How to become Media Programming Director in 2024

Media Programming Director Direct and coordinate activities of personnel engaged in preparation of radio or television station program schedules and programs, such as sports or news.

Media Programming Director is Also Know as

In different settings, Media Programming Director is titled as

  • Broadcast Content Manager
  • News Director
  • Newscast Director
  • Production Director
  • Program Coordinator
  • Program Director (PD)
  • Program Manager
  • Programming Director
  • Station Manager
  • TV Program Director (Television Program Director)

Education and Training of Media Programming Director

Media Programming Director is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Media Programming Director

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Education Required for Media Programming Director

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Degrees Related to Media Programming Director

Training Required for Media Programming Director

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Media Programming Director in different industries are

What Do Media Programming Director do?

  • 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 and review programming to ensure that schedules are met, guidelines are adhered to, and performances are of adequate quality.
  • Direct and coordinate activities of personnel engaged in broadcast news, sports, or programming.
  • Check completed program logs for accuracy and conformance with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules and regulations and resolve program log inaccuracies.
  • Establish work schedules and assign work to staff members.
  • Coordinate activities between departments, such as news and programming.
  • Perform personnel duties, such as hiring staff and evaluating work performance.
  • Evaluate new and existing programming to assess suitability and the need for changes, using information such as audience surveys and feedback.
  • Develop budgets for programming and broadcasting activities and monitor expenditures to ensure that they remain within budgetary limits.
  • Confer with directors and production staff to discuss issues, such as production and casting problems, budgets, policies, and news coverage.
  • Select, acquire, and maintain programs, music, films, and other needed materials and obtain legal clearances for their use as necessary.
  • Monitor network transmissions for advisories concerning daily program schedules, program content, special feeds, or program changes.
  • Develop promotions for current programs and specials.
  • Prepare copy and edit tape so that material is ready for broadcasting.
  • Develop ideas for programs and features that a station could produce.
  • Participate in the planning and execution of fundraising activities.
  • Review information about programs and schedules to ensure accuracy and provide such information to local media outlets.
  • Read news, read or record public service and promotional announcements, or perform other on-air duties.
  • Operate and maintain on-air and production audio equipment.
  • Direct setup of remote facilities and install or cancel programs at remote stations.
  • Cue announcers, actors, performers, and guests.
  • Conduct interviews for broadcasts.
  • 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.

Qualities of Good Media Programming Director

  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.

Tools Used by Media Programming Director

  • Audio signal processors
  • Desktop computers
  • Digital audio recorders
  • Emergency alert system EAS equipment
  • Emergency communications scanners
  • Laser facsimile machines
  • Multi-line telephone systems
  • Personal computers
  • Sound mixing consoles
  • Tablet computers

Technology Skills required for Media Programming Director

  • Adobe Acrobat
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Apple Final Cut Pro
  • Applicant tracking software
  • Avid Technology iNEWS
  • Broadcast Electronics AudioVAULT FleX
  • Content management systems CMS
  • Email software
  • Facebook
  • FileMaker Pro
  • Hypertext markup language HTML
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft SharePoint
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Microsoft Word
  • Music scheduling software
  • RCS GSelector
  • Scheduling databases
  • Twitter
  • Web browser software