So I know I've been a serious slacker with the whole blogging thing, but I must admit it's a new venture for me.
BUT (always the big word in the TV news industry) I have found a job! After searching, hunting, cursing the gods and constantly going back to the drawing board I have FINALLY been offered a job in California non the less! Close to home!
BUT (that silly word again), it is not a reporter position. Unfortunately as the Rolling Stones would say you can't always get what you want....you get what cha need. I took a position producing the 5:30a and 6:30a morning show for a market 120 station in Monterey, CA. The beautiful central coast!
I was told I couldn't be hired as a reporter because I lacked commercial experience, (again the catch 22) so I took the producer job (which I'm told is higher pay anyway :-)) and thought it would be a great way to get my foot in the door. The news director is aware that I really want to be a reporter and has informed me that if a position opens up and I'm the right person for it, it is much easier to move up once your in.
After looking for a job for three months I was offered this job and had to move, find a new car and get settled all within two weeks. Boy, oh, boy was it a whirlwind.
I have started the job and I'm now into my second week. The first week was fairly difficult because producing is something I'm not completely proficient at, it's a learning experience and I'm learning to use a different software than what I've worked with in the past and learning how the station runs, the anchor's flow, people's names and the hardest adjustment of all is the time schedule. I start work at 12midnight and get off at 8:30 in the morning so while most people are sleeping I'm at work and while their at work...I'm sleeping. It's definitely really hard to get used to and I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it, especially because on the weekends I go back to a 'normal' schedule.
I'm also starting all over again in a sense; socially, financially and mentally it's a whole new world. A world that's exciting/scary/intimidating/fun/new and everything in between.
I'm not sure I'm ready to be a 'big kid' but real world here I come!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Nibbles....but no fish
It's interesting that when I send out tapes all summer without hearing a peep from any station I suddenly get three phone calls in three days.
First, I got the phone call from the station in California asking me if I would be willing to produce, then I recieve a call from a local station in town asking me to come in for an interview and lastly I got a call from a station in North Texas. I had applied to the small station in Texas because I was begining to get really desperate, and thought it couldn't hurt.
The news director in Texas talked to me at length about the station and their equipment, my salary (which I must say is barely liveable) and the expectations of a reporter in his station. I was flattered that he called me, he said I had a lot of talent and a great reporting style. He ended the coversation saying we would talk soon. I must say that it's great to get phone calls but I'm not sure that I'm willing to move to Texas, a state I have never been to, for a very small salary.
I went to the interview at the station here in town and talked with the news director about the position which would be a buerau reporter on the coast of Oregon. A good gig. We talked for an hour and he said that I was very strong canidate and we'd be in touch. Later that evening I took a news awarness test for the station and have not heard anything since. It's been 3 days.
So, within three days I had talked to three news directors about possible positions but no offers. I have really learned to not get my hopes up and to take everything they say with a grain of salt because in this industry it's all up in the air.
Again it's the inevitable catch 22. Your great and you have good on-air presence BUT (there's that world again) we are going to look at other canidates and we'll get back to you. I just wish there wasn't the round about. I just want a yes, or no. Time will tell. That's all I can keep saying.
First, I got the phone call from the station in California asking me if I would be willing to produce, then I recieve a call from a local station in town asking me to come in for an interview and lastly I got a call from a station in North Texas. I had applied to the small station in Texas because I was begining to get really desperate, and thought it couldn't hurt.
The news director in Texas talked to me at length about the station and their equipment, my salary (which I must say is barely liveable) and the expectations of a reporter in his station. I was flattered that he called me, he said I had a lot of talent and a great reporting style. He ended the coversation saying we would talk soon. I must say that it's great to get phone calls but I'm not sure that I'm willing to move to Texas, a state I have never been to, for a very small salary.
I went to the interview at the station here in town and talked with the news director about the position which would be a buerau reporter on the coast of Oregon. A good gig. We talked for an hour and he said that I was very strong canidate and we'd be in touch. Later that evening I took a news awarness test for the station and have not heard anything since. It's been 3 days.
So, within three days I had talked to three news directors about possible positions but no offers. I have really learned to not get my hopes up and to take everything they say with a grain of salt because in this industry it's all up in the air.
Again it's the inevitable catch 22. Your great and you have good on-air presence BUT (there's that world again) we are going to look at other canidates and we'll get back to you. I just wish there wasn't the round about. I just want a yes, or no. Time will tell. That's all I can keep saying.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Another day another job.....application
Before I knew it two months of my summer had flown by and the best news I had gotten concerning a job was from a station in Idaho Falls. The news director told me that I had a lot of talent and he really liked my reporting style. I thought, yes finally something, maybe a job or a least the conversation about a potential job. Then....that infamous word...BUT. I knew it, this just wasn't my time to become employed. He said..... but.... we've decided to go with someone else. You were in the top three candidates thou. I graciously thanked him and hung up the phone.
I've tried so hard this summer to not get discouraged and frustrated. I mean I knew it wouldn't be easy to get a job but I had no idea it would be THIS hard! I think I've sent out at least 40 tapes at this point. I've heard from other broadcast professionals that it took them 100 tapes. Ugh, seriously. But, rejection is part of the business. I have a tough skin and I'm confident I will eventually find a job. The worst part of the job hunt is hearing that I have talent and hearing that I have good journalistic ability, but I don't have commercial television reporting experience. Now, I can't have the experience if I can't get a job. Oh the irony.
For every tape I sent out I followed up with at least 5 phone calls to each news director, mostly just leaving messages. Occasionally I actually spoke with them on the phone only to hear that they were sifting through a stack of tapes and would get back to me if I made 'the short list' meaning the people they were interested in enough to interview. I called over and over again, because more often than not, in this business it pays to be persistent. As my mom says, "the squeaky wheel gets the oil."
Earlier this week I was making my weekly phone calls to the laundry list of stations that I had applied to leaving one message after another. I set down my phone a sighed deeply wondering if something will ever happen, then my phone rang. It was the news director of a station in California. I was shocked that she returned my phone call. She went onto tell me that she was finished hiring reporters and the ones she did hire had commercial television experience. So, I hung my head and thanked her for returning my phone call. The she said, "well how do you feel about producing to get your foot in the door?" I said, "that sounds great!" The next day I had a phone interview with her and the EP (executive producer). My first phone interview of the summer. At least something was finally happening! It went well and the news director asked me to shadow a producer in the small market that I live in and get back to her. She wants to make sure I would actually like producing in a small market, because I had originally applied to be a reporter. She's making sure I won't hate the job. The news director in California said we would talk after my shadowing. So, today I'm shadowing a producer and then time will tell! Oh, finally a step in the right direction.
But, this wasn't the only good news I got this week. When it rains in pours. More to come...
I've tried so hard this summer to not get discouraged and frustrated. I mean I knew it wouldn't be easy to get a job but I had no idea it would be THIS hard! I think I've sent out at least 40 tapes at this point. I've heard from other broadcast professionals that it took them 100 tapes. Ugh, seriously. But, rejection is part of the business. I have a tough skin and I'm confident I will eventually find a job. The worst part of the job hunt is hearing that I have talent and hearing that I have good journalistic ability, but I don't have commercial television reporting experience. Now, I can't have the experience if I can't get a job. Oh the irony.
For every tape I sent out I followed up with at least 5 phone calls to each news director, mostly just leaving messages. Occasionally I actually spoke with them on the phone only to hear that they were sifting through a stack of tapes and would get back to me if I made 'the short list' meaning the people they were interested in enough to interview. I called over and over again, because more often than not, in this business it pays to be persistent. As my mom says, "the squeaky wheel gets the oil."
Earlier this week I was making my weekly phone calls to the laundry list of stations that I had applied to leaving one message after another. I set down my phone a sighed deeply wondering if something will ever happen, then my phone rang. It was the news director of a station in California. I was shocked that she returned my phone call. She went onto tell me that she was finished hiring reporters and the ones she did hire had commercial television experience. So, I hung my head and thanked her for returning my phone call. The she said, "well how do you feel about producing to get your foot in the door?" I said, "that sounds great!" The next day I had a phone interview with her and the EP (executive producer). My first phone interview of the summer. At least something was finally happening! It went well and the news director asked me to shadow a producer in the small market that I live in and get back to her. She wants to make sure I would actually like producing in a small market, because I had originally applied to be a reporter. She's making sure I won't hate the job. The news director in California said we would talk after my shadowing. So, today I'm shadowing a producer and then time will tell! Oh, finally a step in the right direction.
But, this wasn't the only good news I got this week. When it rains in pours. More to come...
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The beginning of my life as a big kid
Throughout my college career I was successful, well for the most part. I had my challenges with school, and trying to make the right decisions that were best for my career as a journalist. I feel like I went through what a lot of college students go through, growth, change and trying to find what was best for me and the education I wanted.
I've know that I wanted to be involved in the television news industry for a long time, I'd say back to freshman year of high school. Since that moment in high school when I realized that being a television reporter was my dream I have taken, what I think were the correct steps in order to make that dream a reality. I went to a four year college with a great school of journalism, I succeeded and excelled in my classes and tried to gain the most from every internship and experience involving news reporting. Then came graduation. I suddenly found myself at a place where I wasn't quite sure what was next. All my life I had been planning, making the next move to become a journalist, and suddenly I was done with school and reality came rushing towards me. It was now time to put my schooling, work and internship experiences towards a career. I became overwhelmed. Asking myself where do I begin? I knew the task of finding a job wouldn't be easy but I was not prepared for what lay ahead.
No one can really prepare you for the day following graduation. The day you hang up your cap and gown and place your tassel on a hook or toss it aside somewhere. No one tells you that in just 24hrs you go from college student to unemployed. Well, at least that was the case for me. Of course it's well known that you try and get a job after college, I mean isn't that what I went to college for was to try and up my chances of being employed. I had been job hunting for a solid month prior to graduation I had applied to at least 5-10 jobs. The thing about television is that even if you found a job the station usually needs you within two weeks, so looking for a job farther out than that wasn't possible. I was also still so occupied with school and making sure that I would graduate that getting a job was important but had been pushed aside in my mind. Then after graduation day I found myself unemployed. I panicked slightly and then tired to tell myself that I would find a job.
My summer started to roll by faster than expected. I was sending out what seemed like hundreds of demo tapes, cover letters and resumes. I felt like a machine punching out the necessary components needed to get a job. In those first few weeks I had no idea that was only the beginning.
I've know that I wanted to be involved in the television news industry for a long time, I'd say back to freshman year of high school. Since that moment in high school when I realized that being a television reporter was my dream I have taken, what I think were the correct steps in order to make that dream a reality. I went to a four year college with a great school of journalism, I succeeded and excelled in my classes and tried to gain the most from every internship and experience involving news reporting. Then came graduation. I suddenly found myself at a place where I wasn't quite sure what was next. All my life I had been planning, making the next move to become a journalist, and suddenly I was done with school and reality came rushing towards me. It was now time to put my schooling, work and internship experiences towards a career. I became overwhelmed. Asking myself where do I begin? I knew the task of finding a job wouldn't be easy but I was not prepared for what lay ahead.
No one can really prepare you for the day following graduation. The day you hang up your cap and gown and place your tassel on a hook or toss it aside somewhere. No one tells you that in just 24hrs you go from college student to unemployed. Well, at least that was the case for me. Of course it's well known that you try and get a job after college, I mean isn't that what I went to college for was to try and up my chances of being employed. I had been job hunting for a solid month prior to graduation I had applied to at least 5-10 jobs. The thing about television is that even if you found a job the station usually needs you within two weeks, so looking for a job farther out than that wasn't possible. I was also still so occupied with school and making sure that I would graduate that getting a job was important but had been pushed aside in my mind. Then after graduation day I found myself unemployed. I panicked slightly and then tired to tell myself that I would find a job.
My summer started to roll by faster than expected. I was sending out what seemed like hundreds of demo tapes, cover letters and resumes. I felt like a machine punching out the necessary components needed to get a job. In those first few weeks I had no idea that was only the beginning.
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