Blog

Do’s and Don’ts For Following Up Your Sportscasting Job Applications

Jon Chelesnik

A sports broadcaster in California applied for a job in-state. He didn’t anything from the employer for a couple weeks so he sent a follow up. He mentioned that one reason for applying was that he and his family regularly vacationed in this community. He finally heard from the employer two weeks later, set up an interview, and got the job.

He won with polite persistence.

These do’s and don’ts will help you create a strategy for following up your sports broadcasting job applications.
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Posted in: Job Market

What To Do If Your Play-by-Play Demo Is Old

Jon Chelesnik

A sportscaster said, “I’ve applied for a couple of hockey play-by-play jobs. I worked for a team six years ago but it was my first job. I’ve grown a ton as a broadcaster and that hockey is representative of what I would do now.

“What should I do?”

There are two solutions for replacing old demo material.
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Posted in: Play-by-play

Wondering “Am I Good Enough?” Here’s What To Do

Jon Chelesnik

Am I good enough?

I get that question all the time. It’s a common human insecurity.

Oprah Winfrey says when she finished recording episodes of her TV show, her guests would almost always ask, “How did I do?” It didn’t matter if the guest was a housewife from Sheboygan or a huge Hollywood star, they always wanted to know, “How did I do? Was I good enough?”
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Posted in: My Career

5 Tips When Working With A Quiet Analyst

Jon Chelesnik

A friend of mine was doing high school play-by-play in a small Midwest market. He couldn’t be choosy about his analyst so he ended up with somebody who had never done it. Several plays went by without the analyst saying anything. Finally, after the fifth play, the analyst piped up and said, “The red team plays good defense.”

What do you do if you’re working with an analyst who isn’t talking much?

The best thing to do is find a new analyst! In a small market with no budget, though, that might be easier said that done. Besides, having someone who talks little is sometimes better than having nobody at all.
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Posted in: Play-by-play

How To Get Paid Voiceover Work

Jon Chelesnik

You work in sports broadcasting so you probably voice a lot of commercials for free. It’s part of your job.

How do you get paid voiceover work?

It’s not as easy as you might think.
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Posted in: My Career

3 Reasons You’re Not a Top Sportscaster

Jon Chelesnik

There’s a music documentary that answers a question many sportscasters have:

Why have I not made it to the top?

20 Feet from Stardom is a highly acclaimed documentary about backup singers in the music industry. Even though they are often as talented as the people for whom they’re singing, they stay in the background, always 20 feet from the spotlight.
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Posted in: My Career, Play-by-play

Top Tips For Interviewing Coaches After a Loss

Jon Chelesnik

Imagine this scene: You’re watching television. Somebody has just won a championship — a Super Bowl, a National Title, the Final Four or something similar. There’s confetti falling. A sportscaster stands atop a podium interviewing the winning players and coaches. People are kissing the championship trophy. Pandemonium. Then they go to commercial, come back from break, and there’s some poor sap standing outside a locker room getting ready to interview the losing coach.

What do you do if that poor sap is you?
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Posted in: My Career, Play-by-play, TV Sports Reporting

Two Things To Understand BEFORE Signing Your New Contract

Jon Chelesnik

Maybe the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life was when I served as an expert witness in a lawsuit filed by a sports broadcaster. He was suing a huge corporate employer over a non-compete clause in his contract.

On one side of the table were the plaintiff’s attorney and I. Opposite us were three exceptionally well-dressed, intimidating looking corporate attorneys. At the head of the table sat the arbitrator.

I was sweating bullets.
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Posted in: My Career