What if a station targeted a *really* old audience?

[michael hagerty]

not to be an ahole here, but someone should have told you that that degree field was a bad choice, and that you should have double majored or minored in another field that you could fall back on when the broadcasting gig (if you ever got one) ended after a few years, either by your choice ( wanting a normal life) or theirs.

Everyone's mileage will vary, but...

Thank God I never had a fallback. I would have used it years ago and not been where I am now.

I could have taken the hint when I was a 56-year-old who was replaced by a 23-year old because I was too expensive.

I could have said it was time to hang it up when I was one of 1,500 people whacked in the January, 2020 iHeart layoffs. I was two months from my 64th birthday.

Instead, I'm enjoying the best gig and the best compensation of my career at something that really is all I ever wanted to do from like age 8---broadcast news. Yes, on a terrestrial radio station.

 

[TheBigA]

Well, I decided to major in it in 2011. I was interested in radio in general, though not sure if I'd be suited for an on-air position. I was thinking more of being a producer or something like that. I'm not sure what to do now. Not really sure I'd want to do a podcast

For every on-air job, there can be at least ten off-air jobs, depending on station and market. Morning show producer, traffic reporter, music scheduler, production director, commercial scheduling, IT/engineering, and of course sales. Some stations have their own in-house webmaster/social media person. All kinds of jobs that didn't exist 20 years ago. You don't even have to host a podcast. You could instead produce one for someone else.

But once again, you need to get started somewhere, perhaps by volunteering at a non-com station. It's a lot easier to get started when you're still in school. I was lucky that my school had an FM station, and I got a job right after I graduated. I haven't been unemployed since.

 

[tall_guy1]

But once again, you need to get started somewhere, perhaps by volunteering at a non-com station. It's a lot easier to get started when you're still in school. I was lucky that my school had an FM station, and I got a job right after I graduated.

I'll get my time machine.

 

[TheBigA]

I'll get my time machine.

The way to do that, if you're serious, is to seek out friends or teachers who knew you in college and see if they can offer advice. I was at a crossroads a few years back, and that's what I did. It opened things up in ways I never expected.

 

[gr8oldies]

Y

I'll get my time machine.

You don't need a time machine, you need to expand your horizons. No, you very likely won't be starting by playing the hits in Fargo, then doing afternoons, then moving to Cedar Rapids, then Minneapolis. But there is plenty to do, and audio is red hot. We didn't have the ability to make our own videos and have our own home studios in the 70s. It's just like the music business.Some people sing. Some people produce. Some make a decent living as session musicians. There's plenty to do, even in consolidated radio.

 

[Deleted User]

Sorry I'm not here to make you feel great, I am here to give opinion, that is based upon 45 years experience in or around the business.

I would NEVER tell anyone to get into any sort of Broadcasting gig who did not have a back up plan.

I hate to call it "adulting" but it sort of is, and none of this is meant to be mean

Hey, I wanted to work in TV and radio, I was on the verge of getting kicked out of school because I was spending too much time playing radio and not enough time studying.

Some people I was doing college radio with went on to professional careers , the late Rich Buono who produced "Matty In The Morning" and worked at WLYN FM before Mindich bought it.

JoAnne Doody who was at FNX and WXRV

Nancy Quill who did overnights at WCGY and went on to the big time doing mid days at WMJX for 38 years before she was tossed out the door by Beasley because they are aholes.

"Tommy C" Carbone ended up in Portland for years and years.... he was sent to the beach after decades.

There were others.... but to my knowledge none of them are still in the business 40 years later.

My life and my careers took me in other directions, and frankly better ones for me.

I had the skills to engineer in stations. I had 4 years of Vocational school for Electronics before I went to college, and I had a First Phone when I was 15.

I was always going to have a backup plan, and a couple of times I had to use it.

The $200 dollars I spent in 1985 to get a commercial truck license paid me back 5000 times over, and it is still paying me back today and will every month for the rest of my life.

I am a car geek, I took my electronics background and used it on cars, then I learned everything I could about them, I am ASE and ICAR certified, I am a Licensed Damage Appraiser in 6 states, it cost me a whole $500 to get my first appraisers license, in the 10 years since I got "legal" and licensed I have made a nice little pile of money basically turning a hobby into money. I have handled appraisals on vehicles valued north of 5 million dollars. I did cars that were older than my parents who were born in 1929, I did a Ford GT with SIX POINT EIGHT miles on it.... it was a half a million dollar car on the Monroney Label, it was impossible to come up with a true value because Ford was not allowing them to be re-sold for two years, but I figured it was worth about 1.2 million, and when the first one was sold at Barrett Jackson that was what it went for. These days I am hired by people who are fighting Insurance companies trying to get what their car was really worth at the time of loss when it was totaled.

But again, my point was I always had a backup plan and I tell anyone thinking of getting into the business at any level, at any position to have a skill to fall back on.

BTW there is nothing wrong with working in warehousing, everyone loves to say everything you have got to you by truck, everyone forgets it was in a warehouse before it got on a truck. Every manufacturing operation counts on the warehouse to get the raw material in, route it thru whatever inspections it needs, then to inventory, and when called upon sent to the manufacturing area to be turned into product... and then back into warehousing for shipping. IMHO one of the hardest jobs in the country is working in cold storage warehousing for supermarkets and distributors.

 

[davideduardo]

Yes, way to make me feel great...

You can always expand your education outside broadcast-specific areas.

I dropped out of high school to build my first radio station. So I had no radio courses, just five years of being a gofer and doing an internship.

Ten years later, I had the chance to go to a university as I was working as a consultant and had loads of free time. But I did not take radio or broadcast courses; I studied business and social sciences in a split major. I did everything from accounting to sociology. In my last semester, a headhunter tracked me down and recruited me to manage a couple of stations and build a group.

The general business courses made that kind of management something I could do. And the things like social anthropology and the like were the best way to learn programming.

 

[semoochie]

do you read All Access? Any of the other online trade papers ?

I am AMAZED at the number of long time radio people, PD's, Morning Drive talent, etc etc etc who are "leaving for an opportunity outside of radio"

And those are the ones who are leaving by their own choice, many people didn't leave on their own and are now also looking for a job outside of radio.

Here is someone who got it right, Nikki is now out of radio, WHOM was her last stop. They still have her bio up, but if you read it notice she got a Masters in an unrelated field, and when WHOM sent her packing, she returned to Florida and hung out her shingle in her new field. She is someone I have a LOT of respect for because not only did she have the talent to make it in the business, she was smart enough to plan ahead.

Nikki Cruz | 94.9 HOM

I started my entertainment career in television as a teenager, growing up on a military base in Seoul, South Korea. I first appeared as a singer and dancer on a TV show called "Young Parade," and I hosted an evening rock show on AFN, where I fell in love with radio...

949whom.com

20++ years later and this still rings true
View attachment 2815

Is that the Brian Wilson who was a NYC jock? (must view attachment)

 

[TheBigA]

There were others.... but to my knowledge none of them are still in the business 40 years later.

Everyone gets to a crossroads in their life. Do they continue doing what they're doing, or go in another direction. For some, taking that next step may involve moving to another city, and that may have been the reason why they left the field. I know a lot of people who've been laid off in radio. Most of them had offers in another city, and because of family or friends, they decided they didn't want to move, so they got a job in another field. A career is not one job you do for your entire life. There are options and opportunities placed there along the way if you're doing a good job.

 

[Kelly A]

Everyone gets to a crossroads in their life.

Mine came close to college graduation. Was working full time/part time for a 'Top 40' station. I was a mediocre personality at best, and because of my schooling, was more interested in the technical side of the broadcast business than being on the air full time. Even though I worked a lot of weird hours, being on the air sure beat the Hell out of a part time college gig of flipping burgers or working in retail like my friends were doing.
Right out of college, I was being heavily recruited by Boeing and other aerospace companies. After looking at the option of sitting behind a CAD screed documenting wiring harnesses for Boeing 747 maintenance manuals, or working at radio and TV stations, the decision to stay in the broadcasting biz was a no-brainer.

Do they continue doing what they're doing, or go in another direction. For some, taking that next step may involve moving to another city, and that may have been the reason why they left the field.

Even back in the day, that was the running line: 'If you haven't been fired in radio, then you haven't actually been working in radio.' The difference today is; radio has had to adapt to major competitive changes. If you haven't been able to adapt to those changes by adapting your skill-set, then you've probably been forced to look at a career change. It doesn't mean someone is a loser, or somehow washed-up as a productive member of society, it just means the evolution of the business doesn't fit anymore. There are many other vocations over the decades that have run into the exact same thing.

I know a lot of people who've been laid off in radio. Most of them had offers in another city, and because of family or friends, they decided they didn't want to move, so they got a job in another field. A career is not one job you do for your entire life. There are options and opportunities placed there along the way if you're doing a good job.

Absolutely right.

 

[TheBigA]

If you haven't been able to adapt to those changes by adapting your skill-set, then you've probably been forced to look at a career change.

Correct. If all you know how to do is cue up vinyl records, and that job goes away, who's fault is it that you get fired? A big part of radio is technology, and that technology has been changing since the 1920s. If a person doesn't adapt and learn the new system, they'll be gone. That applies to any line of work that is built around technology. There are seminars in radio covering all aspects of the business from talent to technology, and I've been fortunate to take part in a lot of them over the years. You have to be willing to invest in yourself, because no one else will.

 

[KilowattKat]

If not sure what direction to go with a broadcasting career, look into doing an unpaid internship with a broadcaster, yes, you won't get paid and for the time being it's a financial sacrifice. Luckily, I had a part time job also. But it's a great way to gain experience for that first paid position in radio.

 

[Kelly A]

If not sure what direction to go with a broadcasting career, look into doing an unpaid internship with a broadcaster, yes, you won't get paid and for the time being it's a financial sacrifice. Luckily, I had a part time job also. But it's a great way to gain experience for that first paid position in radio.

Many states no longer allow for unpaid internships, which means intern's are competing for essentially a gig. That, and since in particular, radio facilities are being combined geographically, there might not be an opportunity for someone in their home town to get an internship, let alone employment with their local radio station. That doesn't mean the opportunity for an internship is out of the question, but that it's no longer a simple path to exploring the business.

 

[TheBigA]

That doesn't mean the opportunity for an internship is out of the question, but that it's no longer a simple path to exploring the business.

It's often more difficult to arrange when you're not actually in an educational institution. Which brings up the subject of going back to college. Some people do that when they want to make a career change, and that opens the door for a college-sponsored internship.

 

[KilowattKat]

Many states no longer allow for unpaid internships, which means intern's are competing for essentially a gig. That, and since in particular, radio facilities are being combined geographically, there might not be an opportunity for someone in their home town to get an internship, let alone employment with their local radio station. That doesn't mean the opportunity for an internship is out of the question, but that it's no longer a simple path to exploring the business.

Talk about how things have changed. My internship experience goes back to 1984. Isn't as great an option as it was back then

 

[davideduardo]

Many states no longer allow for unpaid internships, which means intern's are competing for essentially a gig. That, and since in particular, radio facilities are being combined geographically, there might not be an opportunity for someone in their home town to get an internship, let alone employment with their local radio station. That doesn't mean the opportunity for an internship is out of the question, but that it's no longer a simple path to exploring the business.

Many of us who got into radio 40 or more years ago got "through the door" being a gofer or helping at remotes or answering the phones when stations were not afraid of labor laws, liability issues and interpretations of EEO quotas and reports. If we were useful, we got some paid hours. And if we did that well, we got to run the Sunday morning "Jesus Tapes" and then, maybe, we got a half hour of training and were allowed to give the ID live!

Today, none of that is possible or even legal.

Does someone want to start a "how I got into radio" thread?

 

[davideduardo]

Talk about how things have changed. My internship experience goes back to 1984. Isn't as great an option as it was back then

How did you get your internship? Was it a formal program, or spontaneous?

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Many states no longer allow for unpaid internships, which means intern's are competing for essentially a gig. That, and since in particular, radio facilities are being combined geographically, there might not be an opportunity for someone in their home town to get an internship, let alone employment with their local radio station. That doesn't mean the opportunity for an internship is out of the question, but that it's no longer a simple path to exploring the business.

Any one who wants a chance to volunteer to host their own show here is more then welcome.. and ive taken people with zero knowledge of radio or broadcasting who were nervous and gotten them very comfortable behidn the mic.

And we tell them.. while we may not have openings now, we occasionally do need paid fill ins or part timers, people already trained are given heavy consideration

 

[KilowattKat]

How did you get your internship? Was it a formal program, or spontaneous?

After graduating from a broadcast trade school which is no longer in business, In applying locally, one station offered an internship locally where I lived. As opposed to going to a small town for a minimum wage position. Despite being unpaid, it was an amazing experience to be involved with what was a top station in that market.

 

[seatownmedia]

I almost completed a radio career but ended up at a malfunctioning classic hits station that had no idea what they were doing. I wasn’t quite at retirement age but I was ok. It soured me and I didn’t look back. Too bad. Mismanaged radio stations sometimes lose good employees, but I understand the choice was mine. Fortunately I didn’t really need the job at the time.