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How to get into radio?

R

radioguyntx

Guest
Hi,
I've been lurking around for a while, but I just thought I'd ask... How exactly do you get into the radio business? I mean I have been interested in radio a long time, and I think it is something I could do, and would enjoy. Any comments, or suggestions greatly appreciated..

RG
 
I'll take the first stab here.

Be prepared to work in ANY format, any shift, any day, any city, any band, any job that will pay cash. Be prepared to work two jobs, or live in poverty. If you're in school, offer to work for free as an intern for class credit to get the feel of the business. LEARN ENGLISH...pay attention to classic literature and take Creative Writing courses. Master grammer (I still haven't...but I get by).

Once you get some time under your belt, put your feelers out for the same in a bigger town, bigger signal. Do it again, Then again. At that point, you can quit your second job.

There's always opportunities to earn some side cash, like recording and loading "on-hold" messages for station's clients. Doing DJ work for parties, clubs, weddings.

Learn Basic Electronics. The FCC Exam Elements 1,2 & 9 aren't required to operate a station anymore, but you should know Ohm's Law to get proper transmitter readings and recognize when something is about to blow. And get familiar with FCC Rules & Regulations about readings, tower light failure procedures, modulation and other basic Federal legal stuff.

Good luck to you. New laws proposed may have thousands of opportunities for entry level personel running stations evenings and overnights. It may only be running Rush Limbaugh rebroadcasts, but it pays the same as "May I take your order please?" Which would be more fun?
 
Well, radioguy, my short answer would be: don't.

OK, having said that, I see why you would want to get in, and they're probably the same reasons I did, and they're fine reasons to want to...sorta.

I don't really have a lot to add to what amfmsw said...sounds like he knows what he's talking about...so no sense in reinventing the wheel, but I what would add is: don't make radio your primary source of income...you'll make a little money, but that's it...a little money. Radio isn't the biz to be in if you want to make a comfortable living (and who doesn't?) unless you're willing to bust your a-double-s in sales, and I mean, bust it, but even then, you'll be under all kinds of pressure to hit numbers, bill, make budget, etc. Sales people, while they can and do make money, are under tremendous pressure.

If sales isn't your thing, dabble in radio part-time only, get your toes wet and have fun, but keep your job (or go for something) in an industry that will make it a lot more worthwhile financially for the time and work you put in. It may not be as "fun" as talking into a microphone and running a board, but there's nothing fun about having to decide which bills you can get away with not paying this month, unless of course, you have an insatiable appetite for bologna sandwiches and ramen and can't get enough of driving an old clunker that barely runs, and believe me, that eclipses any "fun" you might have quick.
 
How to get into radio:

1. Buy a big console radio.
2. Remove back and guts
3. Get inside and start announcing!

Seriously, depending on your area you might want to see if you have a local community station, sometimes located at a college or high school. It's a great way to get familiar with the workings of an actual broadcast operation as well as to discover if you "have it" or not. Of course, I recently met someone who worked at a station and claimed to have great Arbitrons (even though the station was a non-comm) and the guy couldn't announce his way out of a wet paper sack. If you're truly sincere in wanting to put up with the corporate craziness you can probably get yourself into a commercial station as an intern or a board-op running the console for sports programming or remotes. It all depends on how flexible you are and what your long range goals are. Personally, I'm at the point where I would "dabble" in commercial radio part time, preferring to stick to engineering consulting and doing work for the community station that started me in my radio career 33 years ago! I have a very good day job which radio pay will never match.

Whatever you decide, the best of luck to you.
 
lets make this easy!

1) do you have a regional accent...(grow up anywhere except the midwest)...then forget it
2) do you want to play music you like? again...then forget it
3) do you want to take a chance in a field where you have a 1 in ten chance of making it..and earning "real money"? again...forget it...the odds are more like 1 in 1,000
4) can you do 2 or three things at once? again...forget it...unless you can do 8 things at the same time while thinking ahead AND entertaining.

I really hate to kill the dreams of a newbie...but when I started (after six months at a broadcasting school...one of the FEW good ones) I started with a class of 25...of which 4 or 5 had real talent. out of that class and 10 others (a 3 year crop of newbies..totally around 250 people) I was the ONLY ONE still in the business after 5 years, and the only one in twice that many classes to end up in a top 10 market making good $$$$ for several years.

Since then, the amount of available jobs have been slashed thanks to our friends at the FCC, Cumulas and Clear Channel. So even if you stay in the business, you will most likely end up in some small town making peanuts.

STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...there is the chance you could go on and become the new Bubba the Love Sponge......but my advice? gGet a college degree in business, or teaching, or ANYTHING where you can get a real job when you decide you want to feed and raise a family. Hell, machinists make great bucks and are in real demand!

Now....ask if I would still had gone into radio all those years ago if I knew what the chances of making it would be????? YES!!!...But I was GOOD and LUCKY!
 
rickradio said:
Well, radioguy, my short answer would be: don't.
but there's nothing fun about having to decide which bills you can get away with not paying this month, unless of course, you have an insatiable appetite for bologna sandwiches and ramen and can't get enough of driving an old clunker that barely runs, and believe me, that eclipses any "fun" you might have quick.
Click to expand...

That's where I am at now, being paid 6.75/ hr ~30-35 a week, to run a gas station. I hate it, doesn't bring enough money for the time and stress I endure daily.
 
I am more interested in the technical side of things anyways, and yes... I do have a terrible southern "Texan" accent. Good news, though I can cover it up :p
 
That's where I am at now, being paid 6.75/ hr ~30-35 a week, to run a gas station. I hate it, doesn't bring enough money for the time and stress I endure daily.
Click to expand...

Well, radioguy, don't look at radio as your escape hatch...that's simply jumping from the frying pan into the fire...there're lotsa peeps already in the biz looking at escape hatches OUT...that is, those who haven't already been fired. Over on the Sacramento board, Clear Channel has brought the Paul Bunyan tour to town...the ax has been swung at KGBY (Y92.5)...the entire airstaff and format are reportedly to be jettisoned and Y will become KBIG North.

Ruger's got a good idea...go back to school...get a degree of some sort. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Limit your radio activity to part-time dabbling. Start a Part 15 if you can...then, you call all your own shots, and have the fun you're lookin' to have!

Here's another idea: have you considered engineering? If you're bound and determined to get into radio full-time, maybe that'll scratch your itch to work in radio. As long as there's radio, there'll be engineers. Someone's gotta keep studios and transmitter sites humming.
 
If you have rich relatives hit them up for a loan and grab a small twon station and have fun. But remember it is a business so make some money, pay the bills and have fun.
 
Better yet, start an Internet station and do it the exact same way you'd run a traditional (AM/FM) station. Again, you're in control and you can do what you love. And don't listen to the detractors of the medium: if you put the effort into it, including promoting it in the right places, people will listen. That's the future of radio anyway, so you might as well get a good head start on it!
 
Josh C. said:
Better yet, start an Internet station and do it the exact same way you'd run a traditional (AM/FM) station. Again, you're in control and you can do what you love. And don't listen to the detractors of the medium: if you put the effort into it, including promoting it in the right places, people will listen. That's the future of radio anyway, so you might as well get a good head start on it!
Click to expand...

Terrific idea, Josh!!! Except that it'll take some doing also to make money at it (a living, radioguy?), which I think radioguy wants to do too. But worth it!
 
radioguyntx said:
rickradio said:
Well, radioguy, my short answer would be: don't.
but there's nothing fun about having to decide which bills you can get away with not paying this month, unless of course, you have an insatiable appetite for bologna sandwiches and ramen and can't get enough of driving an old clunker that barely runs, and believe me, that eclipses any "fun" you might have quick.
Click to expand...

That's where I am at now, being paid 6.75/ hr ~30-35 a week, to run a gas station. I hate it, doesn't bring enough money for the time and stress I endure daily.
Click to expand...

How much does the owner make? Why do I get the feeling he/she wouldn't disclose their salary if you pressed them?

Radio is the same way. You want to pull an airshift on a Saturday or Sunday somewhere, do it. You want to work full-time in radio, don't do it. You think the gas station stresses you out, wait until you deal with a radio owner who is cheap and/or a liar.
 
I hope radio guy is still checking this thread for responses. Check out http://www.krud.com It will tell you everything you need to know about working in radio. And probably quite a bit that you didn't want to know, but that you do, indeed, need to know if you are going to pursue radio for a career.

The cartoon archives are especially good. I left my last station in west Tennessee because of the situations depicted in "we work for psychopaths" and "the perfect production job."

If station management wouldn't require already overworked, and underpaid full-timers to pull weekend shifts, there would already be more openings for people like radio guy here.
 
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