In our last Radio Passion Pole, we asked two questions:
1. How has working in radio changed your life?
It has enriched my life immensely.
It has had little or no effect on my life.
It made me poor, but I love my job anyway.
I wish I’d chosen another career.
2. How do you think radio (for you) today compares with radio (for you) five years ago?
It’s much better today.
A little better today.
About the same.
A little worse today.
It’s much worse today.
And here’s how you responded .....
How has working in radio changed your life?
It has enriched my life immensely. 54%
It has had little or no effect on my life. 2%
It made me very poor, but I love my job anyway. 38%
I wish I’d chosen another career. 6%
How do you think radio (for you) today compares with radio (for you) five years ago?
It’s much better today. 17%
A little better today. 17%
About the same. 28%
A little worse today. 17%
It’s much worse today. 21%
Of those who said “It has enriched my life immensely”....
28% said radio is “much better today.”
16% said radio is “a little better today.”
28% said radio today is “about the same.”
16% said radio is “a little worse today.”
12% said radio is “much worse today.”
So, as expected, they tended to have a more positive feeling about the state of radio today.
In contract, of those who said “I wish I’d chosen another career” Their responses were spread evenly between “It’s a little worse today,” “It’s much worse today,” and “About the same.” So they tended, as expected, to be more negative about the state of radio today.
But overall, those responding had a more positive outlook about radio. We asked the first question, “How has working in radio changed your life?” in 2003, six years ago. Have the responses changed that much? Surprisingly, a much larger percent said they wish they’d chosen another career. Let’s hope this is an accurate indication that things are looking up today. Or maybe it’s just an indication that those negative responders have since left radio. Here are the results of the 2003 poll:
It has enriched my life immensely. 50%
It has had little or no effect on my life. 0%
It made me very poor, but I love my job anyway. 31%
I wish I'd chosen another career. 19%