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The potential for radio to continue to attract new talent was the topic of an afternoon round table discussion titled ‘Is radio still sexy to work for?’ at Euroradio's New Radio Day.

Although ‘to do something in media’ was once an aspiration expressed by many young people starting out their professional career, moderator John Paul Coakley, Director of Operations, Radio RTE, said that radio now faced stiff competition from organizations such as Google, YouTube, Twitter.

Panelist Adam Fogarty, station editor of RTE Pulse (Ireland) said radio is still a highly sought after career, but one for which training, at times, proved difficult.

“Radio courses are oversubscribed,” said Mr Fogarty, “and there is never a shortage of graduates. However technology is moving so rapidly that it’s almost impossible to step into a multi-media career with a full skills set. At Pulse, I’m often a one-man band, editing video footage of a gig recorded two hours earlier. Social media, audio editing, tweeting. There’s a knowledge deficiency as soon as you step out the door.”

Tony Churnside, Media Technologist with BBC Research & Development, said his organization had in the past five years, experienced a shortage of young engineering students with a talent for technical problem solving.

“What we don’t know however,” he said, “is if these graduates are being lured away to work for say, Google or YouTube. It’s possible that other sectors are more interesting or simply pay more.”

Panelist Blanka Mikulaskova, who is Online Communications Manager at Czech Radio, urged radio managers to trawl the internet for signs of talent.

“Many people are drawn to radio,” she said, “and take a job in the backroom in the hope that it will lead to an on-air career. This is rarely the case.”

Anja Negendanck, Multi-media on-line editor WDR (Germany) added: “The real innovators are out there, already on-line. Management – who at times prefer to retain their traditional view of radio – need to scan the internet for new talent.”