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What’s the best way for college students or others to get into broadcasting?
- Thread starter Cobra14
- Start date
Depends on what they want to do in broadcasting, In front of the mic, behind the mic, reporting. Look at the programs at KNHC, Green River community college, U.W. and W.S.U.
If they are already in college look at what communication, social or visual media programs they have. Bellingham has some media and communication programs.
Stations looking for entry level board operators frequently ping KNHC and Green River. I have seen entry level younger adults with social media or communication skills work there way into show producers and On Air segments.
To build on Voice tracking skills I would look at KNHC and Green River.
Just some thoughts.
If they are already in college look at what communication, social or visual media programs they have. Bellingham has some media and communication programs.
Stations looking for entry level board operators frequently ping KNHC and Green River. I have seen entry level younger adults with social media or communication skills work there way into show producers and On Air segments.
To build on Voice tracking skills I would look at KNHC and Green River.
Just some thoughts.
Unfortunately, the days of most every OTA radio station being live and local 24/7 and the ability to start at an on-campus station at college and find steady, full-time work with decent pay in Broadcasting after graduation, or getting an internship at a station, making contacts, proving yourself and parlaying that into a long-lasting career, are decades in the rearview mirror for most, with few exceptions. The media and entertainment landscapes as a whole have changed greatly, especially in the last few decades, and will continue to evolve. While you should most definitely consider joining the station at your college if it's offered and if that's something that interests you, do know that, if you wish to enter that industry professionally, you'll likely find that "broadcasting" is a competitive industry that can be difficult unless you're really willing to bust your butt and even consider taking on side work. As with industries like acting, music, modeling and the like, it's a situation where a select few get really high profile gigs and really make a lot of money doing it. Others are lucky to find themselves making a comfortable living doing what they enjoy, but for every one in that situation, there are tons of others who have a harder time making it. I wish you luck if it's something you really want to try your hand at, but there are also some stark realities.
Have them look into TV sports broadcasting rather than college radio. A career voicetracking for iHeart? IF they are lucky?
At least with all of the college networks, ESPN, and RSNs, there are plenty of opportunities to work behind-the-scenes or even in front of the camera. Some high schools even have broadcasting/video production clubs where they can start to gain experience locally. Anacortes has done that for several years, and I have a friend who graduated from there - he would often operate cameras for the NFHS sports streams (they used 3-4 cameras including I believe one or more handheld/roamers).
Somehow, KASB/89.9 Bellevue keeps surviving the impossible, on the other hand...but Bellevue High School also has (had?) a TV broadcasting club/class as well. I heard a couple of high school stations on my Montana road trip - KUBS-FM 91.5 Newport WA does pretty well. Announcers are all HS volunteers and they play country music (unusual for an HS station). KTGC-LP 101.3 in St. Regis, MT had low audio and the ID popped right in the middle of the song - it seemed to be rock and alternative, but I was just passing through and making a gas stop at the Travel Center.
At least with all of the college networks, ESPN, and RSNs, there are plenty of opportunities to work behind-the-scenes or even in front of the camera. Some high schools even have broadcasting/video production clubs where they can start to gain experience locally. Anacortes has done that for several years, and I have a friend who graduated from there - he would often operate cameras for the NFHS sports streams (they used 3-4 cameras including I believe one or more handheld/roamers).
Somehow, KASB/89.9 Bellevue keeps surviving the impossible, on the other hand...but Bellevue High School also has (had?) a TV broadcasting club/class as well. I heard a couple of high school stations on my Montana road trip - KUBS-FM 91.5 Newport WA does pretty well. Announcers are all HS volunteers and they play country music (unusual for an HS station). KTGC-LP 101.3 in St. Regis, MT had low audio and the ID popped right in the middle of the song - it seemed to be rock and alternative, but I was just passing through and making a gas stop at the Travel Center.
Just don't try to use the campus wi-fi
I would not, in any capacity, use education as a pathway to a broadcasting career. Careers in broadcasting are already touch and go at best, and if you’re going to invest in your education, you may as well spend the money on something with a brighter future.
I never set foot in any broadcasting school. Instead, I worked with a small market radio station that let me come in (knowing nothing) and learn everything on the job. I was lucky enough to meet some people with many years of experience in the industry who showed me how radio should be done. I feel like I learned far more from that experience compared to what I could have learned in a classroom. I was terrible at it initially, but I volunteered my time for a while and tried to learn everything I could. I also got to spend way more time practicing than someone in broadcasting school would (where you have to share airtime with so many other people).
In my personal opinion, I don’t think broadcasting school makes someone a better broadcaster or gives them a leg up over anybody else. I’ve seen plenty of examples of people who graduated from broadcasting school who don’t seem qualified at all to be on the air. If I’m ever crazy enough to try and get back into radio, I don’t think having a broadcasting degree (or lack thereof) is going to impact me in the slightest. Rather, they’ll want to see that I’m capable of delivering a show and want clear evidence that I can do it. Fortunately for me, it’s a skill that I didn’t have to pay for (other than the time out of my day to practice).
I never set foot in any broadcasting school. Instead, I worked with a small market radio station that let me come in (knowing nothing) and learn everything on the job. I was lucky enough to meet some people with many years of experience in the industry who showed me how radio should be done. I feel like I learned far more from that experience compared to what I could have learned in a classroom. I was terrible at it initially, but I volunteered my time for a while and tried to learn everything I could. I also got to spend way more time practicing than someone in broadcasting school would (where you have to share airtime with so many other people).
In my personal opinion, I don’t think broadcasting school makes someone a better broadcaster or gives them a leg up over anybody else. I’ve seen plenty of examples of people who graduated from broadcasting school who don’t seem qualified at all to be on the air. If I’m ever crazy enough to try and get back into radio, I don’t think having a broadcasting degree (or lack thereof) is going to impact me in the slightest. Rather, they’ll want to see that I’m capable of delivering a show and want clear evidence that I can do it. Fortunately for me, it’s a skill that I didn’t have to pay for (other than the time out of my day to practice).
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I agree entirely. I had never completed High School, and went directly into station management and ownership at age 18. I ran stations until I was in my mid-20's when I became a consultant... giving me free time to go to college.
I took basic business and marketing combined with sociology, psychology and cultural anthropology. That gave me some depth that just running a day to day operation of a group of stations could not provide. I did not study media or broadcasting.
Labor laws make hanging around a station difficult today. Before going into ownership, I had worked part-time as a go-fer, but it is hard to "hang around" and internships are restrictive and usually require a university supervision.
With so many stations fully automated and using program services, there is little depth of staff locally, and larger stations have severe liability and HR restriction on off-the-street part timers.
My wife went to the historic Don Martin school in Hollywood, and her course was very complete based on what she has detailed to me. But they told he she was unlikely to have a successful career...
... she became a TV morning news anchor in LA and was mid-day jock on several important stations, including 50 kw KTNQ. Later, she was creator of, PD of and midday host on the LA-Based Recuerdo Network of major market Spanish adult hits stations.
I mention that because not all courses understand the job market nor do they provide much employment help. With the change from "radio" to multi-faceted radio, streaming and podcast situations, few industry veterans help in understanding the new media environment.
It's more than a show today... it is integrating live radio with streaming, added features and even podcasts. And it requires offering some kind of special personality or knowledge that makes you stand out from thousands of stations and streams.
As an aside, does anyone here recall the former "Columbia School of Broadcasting"? I looked them up (see link below) and it appears they had several locations, all of which closed in the late 1980s - early 1990s, but I remember seeing their commercials a fair amount as a kid, always on second-rate UHF stations, trying to sell people on how they could teach them to have a successful future in the "exciting career of radio broadcasting". If recall correctly, at least part of it was a correspondence course. I knew one person older than me who went there. She ended up getting a part-time gig at a Top40 station after graduation (her dad also pulled some strings to get her the job) and after floundering for several months, she left that to become a bartender which speaks volumes. One of my first PDs had visited one of their facilities and said the equipment and systems they were training on were older and not in great condition, the "faculty" weren't the best and they were charging a lot of $$ vs. what students actually got from the program.
Columbia School Of Broadcasting Home Study 19 Campuses Closing Information
Columbia School Of Broadcasting Home Study 19 Campuses have been closed and no longer accept new applications.
www.collegeevaluator.com
Not affiliated with CBS. (WKRP spoofed their commercials with "The Mike Wallace School of Broadcasting. Not affiliated with the guy on 60 Minutes")As an aside, does anyone here recall the former "Columbia School of Broadcasting"? I looked them up (see link below) and it appears they had several locations, all of which closed in the late 1980s - early 1990s, but I remember seeing their commercials a fair amount as a kid, always on second-rate UHF stations, trying to sell people on how they could teach them to have a successful future in the "exciting career of radio broadcasting". If recall correctly, at least part of it was a correspondence course. I knew one person older than me who went there. She ended up getting a part-time gig at a Top40 station after graduation (her dad also pulled some strings to get her the job) and after floundering for several months, she left that to become a bartender which speaks volumes. One of my first PDs had visited one of their facilities and said the equipment and systems they were training on were older and not in great condition, the "faculty" weren't the best and they were charging a lot of $$ vs. what students actually got from the program.
Columbia School Of Broadcasting Home Study 19 Campuses Closing Information
Columbia School Of Broadcasting Home Study 19 Campuses have been closed and no longer accept new applications.
This is some of the best free education you can get. Pat Holiday has been a PD, GM and consultant and has put together this "How To Be A Program Director" series. I'd suggest watching all.
Since the 1980s I have suggested anyone seeking a career in radio intending on getting a college education to select a non-broadcast degree. Among the lines of study I suggested were the study of human behavior and business. I figured the better you understand people or the better you understand business (assuming you might want to enter ownership or eventually management) the more valuable you could be. Plus, it gives you a second career option if radio is not paying the bills. A friend in major market radio that worked many stations told me you either have something else other than radio or you simply 'grow up and get a real job' when your family requires you to do so. He became a dispatcher at the Dallas Police Department and worked weekends at various stations simply for the love of radio.
I am not trying to discourage but you should know the pay is generally poor and the stability is not there. Nobody would put up with this if they didn't love what they do. Maybe you'll be fortunate enough for an owner to see your love of the business and your ability to make them money.
Finally, the day you quit learning, it's time to quit the business.
I am not trying to discourage but you should know the pay is generally poor and the stability is not there. Nobody would put up with this if they didn't love what they do. Maybe you'll be fortunate enough for an owner to see your love of the business and your ability to make them money.
Finally, the day you quit learning, it's time to quit the business.
You are correct, it’s not easy to volunteer your time in this current day and age. However, I found a trick to make it work (and this wasn’t even that long ago; we’re talking 2013 or so). The radio station I wanted to work with told me that you have to get permission from a school professor to demonstrate that working there (in a formal internship capacity) will benefit your studies. Luckily, I just happened to be taking a music course at the time at my local community college, and got the professor to sign off on the form.
I’m not entirely sure if I was supposed to be in a formal classroom setting or not to participate in the internship, but the professor thought it would be okay. He realized that I really wanted to do it, and didn’t want to deny me the opportunity to try it out. After I received the form, I was able to do the internship without any problems. It’s a sharp contrast to an internship I completed more recently for my masters degree, where there were a ton of rules I had to follow.
As for the level of skill, I think it depends on the school. A reputable school should be able to help you gain enough skill to be decent at the job. I’ve seen graduates from reputable schools who are downright awful, and I’ve seen people who never went to broadcasting school who are amazing. The university I attended for my undergraduate degree had a student radio station. While we didn’t have a formal broadcasting program at my school, many students treated it as a pseudo major. The unfortunate part is that most of the students working there were receiving terrible information on how to be an effective host. They had virtually no university staff members with any professional experience, and other students were dictating what is “good” and “bad.”
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Unless it gets banned nationally. Besides, as a substitute teacher, (hopefully this fall) turned full-time elementary teacher, TikTok is a terrible influence on children, and lax parenting isn't helping either. Saw a NYT survey somewhere that said the average tween is spending 2 hours on TikTok and almost 2 on Instagram/YouTube. The challenges that ask them to destroy school bathrooms or put a paper bag over a random stranger at the grocery store? Whatever happened to, I don't know, creativity and love of learning? Rant over.
Anyways, church volunteering is another option to get into broadcasting. My church here in eastern WA has a healthy rotation of video camera/sound/light volunteers for Sunday services (IMAG/projectors) and live stream, most under 25. We even have a 6th grader who runs cameras on a (usually) monthly basis. He's the younger brother of another camera operator and he loves the challenge. And one of the other teens got a friend (who recently became a Christian) to try out A/V. It helps that Blackmagic cameras are pretty affordable for churches or even TV operations. Our three cameras also have direct push-to-talk options for headsets. We don't need to buy belt packs (saves the church more money!)
I worked briefly at a broadcasting school in the late 80s. The institution largely existed to harvest as many government guaranteed student loans/grants as possible. Once the winds of change hit those loan/grant programs, pretty much all of the broadcasting schools went away.
We bragged about a "90% placement rate" but placement included getting someone a free gig handing out bumper stickers. Our honest placement rate was much much lower. The admin of the place used to privately say that the 5% of the students who actually had the talent to succeed didn't need us, and that the other 95% didn't either as they were going to be off to another trade school/ grant harvesting facility in six months anyway.
We bragged about a "90% placement rate" but placement included getting someone a free gig handing out bumper stickers. Our honest placement rate was much much lower. The admin of the place used to privately say that the 5% of the students who actually had the talent to succeed didn't need us, and that the other 95% didn't either as they were going to be off to another trade school/ grant harvesting facility in six months anyway.
It was a different one, but similar. And the paycheck lotto was real, for sure.
I don't think there's a program at KVTI anymore. I remember picking up that station at my aunt's house in 2008 and deciding that that's where I wanted to go to college. I was also considering University of Puget Sound, but really wanted to be at KVTI because that's a station that I would actually listen to outside of my time at the station as it was doing CHR. By the time I was ready to apply though, the station had gone NWPR, and I learned that they were no longer offering broadcasting classes. I wound up at Edmonds College doing computer support, and eventually Clark, where I'm in the final stages of a CP in web development. I hear the company that makes Pro Tools is interested in improving the accessibility of their products, so that's where I'm going to try and apply.
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