Changes from 1987 to 1994. Costs shift to staff. Compensation packages at typical commercial radio stations with news operations are enhanced little by the employer's contributions to staff benefits. And benefits costs are being shifted more and more to the staff, most notably to those who are least able to pay. The majority of stations pay into health insurance premiums, but increasingly only part of the cost.
Staff pay jointly more often than in the past.
As for dental insurance and pensions, newspeople and others are typically left to shift for themselves on salaries that don't keep up with the cost of living. Even life insurance plans are less common than in the late 1980s. Television's staff benefits are better than radio's. So found national surveys conducted by the author in 1987 and again in 1994. When the yearbook source indicated that AM and FM stations shared a single newsroom, only one of the stations was counted in sample selection.