Renda Broadcasting of Indiana Seeking News Director

[kenhawk1160]

This is how the ad reads on the Radio PA website. They're a good group to work for, if you work hard and aren't a slacker:

Renda Broadcasting of Indiana, Pennsylvania is looking for our next full-time News Director for four station cluster. Stations serve greater Indiana County, PA region. We are searching for an ambitious person with experience in gathering, writing, and airing newscasts. Qualified candidates know that news is more than just crime and politics, and furthermore realize the importance of local news in a small market setting. You will be expected to cover live and recorded newscasts, execute assignments to reporters/news stringers, and cover news making events. You will be the radio news source for the rural communities we cover. Candidates must embrace the internet as an essential extension of the news department and work to implement custom content for our websites in harmony with webmaster and programming team members. Skills needed include editing, writing, production, proficiency in computers and electronic newsgathering in what can be a high pressure deadline sensitive environment. Rush your resume and demo (if available) to: Renda Broadcasting of Indiana; Atn: Jim DeCesare, Operations Manager; 840 Philadelphia Street, Suite 100; Indiana, PA 15701 or email [email protected] and [email protected] EOE

 

[FreddyE1977]

very refreshing to read that such a thing still exists

 

[kenhawk1160]

very refreshing to read that such a thing still exists

Unfortunately, what doesn't exist is the caliber of employee needed to do this kind of job. It used to be that people were falling all over each other trying to get into the business. Now the business model has changed and while the salaries are going up, so is the amount of work involved. And people don't want to work...anywhere.

 

[Snafu]

Sounds like an $18,000-20,000 a year job that could eat up 80 hours a week if you let it. Jobs like this used to be great proving grounds for young talent working their way up the ladder. Right now there is no ladder to climb. I can think of at least a half dozen interns I've had over the last five years who would be perfect for this except for the fact they are all making better money in more stable operations elsewhere.

 

[kenhawk1160]

Sounds like an $18,000-20,000 a year job that could eat up 80 hours a week if you let it. Jobs like this used to be great proving grounds for young talent working their way up the ladder. Right now there is no ladder to climb. I can think of at least a half dozen interns I've had over the last five years who would be perfect for this except for the fact they are all making better money in more stable operations elsewhere.

Not quite, snafu. I worked for these people for five years, and the only reason I'm not there now is because I got married and had to be closer to my wife's job. They're a good outfit. I won't go into details about salary, but you're way off base with what you purport it to be.

 

[FreddyE1977]

very refreshing to read that such a thing still exists

Unfortunately, what doesn't exist is the caliber of employee needed to do this kind of job. It used to be that people were falling all over each other trying to get into the business. Now the business model has changed and while the salaries are going up, so is the amount of work involved. And people don't want to work...anywhere.

I work in HR now and in general I agree with you.

 

[Boss Radio]

"And people don't want to work...anywhere."

Find that a bit hard to believe.

 

[Parttimer]

I think what he meant was that a lot of people want jobs, but actually having to work while they are there is another story.

I don't know that this is the case so much in Western PA but let me tell you for the 13 years I spent in Florida it's pretty on-target. I could write a book.

 

[Boss Radio]

I think what he meant was that a lot of people want jobs, but actually having to work while they are there is another story.

I don't know that this is the case so much in Western PA but let me tell you for the 13 years I spent in Florida it's pretty on-target. I could write a book.

Florida is the ultimate Jimmy Buffet land. A lot of people have jobs only so they can raise enough money for beer and smokes. I've encountered more than a few ambitious young people here who are lusting for a chance to break into the business and do something hands-on and challenging.

 

[kenhawk1160]

I think what he meant was that a lot of people want jobs, but actually having to work while they are there is another story.

That's exactly what I mean, Parttimer. They want the paycheck, but all they're willing to do is sit in a 10 x 10 room for four
or five hours a day and ego-trip between records in exchange for it. You ask them to do production, board-op, remotes, assistance at a station
event, and it's like asking them for their spare kidney.

I usually speak at schools and career fairs and generally people approach me with some degree of excitement over this profession. When they find
out all the behind-the-scenes work that is often requested of talent, they lose interest. They think it's a lazy man's job. NOT SO!!!

Well, at least not anymore.

 

[PBRTV]

Ken, I'm with you on this. I was one of those kids with the intentions of ego-tripping back in the day. Trouble is, some of the airstaff used to let me do it as an intern. I look back on that in my minds eye today and think to myself, "I had no business whatsoever in doing that." But at the same time, they knew what they were doing and I didn't look like a complete Arse. Of course I earned a lot of that airtime by doing what I was asked to do - not to mention being somewhat of a nice guy...and doing my best to fit in.

What the young people need to realize though, is this. There's still plenty of room for creativity and such off the air. I was given the opportunity to write news during my internship and often times I heard it being read word for word on the air. Listeners really didn't know who wrote it, but I did! And it was a moment of personal gratification because of all I went through to learn how to properly write a story - news or otherwise. The remote broadcasts were an opportunity to interact with the public. Another important aspect of the biz. Lots of fun to see the people race to you because you were offering prizes.

Growing up has helped. And I've certainly had the aid of some low-watt stations and working alongside some great air talent. I'm still not the best, but I'm better than I was.

 

[kenhawk1160]

Good for you, Eric. Great attitude. Those are the people who truly make it in this business. Talk to any of the "stalwarts" in the biz who have been in it for 40 years or more. They'll tell you of how they had to sell airtime in addition to on-air shifts, empty the trash, and sometimes even answer the front office phone. Those people worked!

For me personally, the "artistic need to breathe" usually comes with commercials. As a rule, news people generally don't do spots, largely because of that unwritten rule that says doing so will undermine your credibility. Thus, I'm restricted to character voices. I'm the 'go-to' guy when you need a foreign accent, celebrity impersonation, that kind of thing.

I remember keeping this one kid's ego in check when he complained about having to board-op a high school football game. He'd been "in the business" full-time for less than a week. It was a suburban station in the Toledo market and he had the audacity to say "Denny and Stacy (then-morning hosts at Top 40 Kiss FM) don't board-op."

I told him they don't now because they paid their dues...because they had been in the business for years, they were at a top-rated station, and much of it because they DIDN'T complain about the less gratifying work needing to be done off the air like some prima donna.

I finished by telling him "It beats digging a ditch, though...doesn't it?" He quit and went back to his part-time radio job at the station we hired him from by the end of the week. Good riddance.

 

[Parttimer]

Chuck Brinkman used to have to board-op the Steeler games at WTAE. Just because it was his shift.

(There are parts of that story that are more entertaining but I won't post them out of respect to Chuck...).

 

[Boss Radio]

Chuck Brinkman used to have to board-op the Steeler games at WTAE. Just because it was his shift.

(There are parts of that story that are more entertaining but I won't post them out of respect to Chuck...).

Bob Tracey used to tell the story of how he got involved with motorcycles. He was working one day when Clark Race rode a scooter into the station. Bob was running the board for the Pirates game at the time.

 

[Whiplash]

Except for the time spent with my wife owning our own stations, and my time in Punxsutawney, the most enjoyable job I have had was news director at WDAD pre-Renda. This will be a great gig for someone. As mentioned before, its an incredible state of the art facility.

 

[kenhawk1160]

Except for the time spent with my wife owning our own stations, and my time in Punxsutawney, the most enjoyable job I have had was news director at WDAD pre-Renda. This will be a great gig for someone. As mentioned before, its an incredible state of the art facility.

Ditto on Punxy, TAE. Though I only spent a little more than a year there, it was one of the best career experiences I ever had. I literally had to drop a bomb and blow the place up so we could start over again from scratch. It had been over-consulted and over-researched by outsiders who didn't know the town or its people and what they wanted, and gave them what they felt they SHOULD want. Punxy is a very special market where you just can't get away with doing that. One of our clients, who was in the Groundhog Club's inner circle put it very bluntly to me and that I would really have to prove myself to impress him. He said:

"Ken, the station sucks." I went back a month later and changed his opinion 100 percent. You probably know which guy I'm talking about.

And all things considered, I didn't do all that much. Just more local news, less state news from out of the region, and only the first two minutes of ABC. All local and regional sports, anything national worth covering was done by ABC. And I brought back more local soundbites than ever before. That's going out of style at a lot of stations, and it should never be that way. EVER!!!

 

[pocket-radio]

Sounds like an $18,000-20,000 a year job that could eat up 80 hours a week if you let it. Jobs like this used to be great proving grounds for young talent working their way up the ladder. Right now there is no ladder to climb. I can think of at least a half dozen interns I've had over the last five years who would be perfect for this except for the fact they are all making better money in more stable operations elsewhere.

Not quite, snafu. I worked for these people for five years, and the only reason I'm not there now is because I got married and had to be closer to my wife's job. They're a good outfit. I won't go into details about salary, but you're way off base with what you purport it to be.

5 years ago is like a lifetime in radio and plenty has changed. Actually it depends on the situation and the spirit of management. The Renda operation can be just as mean & nasty as Cox & Clear Channel, it's the business. I've found people will work and they'll work hard if they believe they have a future. But minimum wage, and a shaky industry isn't likely to motivate anyone with a brain. On air types are a dying breed and the ones who are left are just hanging on.

 

[fromtheinsideout]

I tend to agree pocket. I don't know how they do things in Indiana, PA, but I know they just blew out three people, including a friend of mine, a few days before Christmas and while I can't speak to the others tenure and salries, I know that the person I am in touch with worked there for 12+ years and was making $8 an hour for full time work.

 

[fromtheinsideout]

Make that 4 with the potential of 5, Jane Nugent ws blown out and they are no longer paying Scott Shalloway to do his show.