Working in broadcasting

[Mark2010]

With all the gloom and doom talk surrounding newspaper careers these days, I was wondering if anyone has worked in the broadcast news business. If so, how did you go about making the transition?

I realize a lot of television and radio stations are in the same crunch that is affecting newspapers, but wonder how viable an alternative that might be. We use a lot of the same skills, telling stories, albeit in different formats.

Any experiences?

 

[exmediahack]

Hey...ex TV sports guy here (but with experience in print and radio as well).

It is a different beast right now, although TV made its awful cuts in sports from about 1998 through 2005. You will find VERY few local TV news sports departments with more than 3 people. A station in Louisville just went from 4 to 3 people (layoffs) -- that's now the norm in mid- to large markets.

Still expect 2 people in sports in small markets for TV. You may find a "half" position as a #3, half news/half sports. (I know...I was one a long, long time ago).

There's still plenty of opportunity. Just know how to shoot, edit, write, avoid complaining and -- in this era -- make sure you know how to upload video digitally as well as 'tape to tape'. Broaden out your technical skills as well and, once again, don't complain or be a pain in the rump to your sports director, news director or, really, anyone in the newsroom.

Be easy to deal with.

I landed three jobs because my predecessors had anger management issues. You'll find many TV sports guys are absolute jerks.

 

[Football_Bat]

I have a face made for radio, if that helps.

 

[ringer]

Broadcast and print are two very different worlds in terms of storytelling. Just be aware of what you're getting into. Here are some obvious (but commonly overlooked) points worth considering for scribes who assume they can jump into TV cold:

In TV, your words will be mere background for pictures.

In TV, you'll write for time, not space. Do you how many sentences are in a 30-second script?

In TV, you'll be expected to write in present tense -- even when it seems ridiculous.

In TV, you'll need to pay attention to how your words sound.

Not only will you be expected to know how to spell your interviewees names, but you'd better have accurate pronunciations. (It's a pain in the ass, but consider yourself forewarned.)

Unlike in print, it's impossible to create a TV piece alone. You'll be relying on a cadre of colleagues -- from the sound guy to the shooter to the editor to the graphics coordinator to the intern Xeroxing the scripts. (So "be nice" was good advice from the previous poster.)

There's no room for error in LIVE TV. No rough drafts. You have to be spot-on the first time. You can also expect Murphy's Law to kick in, so you'll need to anticipate problems and questions and be able to troubleshoot on the fly. You won't have time to go research something.

Try to get some experience sitting in the control room before you start marketing your writing skills as "transferable." It's important to know the lingo and what's technically involved, say, in cutting a 2-minute piece. There are a lot of moving parts.

Also, you should go to an interview knowing whether you think you want to be a producer or director (it's like editor vs. writer -- but you have to work your way up. You can't start as a producer or director without experience. You'll be an assistant to someone for a while - possibly a very long while.)

Good luck! It's a fun medium...just different. You really have to think on your feet.

 

[spup1122]

I have a lot of experience in both radio and television, mark. If you have questions, you can send me a PM. I've worked in broadcast media for 10 years, but I've also done print and web.

Broadcast is different. And there's a big difference if you're wanting to go into play-by-play or just report the news. In radio, I know a lot of guys who have normal shows or are news guys during the week and do play-by-play on the weekends. Almost every college has some sort of radio broadcast, whether it's the college station with students do the play-by-play or if it's a huge network run by Clear Channel, Host (recently sold but I can't remember to whom), Learfield or ISP. There are some other smaller companies, but those are the big players in collegiate sports marketing/broadcasting.

If you want a few contacts, I have some. I'm sure any of them would be willing to answer any question you have. My dad is an exec. producer at one of the companies I listed and used to spend about an hour every day putting together a school's broadcast and an e-mail for one of the school's fans who had a disability. The guy heard my dad's name on a broadcast and they just started e-mailing. Contrary to print, sports radio is not dying, especially in the collegiate sports marketing world. Smaller schools are growing and giving radio rights to companies rather than just do the local thing. It's a fantastic world in which to live, and I'd do anything to get back to that kind of job. Unfortunately, I live in an area without many resources there.

Oh, and most of what ringer says is true. with print, you have to put a picture in someone's head, but that's not the case in TV. It's a big advantage for people to actually be able to see it. Go onto youtube and watch some of the sports uploads. I know a lot of tv people are putting their videos up there, now. I'd search "sports news" or something along those lines. Time the stories. You'll rarely find a sports story under 30 seconds or more than a minute unless it's a slow news day.

Edited to say I "also" have done print and web instead of "always."

 

[Lugnuts]

You'll find many TV sports guys are absolute jerks.

What about the girls? 8)

 

[Ace]

You'll find many TV sports guys are absolute jerks.

What about the girls? 8)

Jerkettes?

 

[Lugnuts]

Defriended.

 

[Ace]

Defriended.

You can't do that. I was never friended.

 

[Lugnuts]

Oh that's right! ;D

I'm sorry to jack your thread, sir.

I wouldn't make the jump unless you feel passionately about editing (videotape editing).

Secondly, you'll probably make less money than you do in print with less job security (in TV they can sack you because they don't like the way you look or because of a round of layoffs.) You will barely scrape by. (I had a Mr. Lugs to help me.)

But you'll have a lot of fun....

 

[EE94]

You'll find many TV sports guys are absolute jerks.

What about the girls? 8)

in all seriousness, much better. Don't have the same sense of entitlement and ego in my experience and work harder.

its amazing how unqualified some male TV types are - completely clueless when it comes to what is actually news. Its all about the visuals and the sound bite.

 

[Mark2010]

My major in university was actually broadcasting with a journalism minor. I've done some radio play-by-play for minor league and college sports. Loved it, just didn't pay much.

All things being equal (yeah, right), I'd rather do broadcast than print. Just not sure how to get my foot in, so to speak.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

I'll echo a lot of what's been said earlier - although I'll quibble with ringer's point about writing in present tense. At Fox affiliates they go for the present tense, but most other places hate it.

But be clear on one thing - if you are considering making the jump because of the issues in the newspaper business, this may not be your best move. My shop had a meeting with the GM today so he could talk about the layoffs that were made yesterday. Other stations in town have made much deeper cuts than we did (although they had far bigger staffs).

TV advertising revenue is drying up just like newspaper advertising. In a lot of cases, TV stations are being impacted by print losses as well. There are five English-language stations doing news in my market. They are owned by Gannett, Belo, News Corp, Meredith and Scripps-Howard. Not exactly a group that is immune to print problems.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

I have a radio friend who works for the Clear Channel cluster and can't say enough bad things about them. He's currently doing the work that used to be handled by three or four people. The others were dropped because of budget cuts, and he worries that he'll be the next to go. There's no real warning, no cause, just the idea that they need to cut costs. Goodbye.

It all depends on where you work and what you do.

On the positive side, ESPN has taken a lot of print people with almost no broadcast experience and had success with them. I'm thinking here of Mortensen, Clayton, Gammons, Gomez, Olney, Alexander, among others.

 

[spup1122]

Oh, I made a vow to myself long ago that I would NEVER work for Clear Channel no matter how desperate for a job I was.

 

[NQLBLQ]

You'll find many TV sports guys are absolute jerks.

What about the girls? 8)

in all seriousness, much better. Don't have the same sense of entitlement and ego in my experience and work harder.

its amazing how unqualified some male TV types are - completely clueless when it comes to what is actually news. Its all about the visuals and the sound bite.

Agreed. About 80 percent of those morons can't see past their ego. But it's the other 20 percent in the biz that make it all worthwhile.

 

[Sammi]

I was recently laid off after 24 years in tv (started in newspaper my junior year of HS, did that for eight years... lots of radio too). Local TV news especially is right behind print in circling the drain. As several have said, no one's buying cars, so no one's advertising. All news media are trying to figure out how to make the web work, some with limited success.

I worked in a Top-50 market and for the last four years was the one in a one and a-half person sports department. That means I did most everything (except shoot) Monday-through-Friday. The vast majority of stations no longer have photographers dedicated solely to sports, so it was a daily grind fighting for photogs so we could cover local sports. Editing was always one of my favorite parts of the job, especially on deadline (most of us are adrenaline junkies, aren't we?), so I didn't mind that at all. Minus the grind mentioned above, along with other cutbacks (time, personnel) I loved going to work every day. And then I was told I was no longer needed (or wanted for that matter).

So as those above have said, learn to "write the way you talk," and do the work of three or four people... and by all means, work the web to your advantage. Managers will love you for it... until they don't.

 

[strunk_you]

learn how to say "(station name here) has learned..." without giving proper credit to where you stole the info from.

 

[GoochMan]

Unlike in print, it's impossible to create a TV piece alone. You'll be relying on a cadre of colleagues -- from the sound guy to the shooter to the editor to the graphics coordinator to the intern Xeroxing the scripts. (So "be nice" was good advice from the previous poster.)

Outstanding post, ringer, but this one item I'd amend a bit. THese days, you don't get a shooter, a sound guy, or an editor. In fact, YOU will be the sound guy, the shooter, and the editor. And graphics? Forget it. You'll give those imaginative requests to a 21 year old pot smoker who's in his 6th semester at the community college and pray that he can see through the haze to spell your slug correctly, or won't be lazy and not find the images or backgrounds you want.

Some places just have a generic clip generator, which means you'll build your own graphics from your desktop PC.

The one man show is creeping up the market ladder, too. I'm in a top 60 market and it's definitely here. Hope this doesn't sound negative, there are still several aspects of the job I like...but it's the new reality, and it's here to stay I'm afraid.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Unlike in print, it's impossible to create a TV piece alone. You'll be relying on a cadre of colleagues -- from the sound guy to the shooter to the editor to the graphics coordinator to the intern Xeroxing the scripts. (So "be nice" was good advice from the previous poster.)

Outstanding post, ringer, but this one item I'd amend a bit. THese days, you don't get a shooter, a sound guy, or an editor. In fact, YOU will be the sound guy, the shooter, and the editor. And graphics? Forget it. You'll give those imaginative requests to a 21 year old pot smoker who's in his 6th semester at the community college and pray that he can see through the haze to spell your slug correctly, or won't be lazy and not find the images or backgrounds you want.

Some places just have a generic clip generator, which means you'll build your own graphics from your desktop PC.

The one man show is creeping up the market ladder, too. I'm in a top 60 market and it's definitely here. Hope this doesn't sound negative, there are still several aspects of the job I like...but it's the new reality, and it's here to stay I'm afraid.

There's a growing number of one-man-band reporters in my market, and I'm in market 12. And most of them are at the #1 station.