It was almost midnight when I unlocked the door to the gym carrying a sleeping bag, alarm clock and tooth brush. I walked towards the back of the gym and into the short hallway that led to the men’s locker room. That is where I rolled out the sleeping bag — where I would be out of the sight of the security guard who patrolled the strip mall at night. I set the alarm for 5:45 am.
For many, sports broadcasting is a part-time pursuit — at least while they are building their careers. That was the case for me in the Spring of 1994. I was a sports update anchor and talk show host at XTRA Sports 690 in San Diego. To make ends meet, I had kept several other jobs, including fitness trainer at a gym. On this particular night, my radio station shift ended at 11:30 and I had to open the gym the next morning at 6. Sleeping at the gym afforded me an extra 45 minutes of sleep.
Other part-time jobs I took on while building my sportscasting career included coaching high school basketball, working at a car wash and cleaning carpets at Target stores overnight. The work wasn’t always my favorite but it always fit around my radio station hours.
Here at STAA, our Web Content Manager Melodie and I were recently wondering about the following question:
What careers or part-time jobs have you found that work well with broadcasting gigs?
We posed the question on Twitter and the replies were as interesting as they were varied. You can see some of them in the slideshow below.
If you’ve ever had an interesting or unusual side job, tell us about it in the comments or click here to tweet your response.
2 Comments. Leave new
I’ve always done sales along with broadcasting. However, my first job was basically a scratch list which basically meant I made no money until I built sales to a certain point. During this time I was a night/weekend checker for the local liquor store. didn’t even get a discount! I also helped a DJ company run music at local bars.
I have a hard time seeing you selling beer and Mad Dog! I also helped a guy DJ. He was doing parties when I was in college. I thought it would help me with the girls but it didn’t, haha. Must have been playing the wrong songs.