio and Television Announcers are categorized within the Artistic Theme Code of The Strong Interest Inventory® Assessment. For nearly a century, The Strong Interest Inventory® Assessment has been helping individuals find careers that complement their personal interests, work styles, and professional preferences in a time-proven two-step process. First, individuals take a comprehensive assessment providing insights into their own characteristics. Then, the Inventory matches their results based on an entire database on responses from professionals working in many different careers and sectors. From this analysis, the Inventory recommends one to three (out of six) Theme Code Categories, which contain careers held by people who shared similar responses. For instance, the Artistic Theme Code Category is characterized by flexible, creative careers and compassionate, empathetic individuals.

Radio and Television Announcers use scripted materials to communicate various messages live during television or radio broadcasts. Such messages may include news reports, introducing or delivering commercial messages and public service information, announcing or introducing an artist or performer, identifying the station, interviewing guests, accepting requests from a viewing or listening audience, or doing any number of other activities on the air. There is an enormous amount of variation in the precise tasks or skills that specific announcers may need. For instance, in some cases, smaller components of radio or television programs may be pre-recorded for later broadcast, but in many cases they are live. Some announcers may ad-lib much of their performance, while others use memorized or read scripts.

The topics may also differ, from weather and sports, to breaking news, to comedy. Regardless of the topic, Radio and Television Announcers conduct research to gather background information before going on the air, and develop relevant storylines for broadcasts. Some programs may also require announcers to maintain a music library, make promotional appearances, write or edit scripts, coordinate games or competitions, or even demonstrate products or services that viewers may purchase through particular venues.

In general, Radio and Television Announcers need to be highly flexible, social individuals, who are able to express themselves fluently and confidently, and charismatically enough to hold their viewers’ attention. They should have a technical mastery of a broad range of audiovisual production tools, from tablet and notebook computers to audio mixing consoles to recorders and microphones to music players. However, just as important is their mastery of specific software applications, including statistical processing software, music and sound editing software such as Adobe Systems Adobe Audition, Audion Laboratories VoxPro, and others. They must have mastered Microsoft Office and web browser interfaces in order to conduct research.

Most Radio and Television Announcers (55%) hold a Bachelor’s Degree, with 10% holding an Associate’s Degree, and 10% having completed some college coursework but not earning a full degree. During this formal education as well as through their on-the-job training, Radio and Television Announcers typically develop a solid understanding of communications, media technologies, telecommunications, and the associated computers and electronics involved with these tasks. Over 90% of Announcers claim that they use cell phones and have to make significant decisions each and every day, with 80% expressing that having face-to-face discussions was a daily job requirement for them.

The nation-wide medial salary for Radio and Television Announcers is $15.10 per hour or $31,400 annually. Highly populated states with a large media presence, such as Washington D.C., New York, and California all have fairly high median salaries, all above $45,000 per year, with Washington D.C. above $60,000 per year. The top 10% of Radio and Television Announcers in each of these markets can earn salaries nearing $150,000 per year. However, the lowest-paid announcers in each state earn minimum wage. The overall employment rate is expected to fall by 14% before 2024, with just 1,220 new jobs being added nation-wide in the next decade. While some highly populated states, such as California, Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania are falling slower than others, they are still only projected to add 50-120 new job opportunities per state before 2024.

Below are some employment trends for Radio and Television Announcers:

• Median Salary: $15.10/hour; $31,400 annually
• Employment: 42,000 employees
• Projected growth (2014-2024): decline (-2% or lower)
• Projected job openings (2014-2024): 12,200

[Information retrieved from Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and 2014-2024 employment projections]

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• Strong Interest Inventory Realistic Theme Explained 
• Strong Interest Inventory Artistic Theme Explained
• Strong Interest Inventory Investigative Theme Explained 
• Strong Interest Inventory Social Theme Explained 
• Strong Interest Inventory Enterprising Theme Explained 
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References

1. Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and 2012-2022 employment projections Onetonline.org