Any sports radio guys around?

I'm just trying to gauge how many (if any) radio guys there are. Anybody leave radio for print?

I'm a bit torn between the two. I've got a semester left of college and I've been writing and broadcasting, but it's coming to the point where I have to make a decision soon on what I want to go for.

Any thoughts from sports radio alumni of PBP or talk?

 

As soon as I posted this I saw about three other newbie questions on the board ... should there be a sub-category for all of us impressionable youths?

 

Radio sports is a dead end. I've been there. The only way you'll eat anything other than cheese sandwiches is if you're also a salesperson. I wasn't.

 

sorry, they're all out bottom feeding.

 

I can't imagine too many people left radio for print.

 

Probably not. I don't know too many people who've had a career path like mine.

 

BRoth -

There are some sports radio guys here, but it's not exactly a welcoming climate as an earlier poster demonstrates. (We're all mouthbreathing, screaming idiots incapable of offering anything of value according to the standard print guy prejudices.) The forum at www.staatalent.com and callofthegame.com may prove more fruitful for you in terms of generating useful advice. For what it's worth, a couple of things...

Getting a sports talk gig is a challenge, but there will be more opportunities ahead as music radio becomes ever more obsolete. Locally focused sports discussion is one of the few things that can't be duplicated on XM, Sirius or an Ipod, which means the format will continue to grow and likely shift more to FM as the years pass.

Having said that, if you're coming out of college and need to get a gig, there will be more places to get a foot in the door with print than radio. If you want to do radio, be prepared to not make a lot for quite a while. You can eventually make good enough money without being a sales person, but you will have to work your ass off to get there. It was three years out of college before I broke 20k, although things are good half a decade later. If you don't love radio, you will likely lose patience before you get where you aspire to go. Above all else, understand that sports radio is about entertaining people, not lecturing them on sports. We are not trying to do a baseball notebook column read aloud. If you can suggest creative ways to entertain listeners in an interview, a PD will pay attention. If you proudly proclaim your ability to recite the last 20 overall NFL number one picks, you'll never get hired. Good luck.

 

What did you do? I always figured that it'd be 100 times easier to transition (back) to writing from radio than vice versa. I feel it's damn near impossible to get anywhere in radio unless you want to wait about 10 years.

 

i don't know how much money they make but at every city i've lived in, the local sports talk radio outlet has a dozen or so guys who sound like they're about 22 years old. they do the three-times-an-hour updates and if you stick around long enough they eventually become producer of one of the shows. they substitute host on weekends and occasionally they get their own shows. i occasionally notice that they write for their station's web site, which although isn't much of a journalism outlet, would at least be a way to gain clips.

as for play by play talent, there has to be some pipeline for younger pbp guys to come up, but as jackS posted, i think they're all doing about six jobs and earning $15K a year in the minor leagues.

 

I was a sports director...but I should add, I was also news director...at two stations. I never worked with or knew any sports guy who didn't have to do something else at the station to make it a full time job, whether that be sales, news, or even being a DJ.

As for the sports part of it, I did everything you can imagine...PBP, color, talk, sports newscasts...the works.

 

BRoth -
It is possible to do a little of both in the right small/medium market.
If you are the newspaper guy w/ something to say, sometimes the radio will give you a gig. I have seen a radio guy doing freelance work for the paper too. Just depends on the market and how well you can sell the idea to the powers that be.

 

I left sports radio for print. Best thing I have ever done for myself, hands down. My gig in sports radio was amazing, and something that most men dream of, let alone women (like me), but then I transitioned to a new place after I graduated a year ago, and realized I couldn't be in radio anymore.

Everyone is right when they tell you that it will be a long time before you can make it big in radio. I was lucky to live in the same community as one of the largest sports marketing and broadcasting firms in the country, oh, and be the daughter of the executive producer. That's the only reason I was able to even step into the business. To be anything in radio, you have to know people, and I am not talking about meeting someone and then accepting that they "know" you. The list of references has to be impressive to get into a market that will pay you any amount of money. That's how I made my transition after I graduated. I knew someone, and they gave me a chance. Anyway, just my experiences; take it for what it's worth. Feel free to PM me if you have anymore questions or want any advice where to go in sports radio to be successful. I am an open book on the subject.