Just Starting Out!

[TheLittleIntern]

Hello Board,

I'm a collage student and will be interning this fall for one of the stations here in Seattle. I am excited to pursue a career in broadcasting and was hoping those who know more could help with some info and what not. I'm working on a project for a class that spotlights the top stations in each companies portfolio. I know ratings can't be posted so I don't want numbers but if anyone can share what station in order are tops for their respective companies in the market. What are the top station for CBS and who bills the most. Who are top stations for Entercom, iHeart, and Bonneville, etc. My thesis is that it might not be what is perceived by the listening audience and general public and why the disconnect. What stations are under performing and what station are over performing.

Thanks for the help and any advice is always welcome. My friends tell me I need to know how to set up tents and use banner roll as a promo intern but I want to know and learn more!

 

[fordranger797]

I'll leave your detailed questions to the veterans. However, I can tell you (from the perspective of someone who got his start in broadcasting as a promotions intern not long ago) that you can expect to become accustomed to the station vehicle, heavy tents that fly away when the wind blows, and those stretchy cords that hold up your banners

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

Good for you! Attitude is key ... and you are enthusiastic and eager to learn, which any GOOD employer SHOULD want. Unfortunately, in the media biz, not always a case of GOOD employers. It is a fun business, but the (jaded) advice I would offer is you should always remember it is a business that is HEAVY on the ego. Talent has ego because they think it's some sort of sibling to being a movie star (radio OR TV); management has ego because they think they are setting the world on fire and the staff is beating through a line to be the first to shine their shoes every morning. Obviously, neither of those are true ... but they sure get in the way of decision-making and the way other people are treated.

On the other hand, you can easily come across some serious veterans who remember THEIR early steps, and keep that in mind when they are treating other people well. Alan Budwill (STAR) is one who comes to mind as a person who has every right to be annoying; but is completely the opposite -- genuinely respectful of everyone else in the game!

Billing and ratings rankings are very subjective as to what they mean. Both are tools that sales people might use to "make a case" for their station; but ultimately the real connections are (1) Does the station reach the target audience it wants and does that relationship develop loyalty to KEEP that audience; (2) Can the sales team make a good case that investing in the station (or market cluster) is a good investment that will yield the results the advertiser would want. In both cases, there are people who don't get it and try to reverse-engineer .... in the programming case they try to predict how PPM will be read, how this-or-that will make a difference; but rarely does the audience REALLY notice those things. In the sales case, the reverse engineering is "how are we going to make our target number" and it's all about stuffing revenue into the bank with little concern for the effectiveness of a campaign or promotion. But in both cases, some management will salivate over the fact those efforts are being made.

I get slammed on this forum all the time ... but I stand by my belief that if you really CARE about your audience and your advertisers and do well by them, the rest will take care of itself. In the end, only ONE station will be "Number One"; so that leaves dozens of signals who are NOT. All of them might be better served to just focus on being a viable business....as making a profit is a "win" than many, many stations are not going to do.

You are welcome to message me if you want any more information, or an ongoing dialogue as your "collage" (might want to check that!!!) experience unfolds. You didn't mention which college is home ... but for ANY of them I recommend making sure you have a broad coverage in your education. Just doing a degree in "Broadcasting" will likely be very dated in the years to come. Communications, as a whole, is an important field and will be unfolding online more than any other venue. Knowledge of subject matter (e.g. Political Science, Economics, etc.) also makes for a specialty that should make you attractive in the journalism world.

Good luck!

 

[airchair]

I hope your career goals in broadcasting is on the Sales side and not the Programming side. If it IS the programming side, I hope somebody has spoken with you, and made you aware of the way it can be. Spend time in your internship looking, watching, listening, learning what direction you'd like to go. There's a lot more than what people think the industry is. Pay attention. Programming can be brutal. Although, rewarding, if you get lucky, work hard, and sacrifice. A lot of sacrificing. I wish you the best and hope you'll update this board with what you see from a "fresh point of view." Some of us have been doing this so long we're blind to the "norm." Would be interesting to read how you perceive the industry. Good luck.

 

[b-turner]

There is much that can be said pro and con about a career in radio. Some facts: There are more that had been in radio than are in radio. In other words many have been in radio but few stayed.

People will talk about how terrible the business is but really business is business and it happens everywhere.

Radio is business and to be successful in radio that means the ability to fill as many shoes as you can inside the radio station. You should know how to do sales if needed, research, write copy, produce spots, program and be on the air. Simply put, the more you can do, the better the chances a station can find a place for you and the more valuable you will be.

Enjoy that passion of radio and take an attitude of making it at all costs. At some point someone will see your passion and appreciate it. Above all, ask questions to the point of being a nuisance if you need to in order to learn more. You'll discover so much more than a degree can teach. In fact you can apply that knowledge to the real working world of radio. Some will treat you unfairly but others will elevate you. Realize, just like other businesses, the winners are those that help you succeed. Those who treat you badly, well perhaps they see too much ambition and passion in you and see you as a threat. Just do your job and keep trying to do more. It will pay off. Even a bad situation is a chance for education and in radio that education never stops.

 

[Rob Piotrowski]

Hello Board,
What are the top station for CBS and who bills the most. Who are top stations for Entercom, iHeart, and Bonneville, etc. My thesis is that it might not be what is perceived by the listening audience and general public and why the disconnect. What stations are under performing and what station are over performing.

Billing info was posted here: http://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?687947-June-Ratings&p=6056577&viewfull=1#post6056577

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As for over/under performing - I don't think there's a GM anywhere who thinks their stations are "overperforming", and most think they "underperform".

And regarding career advice - the others nailed it well. IIWM in college today I'd really think hard about whether I want to pursue a career in an industry that has reduced employment year after year.

 

[TheBigA]

IIWM in college today I'd really think hard about whether I want to pursue a career in an industry that has reduced employment year after year.

That doesn't leave a lot of options. Even teachers and doctors get laid off.

Radio doesn't need more employees...radio needs leaders and people who can see the future. When I was a student, I was motivated by that challenge: To take an industry that's mature and reinvent it for the future.

 

[Rob Piotrowski]

That doesn't leave a lot of options. Even teachers and doctors get laid off.

Even in its salad days the number of people employed in radio dwarfed the number of teachers and doctors, so your argument is invalid right from the start. And the percentage of industry jobs lost since Telecom '96 is likely much higher than in the education and medical fields.

Having said that, reinvention of radio would be wonderful. I just don't have faith that those who could make it happen, will.

 

[TheBigA]

And the percentage of industry jobs lost since Telecom '96 is likely much higher than in the education and medical fields.

I wasn't attempting to say they're equal, just to say there's no such thing as a guaranteed career. I could have used musicians instead of teachers & doctors. The percentage of musicians who actually get recording contracts doesn't dissuade people from competing on the numerous reality shows. Nor should it. Sure there's a risk, and for some, that's the attraction.

You bring up Telecom 96, and actually since then, even the FCC has been cutting back its own staff. My advice is if a young person has an interest in a field, they're more likely to find work in it despite the hardships, low pay, and potential cutbacks. As my father said to me when I started in radio: If you do something you enjoy, you'll never work a day in your life. He was right.

 

[b-turner]

A few Psychology classes might be a nice idea. Radio is much to do with people, how they think and act. The better you can understand people, the better you can program, sell and manage. A business class or two might be a nice idea too, especially those that involve the nuts and bolts of running a business as well as marketing.

 

[davideduardo]

A few Psychology classes might be a nice idea. Radio is much to do with people, how they think and act. The better you can understand people, the better you can program, sell and manage. A business class or two might be a nice idea too, especially those that involve the nuts and bolts of running a business as well as marketing.

Good suggestions.

I did something similar. As I dropped out of high school in my junior year to put my first radio station on the air, I did not go directly to college; I had 10 years of experience as an owner and manager before I started college.

I majored in advertising, which let me take sociology, cultural anthropology and psychology in the social science area, advertising and marketing in the major, and accounting, business law, finance and management in the business school as well as math and electronics/electrical engineering and computer sciences.

I took only one communications course, broadcast management. My paper on a hypothetical radio station turn-around got a poor grade. A year later, I implemented it in a Top 15 market situation and went to #1 in 18-49 women in one book. That only confirmed my feeling about much of what is taught, then and now, in communications major's classes.

 

[fordranger797]

In addition to what others have stated, you should take it as a compliment if people you meet in the radio business feel threatened by you. If this is the case, you are most certainly doing something right (even if the only thing you do is show up for work with a positive attitude). It goes a long way.