Many years ago, a college basketball and minor league baseball broadcaster learned that an NBA team was seeking a new radio voice. He quickly assembled his demo and resume package and sent it off to the team. Days later, he received a reply, “Thank you, but the application period has closed and we’re already down to our finalists.”
At this point, what would you do if you were this broadcaster?
Read More
When veteran college basketball coach Josh Pastner was a high school senior, he mailed letters to every NCAA Division I basketball coach. He wanted to be a coach and he was looking for a program that would accept him as a player/coach-in-training. He heard back from just a small handful of folks, but one of them was Lute Olson at the University of Arizona. Pastner went to Tucson, spent four years as an end-of-the-bench player, became a graduate assistant, and the rest is history.
A lot of sports broadcasters approach the job market much like Pastner approached looking for a school. They send demos and resumes to countless employers hoping to hear back from someone. What works for aspiring basketball coaches, though, almost never works for sportscasters.
You might be working hard in the sports broadcasting job market, but are you working smart?Read More
In September 2014, The Beast 980 went on the air in Los Angeles. Just 16 months later, it was announced that the station had been sold and the sports format was being dropped.
That sucked.
It sucked for Tom Lee who had just moved to LA 10 months earlier to take over as PD. It sucked for Jeanne Zelasko and Bill Plaschke who had just started their new morning show the previous October. It sucked for Chris Myers and Wes Clements, who had just started hosting an afternoon show the month before. It sucked for Fred Roggin who had moved to PM Drive a few months earlier. It sucked for Sam Farber who had just become the Clippers radio network host that season. It sucked for Pete Arbogast whose AM sports anchoring schedule fit nicely around his gig as voice of USC Trojans football. It sucked for everyone who lost their job, whether they were on or off the air.
Losing a job stinks. What do you do now?
Read More
Peyton Manning played 17 seasons in the NFL. At age 39, he had to work even harder than when he was 29 just to stay in the league. No detail was too small for Manning to overlook.
Experience didn’t guarantee him employment.
As a veteran sportscaster, you have to take the Peyton Manning approach to your sportscasting career.
Having considerable experience doesn’t mean you no longer have to work hard in the job market.
Read More
It is said that sports broadcasting employers need to listen to someone for just 30 seconds to decide if they like that person’s work. Similarly, I can tell within a few minutes of conversation if the person to whom I am speaking is cut out for a career in sports broadcasting.
Anyone who has applied for sports broadcasting jobs has experienced some degree of frustration.
If it makes you feel any better, the things that annoy you are annoying to other people as well.
Here are three common job market frustrations (and how to make the best of them):Read More
When I worked at XTRA Sports 690 in San Diego in the mid-90s, I felt like my career was in neutral. I felt stuck. Years later, I realized I wasn’t stuck. I just didn’t want to leave my hometown.
Is your sportscasting career really stuck?
Many sportscasters think they have been in the same place for longer than they want because they are the victims of circumstance.
Read More
Years ago I played a night of pickup basketball with Danny Ainge. He was the best player on the floor even though he had been retired for decades.
Unfortunately, just because I once played ball with Danny Ainge doesn’t make me an NBA-caliber player.
Many sportscasters regularly make that same kind of inference on their resume. Here’s the problem:
Read More
Last week, I wrote about the Number One Way to Blow a Telephone Job Interview. Today, I share more examples from employers about how NOT to nail the job interview.
When I was a kid, I used to receive a magazine called Highlights. If you are at least 30, you probably remember seeing it in the waiting room at your pediatrician’s office.
Highlights had a feature titled Goofus and Gallant. Goofus was always doing stuff the wrong way, Gallant was doing it the right way. Today’s “yes, this really happened” story is about Goofus and Gallant in the sports broadcasting job market. The examples come from another broadcasting executive.
Read More
Often, the best advice I share on the STAA blog is straight from sports broadcasting employers. In this case, it is about the telephone job interview.
The number one way to blow a phone interview is to not be prepared.
The following comments are from a minor league baseball executive who vented to me about his recent experience in filling a broadcasting position.
Read More