Workers' Comp Rates for Radio/TV Broadcasting (Class Code 7610)

What Workers' Comp Class Code 7610 Includes

Class code 7610 covers the station's inside and field workforce. NYCIRB's published scope includes control-room and lighting operators, camera and boom-microphone crews, broadcast engineers and technicians, scriptwriters, announcers, on-air talent, entertainers, musicians, clerical office employees, outside salespeople, and drivers. Field engineers who inspect transmitters or make remote-broadcast connections at ballparks, auditoriums, and similar locations remain within the station operation rather than becoming a separate contractor merely because they leave the studio.

California's WCIRB phraseology likewise includes all employees, clerical office employees, clerical telecommuters, and outside salespersons. Its rule applies to FCC-licensed stations and also reaches contract video duplication, cable-company television studios, and music recording studios. The broad all-employees wording is the important audit point: a station should not automatically split ordinary production, sales, clerical, or field-broadcast payroll into lower-looking codes when the state manual includes those employees in 7610.

7610 vs Streaming, Post-Production, Connectivity, and Film Work

A podcast, streaming channel, or other operation that distributes audio or video exclusively over the internet is not automatically a broadcasting station. WCIRB directs internet-only programming to its web-application classification, while FCC-licensed radio, television, and commercial wireless stations stay in 7610. A traditional station that also simulcasts online is different from a digital-only publisher; preserve the FCC license, distribution agreements, and revenue records that show which operation the employer actually conducts.

California also separates cable or satellite connectivity providers, contract video or audio post-production performed for other concerns, and motion-picture production from 7610. The same practical boundary applies outside California even when the code numbers differ: operating the station and creating its live or recorded broadcast programming is one exposure; installing communications infrastructure, editing media for outside clients, or producing a film as a separate business is another. Check the current state manual rather than borrowing California's code mapping for an NCCI or independent-bureau state.

For related low-hazard office and digital work, compare clerical office employees 8810, clerical telecommuter employees 8871, and computer programming or web-based development 8859. These are boundary references, not automatic payroll splits: the governing bureau decides whether the station's own clerical, remote, or digital employees remain included in 7610.

Audit Records That Support a 7610 Assignment

Keep the FCC license, station ownership and network agreements, employee job descriptions, studio and remote-broadcast schedules, transmitter-service logs, and payroll records for on-air talent. Those records show that the insured operates a broadcasting station and identify the employees included by the all-employees phraseology. Contracts and invoices should separately identify any stand-alone post-production, connectivity-installation, motion-picture, or internet-only operation that may need another classification.

Payroll limitations for entertainers and on-air personalities are state-specific. California's public 7610 page applies an annual remuneration cap to on-air personalities, entertainers, and musicians, while New York applies its own maximum-average-weekly-wage rule. Do not transfer either cap to another state. The class code directory and workers' comp calculator are comparison tools, not quotes, but the carrier audit must use the current rule, rate, and payroll limitation published for the policy state and effective date.