In service industries, such as education, a program director or programme director researches, plans, develops and implements one or more of the firm's professional services. For example, in education, a program director is responsible for developing and maintaining degree-granting programs and/or other educational services.
In Program Management, the Program Director is a senior manager responsible for the overall success of the program.[1]
A program director's role in a company that sells professional services is similar to a product manager's role in a company that sells tangible goods.
In radio or television, a program director or director of programming is the person who develops or selects some or all of the content that will be broadcast. A program director's selections are based upon expertise in the media as well as knowledge of the target demographic. Typically, a program director decides what radio program or TV program will be broadcast and when.
S Ahern and G Smith in Making Radio [2] (3rd edition published in 2011 by Allen & Unwin, Australia) discuss Radio Program Directing in a full chapter devoted to the skills of being a programmer. Extract below used with permission:
Since formatting was introduced to radio stations in the late 1950s to combat the new challenge of TV, the role of the program director (PD) has consistently gained in importance as consumers were given more listening options through the introduction of additional radio stations and new technologies.
Radio in the 1960s was affected by both musical and social change as the ‘baby-boomer’ generation significantly influenced the development of radio formats to targeting their demographic during the following decades. Through the 1970s and 1980s, the Top 40 format diversified into a number of target-specific formats, including contemporary hit radio (CHR), oldies (hits and memories), adult contemporary (AC), album-oriented rock (AOR), easy listening, news/talk and sports/talk.
Increased competition during the 1990s caused further fragmentation with contemporary rock, classic rock, soft adult contemporary, good-time oldies and oldies-based adult contemporary formats catering for individual market ‘niches’. This more complicated and highly competitive programming environment has demanded more highly skilled PDs to target specific groups of listeners. Now, with more diversified formats than ever before, the challenge for the radio station PD is to secure target listeners who are attractive to potential advertisers to ensure that the radio station remains profitable.
In the context of non-profit organizations, a program director is responsible for managing one or more of the organization's programs or services in a role similar to that of a chief operating officer.