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Broadcast Schools

F

firecop947

Guest
Why don't we start a topic on broadcast schools. I was looking at allaccess.com and noticed that a lot of folks looking for work were broadcast school graduates. Are you or do you work with someone who is a product of broadcast school? Allen and I as well as many other folks on this board can relate. We both are from the old Lenoir Community College broadcasting program. In fact I was the last teacher they had before they canned the program in 1994.

We might want to expand on broadcasting school memories too.

Kris
 
I was already doing radio when I went to LCC but I learned so much from Jim Kelso.I wouldn't trade it for anything.Today I don't think we are properly training kids for what they will face.Beasley has a good intern program and the kids learn
about everything from air to sales to traffic to promotions and they come out with a better understanding of how it works as a whole...

Allen
 
I am a grad and former instructor from the old Columbia School of Broadcasting in Indianapolis (no longer in operation) and I was specifically in the announcing program. In retrospect, I wish I had chosen a school that would have given me a broader education, ie., sales, engineering, promotions, etc.
 
Hi guys, let me preface what I'm about to post by saying that there are a few broadcast schools that are legit and offer a "real world" broadcast curriculum...but not many. I'm not familiar with the names of many of them, so I'm not sure whether LCC is the one I'm about to mention, but...there was a guy I used to work for in Fayetteville(actually Laurinburg) when I got out of the Army on 1992. His name is Alan Hoover. As I understand it, he was an honors graduate from a particular broadcast school in NC (for the life of me, I cannot remember its name) and I have never heard a negative word about it at all. I believe that one is legit. And as I said, there are a few that are. However, by and large, broadcast schools are a rip off. Many are run by non-broadcasters, most are staffed by frustrated djs and unemployed programmers...and far and away most teach broadcast theory instead of "real world" applications. If you are in radio right now, you know that this is a subtle yet important difference. A lot of broadcast theory just isn't feasible in a real day-to-day broadcast facility. Anyone who has had to be PSA director, music director, on-air personality and salesman all at the same time will know what I am talking about. Broadcast theory usually is rigid, clear cut and nonmalleable. "Real world" application is seldom clear cut and it has to be flexible and adaptable to the demands of the broadcast employer and the community he or she serves.

Having said that, attending a good liberal arts school and working parttime at a local radio station is usually a better and more pragmatic way to learn radio...plus you get paid instead of the other way around.

Not trying to piss anyone off or hurt anyone's feelings, but it's the truth and you guys have always seemed to deal in the truth on this particular board.

My two cents. ;)
 
Scott said:
My two cents. ;)
Click to expand...

I think what you said is worth more than 2 cents...if I could go back 27 years and do it all over again, I would have accepted the academic scholarship that was offered to me by a 4-year university with an outstanding Radio/TV program.
 
Great points guys.About 80% of the people I was in with had no intention of making radio a career.They thought it was an easy A and all you did was play music.

Allen
 
I never went to any braodcasting school. In many ways I wish I did I might have a better (and full-time) job in radio today. That said, radio isn't rocket science and learning on the job is really more of a requirement than going to any school, but a rounded (theory and OJT) should be how it is taught and not all theory. You have to understand how things work but at the same time you need the hands on part to grasp the day-to-day neuances of the job that a textbook could never teach.
 
The one thing you need to take in school for radio is a course in human behavior
and how to deal with people.That is the most important thing you do in any line of work in my opinion.It doesn't matter how much you know if you can't apply it
when dealing with people you won't succeed...

Allen
 
Scott, I worked with Allan Hoover when we both were in Havelock, NC. He was a good guy and great jock. I think the school you are refering to is Central Carolina Community College in Sanford. At the time, they had a good broadcast program that I think Allan was a product of. Over the years I look back and think God about my time at LCC. Jim Kelso was a great teacher! He loved radio and everything about it.

I remember ECU having a campus station, WZMB? Allen Vick were you not there as well?

Good comments from all!

Kris
 
ECU still has WZMB... it's located in Mendenhall student union. It's not run by a broadcasting program though -- any student can apply for a position and get in.
 
I was there very and I mean very briefly.All I passed was Bud Light and Susan 101.Sneaking in and out of Tyler Dorm at 4 in the morning was fun....

Allen
 
I'm not a regular on this board...just happened across this topic and thought I'd throw in my two cents. I went to UT (Tennessee) as a Broadcasting major. I was very disappointed to learn that they didn't really care too much about radio. I learned just about every job that I could possibly do in a TV studio, but I had to take a job at the campus station to learn radio.
THAT is what helped me get a full-time gig after graduation.
 
I tend to agree with Scott on this one.. While it was was back in the 80's, I took the get a liberal arts college degree and work part time at a radio station route.. and it worked out pretty well... I learned a heck of a lot about the business and even made some pocket change to boot. Not to be critical of broadcast schools which I'm not familiar with, or universities or CC's with broadcast, I'm just stating my own experience. The sad reality today is that with consolidation most of the PT gigs that would fit in the category have been wiped way by automation, voice tracking or stations just going dark !!!
 
SoCentralChik1 said:
I'm not a regular on this board...just happened across this topic and thought I'd throw in my two cents. I went to UT (Tennessee) as a Broadcasting major. I was very disappointed to learn that they didn't really care too much about radio. I learned just about every job that I could possibly do in a TV studio, but I had to take a job at the campus station to learn radio.
THAT is what helped me get a full-time gig after graduation.
Click to expand...

Maybe they were trying to tell you that in order to be able to pay back your student loan, TV was a better financial option than radio!
 
While a broadcast school may teach you how to operate some basic radio equipment, what it can't teach you is a love for current events and pop culture. In order to really be successful in radio, you have to have a full understanding of your target audience and know what they are into.

While there have been some successes coming from broadcast schools, most of them are on to other things today and few have had one of the great jobs in radio.

Those who have suggested a good liberal arts college are right on target unless you want a TV job. Best college preparation for a job in radio would be courses in business, psychology, political science, creative writing, computer sciences, and statistical analysis - not necessarily in that order.

Get a part time job while in school and start paying your dues early.
 
Great topic! Right out of broadcasting school, I was told by my first PD that he would have hired me without a degree. Then again, I have met other PD's that say a degree shows that a person is serious about the industry. Either way, I learned absolutely nothing about the real world of radio at the school I attended, and it showed when I landed my first gig but I caught on quick. Still paying on my student load too. Don't mind paying due to the fact that I'm actually working in the industry where a lot of my former classmates have gone back to what they were doing before they attended broadcasting school simply because they can't find a gig in radio.
 
IBDO said:
Great topic! Right out of broadcasting school, I was told by my first PD that he would have hired me without a degree. Then again, I have met other PD's that say a degree shows that a person is serious about the industry. Either way, I learned absolutely nothing about the real world of radio at the school I attended, and it showed when I landed my first gig but I caught on quick. Still paying on my student load too. Don't mind paying due to the fact that I'm actually working in the industry where a lot of my former classmates have gone back to what they were doing before they attended broadcasting school simply because they can't find a gig in radio.
Click to expand...

Those students "loads" have caused some trouble over the years.That is funny IBDO...

Allen
 
IBDO said:
have met other PD's that say a degree shows that a person is serious about the industry.
Click to expand...

Radio is like any other business - some people look for a degree, some don't.

IMHO, a degree (any degree) shows that a person can follow instructions from idiosyncratic professors who take points off if your name is in the right place on a paper, or you typed on the wrong side of the paper (like the back). Not that following the rules is unimportant, but the piece of paper shows little about one's abilities in the chosen field.

Most radio companies put a degree requirement on their job postings, but truth is if they run across a talented individual, they will make the exception!

One other observation about jobs in radio - most of the really good jobs go to people who know someone on the insude (the PD, a consultant, a GM from a previous life, etc.). The lesson is sometimes you have to take a job just to get known.
 
allenv said:
I was already doing radio when I went to LCC but I learned so much from Jim Kelso.I wouldn't trade it for anything.Today I don't think we are properly training kids for what they will face.Beasley has a good intern program and the kids learn
about everything from air to sales to traffic to promotions and they come out with a better understanding of how it works as a whole...

Allen
Click to expand...

Jim Kelso was a true professional who loved the art of radio. I first met Jim in the mid-1970s, when he was working for WBBS, a daytimer AM in Jacksonville, NC. Jim and I kept in touch on a casual basis, and at some point, he left Jacksonville and moved up to Kinston and joined LCC. A few years before he and Charlotte moved to Kinston, I had moved to Greenville.

I am making a guess that this may have been about the time WBBS closed. At one point, WBBS was owned by an FBI agent who lived in Jacksonville.

Jim and I did a bit of exploring on the old East Carolina Railway, driving and flying over the area, and I did a road trip with him up to Brevard area to help him move his daughter, Kathy. Jimn was a real gentlmean. He passed away in 2005.

http://www.kinston.com/news/funeral-16487-edwards-kelso.html
 
It's not who you know, but who knows you. I've rec'd calls from PD's and consultants that I've never met/talked to before.. but my name was passed around by those they respect and voila', I would get a call. Once I was offered a gig after a PD passing thru the market heard me do a break...another offer came from a PD passing through who heard me on a spot. Both offers didn't work out.. but you never know who's listening.
 
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