We all know radio often demands long hours, tight deadlines, and emotional investment. Whether covering breaking news or keeping communities connected, it’s clear why mental health support for broadcasters has become not just important, but essential.
As Mental Health Awareness Month approaches, Radio Ink is partnering with industry leaders and advocates about the unique challenges facing broadcast professionals – and the steps leaders can take to support their teams.
We open our mental health series with Cal Beyer, a longtime non-clinical workplace mental health practitioner who has spent more than two decades working to break stigma, promote psychological safety, and normalize conversations about mental health in high-pressure professions.
Radio Ink: The radio industry asks so much of its people. Long hours, emotional investment, job instability – this is something we all accept going into this business. In your view, what factors make this line of work uniquely challenging when it comes to mental health?
Cal Beyer: I think the inability to manage the process – it’s on demand. Whether or not you’re ready to report, if you’re feeling stressed or overloaded with deadlines, if you’ve got a car that needs repair or transportation issues that day, people are expected to respond regardless of their sense of readiness. It cuts into personal time more than, say, public safety professionals who work a scheduled shift. The journalists I know are regularly working weekends to stay caught up, calling frequently after hours and in between calls. It’s just a steady, ongoing flow.
Imposter syndrome is another factor. People question: Am I good enough? Is my perspective healthy? Did I speak to enough sources? Did I prepare well enough? Am I asking good enough questions to elicit the right response? There’s a lot of self-doubt. All of that plays into the stress of the role, balancing competing demands and responsibilities.
Radio Ink: No two days are the same in radio – sometimes that’s a gift and a difficulty.
Cal Beyer: I think that is such an important recognition, especially if you’re in something with a shelf life. That deadline constantly changes. I got into a lot of this work in the workplace through critical incident response. So there’s that element of crisis management and then helping people manage the emotional aftermath of those traumatic workplace experiences.
A friend of mine who mentored me was a behavioral health specialist, and he had a tagline. He said, “If you’ve seen one crisis, you’ve seen one crisis.”
And yet, you’ve got to be ready. You’ve got to be prepared. You have to anticipate that story and ask, “What am I missing?” There’s a lot of pressure in being able to take things in and use your experience to draw insights and inferences about what’s next, probably finding that edge for a story. And you’re competing against other news outlets, too. You don’t want to lose, especially if you’ve got that desire to find that leading story, right? You want that perfect story.
Radio Ink: Broadcast teams are often at the center of crises. In the past few months, we’ve seen LA radio on the ground during the wildfires, talking with people who were fighting to save their homes or had lost their homes. We’ve seen hosts in Appalachia manning phones for days, trying to coordinate with people in the flooding. All broadcasters, at heart, love serving their communities, but when those calls are “has anyone seen my family member?” that can be a heavy burden.
For leaders supporting staff who’ve been emotionally impacted by this coverage, what advice do you have?
Cal Beyer: I think it’s recognizing that the exposure to trauma is real. It’s going to elicit an emotional response. Normalize the conversation about help-seeking. Share resources with individuals. And recognize the first time you check in with someone, they may not look interested. They may seem detached. They may look like they’re tuning you out, but still check in.
Follow up with those individuals and look for one-on-one opportunities that are sincere, where you’re just focused on that person. Use supportive language and let them know you care about them and the effects of that exposure to trauma.
The biggest recognition I’ve seen in the post-pandemic world is more leaders understanding that we’re going to respond differently to trauma. We’re going to respond differently to grief and bereavement. There’s no one-size-fits-all. We’ve humanized the individualized response. And so if we have personal relationships and we let people know that we recognize their exposure, and we want to be supportive – and let them know we do it out of care and empathy – then we can still provide privacy and confidentiality, whether through an employee assistance program or even just acknowledging our own vulnerability.
For years, we didn’t know how to teach leaders to support workplace mental health. What we’ve learned is that leaders who are vocal, visible supporters—and those who are vulnerable—are the ones who can lead people during a time of crisis.
When a leader lets an individual or a group know they’ve struggled and sought help, or that their family has been impacted, it takes away that pressure. It takes away that barrier. It just lets people know, “I’m seen. It’s okay to not be okay. And help is available.” So we kind of use a theme around hope, help, healing, and recovery.
Just being intentional as a leader – saying, “I’m going to model good self-care. I’m going to model that vulnerability. And I’m going to be there as a support for my people,” that goes a long way. When people feel supported, it creates psychological safety, where it’s OK to have a down day. It’s okay to take time off. It’s okay to unplug, reset, and rewind.
Radio Ink: Budgets are often going to be an issue, from smaller, independent broadcasters all the way to larger groups. Modeling that sort of behavior is a great, no-cost way to provide some mental health assistance. For those with limited infrastructure, what are some other practical, lower-cost ways to begin building that culture of safety and support?
Cal Beyer: One of them is appreciation. Saying “please” and “thank you.” It seems so simple and maybe hokey, but in organizations that have historically been production-oriented – where you show up, do your job, and get a paycheck – when you get them to build in appreciation, recognition, and affirmation, people start to feel valued at work.
It’s also acknowledging, “I know you’ve made sacrifices, but I really am encouraging you to take some time off.” Not in a way that says, “I don’t trust you on this,” but taking time to explain, “I want to give you an opportunity to spend time with your family.”
Find out what’s important to individuals and find a simple way to send them a handwritten note – it goes a long way. Sending an acknowledgment or leaving a small gift just to recognize their individuality, because you pay attention, you listen, and you’ve gotten to know them. Not everyone will respond the same way, but in those caregiving professions, these are ways to say: “You make a difference around here.”
Radio Ink: You’ve been working specifically on mental health plans and resources for journalists lately through your work with the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. How has that process been?
Cal Beyer: What I’ve truly seen in the journalism profession, starting before but accelerating after the pandemic, is an increase in information about the importance of mental health, identifying risk factors, understanding pressures and stressors on journalists, and seeing organizational and institutional leaders put together toolkits specifically for journalists and mental health. I think that’s been really powerful.
At the executive committee level, we believed we could have an impact by developing guidelines for safe reporting. That included the depiction of suicide and the use of safe language. I’m really proud of that work. It made a big difference. Over time, we saw not only safe reporting in print and electronic media, but we saw the entertainment industry begin to apply and adapt that same safe messaging.
One prominent example is from Columbia University and the Dart Center. They have resources for journalists dealing with trauma. And seeing that work evolve, that’s something your profession should be proud of. You build the DNA of mental health into your culture by building safe reporting, safe care practices, and self-care practices. It all comes full circle.
This is the first part of our Mental Health Awareness Month conversation with Cal Beyer in Radio Ink‘s daily headlines. We appreciate the assistance of the NAB in organizing this interview.
More Mental Health Awareness Month coverage will appear in the May issue of Radio Ink Magazine.
