Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio, Inc. has released its annual gender analysis study, tracking the number of women in leadership positions across U.S. commercial radio stations. The 24th edition of the report, based on data from PrecisionTrak, analyzes the percentage of female general managers, sales managers and program directors/brand managers across 11,215 AM and FM stations as of Dec. 31, 2024.
General managers
In 2024, women held 21.67% of general manager positions, representing 2,327 stations. This is a slight decline from 2023 but a significant increase from 14.9% in 2004. In the top 100 U.S. markets, 22.92% of stations were led by women, slightly above the national average.
Sales managers
Sales management remains the area with the highest female representation. Women held 35.67% of sales manager roles in 2024, up from 34.37% in 2023. In the top 100 markets, female representation was significantly higher at 42.94%, an increase of nearly eight percentage points from the previous year.
Program directors/brand managers
Women continue to be underrepresented in programming leadership. In 2024, 12.38% of stations had female program directors or brand managers, a slight increase from 11.5% in 2023. In the top 100 markets, the percentage was lower at 11.23%, though it still marked an improvement from the previous year.
MIW Board President Sheila Kirby said, “While we are encouraged by the progress in sales management and programming, the overall numbers show that there is still significant work to be done. Leadership opportunities for women in radio must continue to grow, and our mission at MIW remains steadfast—empowering, mentoring and advocating for more women to rise into key decision-making roles across the industry.”
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