From Sept. 12, 2012-Nov. 23, 2012, Radio magazine solicited responses to an online survey by posting a link at RadioMagOnline.com and noting the link in all its email newsletters. Here are the results.

Staff engineer median salaries year-by-year

By the numbers

Average years in current position: 14

Average years in the broadcast engineering field: 30

Respondents belong to a variety of organizations:
69% SBE
4% AES
7% IEEE
3% NARTE
27% ARRL
4% Other

Percent who received a raise in the past 12 months: 54%
Median salary increase was 12.5%; average was 4.4%
(in 2011: 46% received a raise, median raise 3%; average raise 5.11%)

Percent age 55 and older: 67%

48% are not certified at all
49% are SBE certified
5% are NARTE certified
7% are Microsoft certified
2% are Cisco certified

Contract engineers

23% of survey respondents are contract engineers.

On average they charge an hourly rate of $75/hour.

They typically bill 18 hours/week.

67% of them charge a higher rate for emergency calls. Those who charge more for emergencies bill on average $131/hour.