Opportunity for growth is severely lacking. Leadership stands on the shoulders of coordinators, and interns (hence the 2015 lawsuit) doing most of the leg work. There is little upward mobility (directors and above are mainly lifers, many came up with Howard Stern) so home grown talent will spin their wheels for years before getting burnt out and leaving. Most programming departments gutted middle management positions - channels usally have a VP, Director, and possibly an intern and/or coordinator, so there’s a big skills gap. The people that do move up often have industry ties, with a lot of instances of nepotism mixed in. Like many entertainment employers, SiriusXM exploits hungry music and tv lovers, willing to do more for less, because if they don’t there’s someone next in line who will. Leadership perpetuates a live to work culture and the always live nature of radio often requires constant monitoring, regardless of work hours. There is little to no coverage structure for employees in programming. Senior staff includes many older, tech illiterate “ideas men/women” who couldn't cover the lower level, “in the weeds” employees if they tried. The pay gap between directors and the intern/coordinator fleet is enormous.
