Radio Producer

A Radio Producer is primarily responsible for the creation and orchestration of radio programming. As a Radio Producer, you will have quite a wide range of duties. These duties vary somewhat depending on the kind of programming you’re producing, the most likely formats being music, news, and talk radio.

For a music station, you are expected to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the music your station plays. The Radio Producer makes playlists based on research of the station’s demographics, and also organize contests and promotions.

When working at a news and talk radio station, one of your primary duties is to procure guests to be interviewed on the air. If listeners are invited to call in, you must screen them before they go live. For a news station, you may write and edit news stories, and possibly read them on the air.

If the radio programming you’re producing is live, you will most likely be sitting in a control room, separated from the Host or talent by glass to block noise but allow communication. Aside from organizing the live radio content, you produce recorded projects like commercial bumpers, which are short promos for the station.

You might also be charged with hiring station employees, and you work in unison with the sales and accounting teams and upper management. Additionally, you have technical responsibilities such as operating studio equipment. But you also get to flex your creative muscles when writing scripts for live or taped segments.

Since most radio programming is live, you have to think on your feet to avoid “dead air.” However, this can be a thrilling career, as DJ Howard Stern’s long-time Producer, Gary “Baba Booey” Dell’Abate, would surely tell you.