Everyone has a story…
How they got started, how they got someone to take a chance on them…
Freelancing, working for the student radio or tv station in college is a great beginning but it doesn’t usually pay the bills…That’s where the challenge comes…
My story is written in hieroglyphics in the building at 640 Comm, formerly known as the School of Public Communication…Too many decades ago that i care to remember while researching a story on this revolutionary thing called cable television, i stumbled upon a small local station in beautiful downtown Malden that was producing more than sixty hours a week of local programming…I sat through a local news show they did with one anchor simply reading stories he had re-written from the Malden Evening News ….When it was over, the Program Director, who had to direct that news show, granted me an interview for my project…After asking all my questions i said to him, “I notice that Howard (Kaye) doesn’t do any sports in his show”. The P-D said, “Oh Howard doesn’t know anything about sports”. To which I summoned up enough courage and said “Well, how about me?”…He sat there, and sat there and sat there some more and finally said “OK”….That was a Friday and I was on the air Monday never having done ANY television before, my work in SPC excluded…Monday rolled around and I had no clue…Howard, of coure, was more than happy to give me four minutes out of his fifteen (so he didn’t have to fill it)…And off I went…Truth be told, at the beginning, I too re-wrote stories out of the Malden Evening News…But it didn’t take long for me to realize I had to do more…Within a week I started going to the track meets in the afternoon, the basketball and hockey games at night, Porta Pak in hand…Rushing back to the station I’d edit what i could (usually the long jump because it was the first event)…I made sure I told everyone at the meet “this is gonna be on the Channel 13 News tonight”….And you know what?…The next time I showed up the kids (and the parents) would come up to me and say “Thank you, no one’s ever done this before, are you filming today?”….And so it built…We started doing football games on Saturdays, tape delaying them, basketball and hockey, even baseball, some with ONE camera but the people in Malden didn’t care that it was shaky or grainy, they were on TV!…And this newcomer was on his way…
Tom Leyden of WFXT and NESN’s Michaela Vernava joined us at the Boston University Sports Journalism Seminar Series recently and both told similar stories…Starting in small markets isn’t the most glamorous, Leyden in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Vernava at a cable station in Marlborough, Massachusetts, but it had its benefits…”You’re gonna get paid very little money but don’t think about that, said Leyden, the way your should view your first experience is like going to grad school but getting paid. And don’t ever think you’re better than where you are because the reality is you’re probably not”…
I certainly had no allusions…Vernava told the group, “I felt like draft pick number 199. Why should I be the one that makes it, that gets a job, that winds up being good at this? And then I would remind myself that I just believed that I could”
Starting that first job is very much like starting college again…You learned no one was going to make you dinner (but at least you had the dorm)…You learned no one was going to do your laundry (but the dorms had washers and dryers)…You learned to budget your time (there always an all nighter)…The first job is the same…You have to re-learn everything…It’s genuinely scary but amazingly exciting at the same time…
Leyden had a great piece of advice for “newbies”…”Wherever you go, determine what those people really care about and cover it. Because guess what? If you cover it and cover it well, the people you’re serving are gonna like you”
Isn’t that what it’s all about?
11 Comments
Shelby Reardon posted on March 27, 2017 at 2:22 pm
https://soundcloud.com/user-128935005/the-w-column-episode-5-tv-newcomers Shelby and Marisa’s podcast
Chris Picher and Jarett Leonard posted on March 28, 2017 at 5:53 pm
Seminar Strategists Episode 7: https://soundcloud.com/jarett-leonard/seminar-strategists-episode-7-newcomers
Channing Curtis posted on March 28, 2017 at 6:31 pm
Graduating from college can be pretty stressful. I think I was very fortunate in the fact that I had job coming out of school so I didn’t ever have to go through that transition phase. I also didn’t have to do the whole moving to a smaller market thing either which was pretty nice.
My first job in journalism was working for Fox Sports Southwest covering high school football. I then started working for a local radio station doing overnights on air and also covering high school football on Fridays. Yeah the hours sucked but at 22 I didn’t care. The pay wasn’t horrible but it definitely wasn’t enough for me to retire on. When I moved into marketing, I realized just how little journalists get paid in comparison to just about any other industry. I didn’t really like marketing but I loved the money I was making. What brought me back to journalism was the fact that I wanted to do something that I actually enjoyed. That’s the main thing that I took away from both speakers during this seminar. You have to do what you love.
For the undergrads and even grad students without work experience, a lot of finding that first job has to deal with luck and connections. Honestly every job I ever got in journalism was because of a referral. I work for BNN because of an email Frank sent out last semester saying that they needed a sideline reporter for football and I ended up doing both football and basketball with them. Networking in any industry is incredibly important but in journalism it can mean the difference between starting off in a mail room and working on a production.
Out of all of the seminars we’ve had so far in this class, this was probably the one that I felt the least amount of connection to. As a graduate student, I often find myself with a “been there, done that” kind of complex in regards to conversations dealing with “finding a first job” or “what to do after graduation” especially since I worked for several years before coming back to school. Obviously, I have a ton of work to do in order to get to where our speakers are in regards to journalism experience but thanks to this program I feel pretty confident heading into the sports realm again.
Daniel Choi posted on March 29, 2017 at 6:25 pm
Get where you can go. Find the audience. Learn from experienced professionals. Develop through practice. Converse with the audience. Improve your work. Reach the audience. Continue filling into your shoes. Then get to where you can from there.
But don’t forget to take the initiative. Whether it is to acquire new skills or learn new subjects. For me, this was the take away message from our most recent seminar.
Most of us will probably identify as professionals soon after our final graduation. We might work for a company financed by a parent entity. Or for a small, private company. In either case, our paychecks will come from our boss. We’ll be employees.
But we’ll also operate as portable businesses. We will supply services (and goods) to satisfy market demands. Without either supply or demand, we won’t be in business for long. So stock up on those skills demanded by your field of interest. Construct a dependable manufacturing facility by learning how to translate your skills and knowledge through more than just a few mediums. Once this foundation is set, you can better focus on refining your voice and executing ideas.
Also, keep an eye out for a void in the market. Look ahead for whatever demands await. Doing so will enrich your capacity to supply demands, whether in the present or future. Learn about the audience you serve. Like your next employers, audiences look for new voices. But neither has us on their radar until we trespass onto their fields of vision. So rather than ‘weep and avoid’, let’s strive to ‘seek and deploy’.
Jake Reiser posted on March 29, 2017 at 6:50 pm
This season of BU hockey may be over, but not this season of To Be Frank! Jake, Dan and Jordan coming at ‘ya:
https://youtu.be/xYizuB7wJRM
Curtis Stoychoff posted on March 29, 2017 at 7:37 pm
What I took away from this lecture was to go after whatever you want with all that you’ve got. Nothing, especially our first job, is going to be handed to us. We have to prove that we want it and are willing to go get it. Whether that means sending in hundreds of applications to different places or going directly to the source and asking for a job (like Professor Shorr at the station in Malden), we have to be willing to do what it takes to get us that first gig.
When Michaela Vernava talking about feeling like “draft pick number 199,” it definitely hit home. I’ve had similar thoughts, maybe without equating it to Tom Brady, but I know what she’s talking about. When you think about how many people just like you are going to school for the same exact thing you can fall into a bit of a dark hole. But I thought she followed it up great by talking about how she knew she was going to make it because she believed in herself. I feel like that’s what means the most. As long as you keep telling yourself you can, no matter how many people tell you you can’t, you’ll get to where you want to be eventually.
In your post when you said that getting that first job is both scary and exciting at the same time, I think you hit the nail on the head. I started sending in applications a few weeks ago and I’m starting to hear back from places, I have a phone interview set up for early next week. While I’m nervous about finding the right place or the right fit, at the same time, I’m excited to get started. It’s not that I’m really looking forward to “starting college again.” I’m just excited to be hopefully getting the chance to go out and do what we’ve been preparing for these past four years.
Cassidy Kelly posted on March 29, 2017 at 8:30 pm
Hard work pays off. This is something I’ve carried with me since I was young, as my dad always encouraged me to put my all into every single thing I do and work until I no longer could.
Entering college, I had little idea of what I wanted to do but decided on COM as I’d always enjoyed writing and interacting with others at all times. After bouncing from journalism to public relations to advertising, I’ve had a taste of most of what COM has to offer, all centered around my passion for sports.
This past fall semester I was able to intern in the Community Relations and Youth Hockey department for the Bruins and I can safely say I had never worked harder in my life than I did during that semester. I worked in the office three times a week and would go in on my off-days whenever anything came up, skipping class and work in order to get another day in the office. I volunteered for anything and everything I could, leading to more time spent in the Garden than in my apartment. I worked about one game every week, which led to working longer than 14 hour days more times than I can count. At least once a weekend, I would have an alarm set for 4AM to be at an ice rink by 5AM awake and ready to take on a 12 hour day surrounded by youth hockey kids and their parents. Despite the exhaustion that I complained about a lot, I wouldn’t have traded it for the world and this experience only renewed my drive for working in sports.
During my winter break, I spent the majority of the week between Christmas and New Years in the Bruins office instead of catching up on sleep before I began the job I currently hold and will have post-graduation in Community Relations at the Patriots. I go in early, help in whatever I can, and look to continue learning and working hard as I am so lucky to already be doing what I love. I cannot wait to see where the future takes me and I’m excited for a new season of little sleep and lots of work.
Dylan Jones posted on March 29, 2017 at 11:17 pm
The biggest thing I got out of this seminar was just the level of dedication it will take to do what you want. In the case of Michaela Vernava, she waited until after she really graduated from BU to decide that sports was her calling. It’s admirable that she was willing to go after that career, especially relatively late in the game, but went after it full throttle and ended up securing multiple great jobs before getting where she is today. It’s something that gives someone like me, a Questrom student, some hope in the chance that I decide to go after these kind of positions in the future.
With Michaela and Tom Leyden, one of the commonalities between the two was that they were willing to go anywhere for their first job, away from their families to Detroit and Charlotte respectively. That sort of dedication is admirable, and in both of their cases, the fact that they both ended up working back near their families covering the teams they rooted for growing up is something we can all look forward to somewhere down the line.
In regards to the intricacies of their jobs, in both of their cases I imagine it must feel nice to be recognized on the streets and be associated with the teams they cover. In a way they are a significant part of the community, particularly in Tom’s case based on his various anecdotes about his time in Detroit. Their stories reinforce the notions that at your first gig, it’s really an audition for the rest of your career. You have to show up early, stay late, get people coffee, and just be willing to learn and absorb everything around you. You have to realize how lucky you are to be doing what you’re doing, and know that there’s plenty of people gunning to be in your place. Once you know that, you work your butt off, do everything you can, and go from there.
Leyden’s advice about catering to your audience is incredibly simple, yet it doesn’t make it any less true. It’s the reason why ESPN shows hardly any hockey yet if you go up to Canada and watch TSN it’s front page news. It’s the reason why in Texas, where I’m from, football is the first, second, and third thing talked about in the sports page every morning. If you want to be a part of any given community, whether it be Boston, San Antonio, Mississauga, anywhere, you have to cover what they care about in order for them to care about you. You have to convince your readers you care about what they care about, like any good writer (or politician for that matter). Once you do that, you’ll gain their respect, and be on your way.
David Souza posted on March 29, 2017 at 11:18 pm
While I cannot relate to Frank’s story of getting his start with a Porta Pak – quite the interesting Wikipedia read – the stories told by Tom Leyden and Michaela Vernava seem to echo those told by a bevy of other professional journalists.
Dave Goucher, now the radio voice of the Boston Bruins, spoke with me about his climb from his days as a broadcast journalism major at BU to being listened to throughout New England by an entire region of hockey fans. Much like Leyden, Goucher began his journey in seemingly the middle of nowhere. Goucher began calling games in Wheeling, West Virginia for a team in the Eastern Hockey League.
That gig led him to Providence and the Bruins AHL affiliate, before the Bruins came calling a few years later.
Other professionals in the industry I have spoken to have underwent similar travels. Mike Uva, a sports anchor and a graduate of nearby St. John’s Prep, began his career in a small town in Mississippi. As the sports anchor there, Uva improved his reel, before taking a job at another station in South Carolina, where he currently covers the Gamecocks football program.
From what I’ve seen, there are two options for those of us trying to make it in the sports journalism industry. We can go off to big cities and potentially work at large media outlets doing low-end work – with some exceptions. The other option is to venture off to those small markets that seem to be in the middle of nowhere. These markets, while at first glance unexciting, present opportunities to grow as a journalist and gain valuable experience you couldn’t get at a young age in a big city.
I also really connected with Leyden’s statement that you need to find something important to the community you’re working in. I can remember being in high school and scouring the local media outlets for any coverage of high school sports. Our entire school was obsessed with local sports, and thusly ate up all the coverage we could get of them. Recently starting as a high school hockey reporter for the Boston Globe, I have kept that feeling with me when I am covering games – reminding myself that out there are people obsessed enough to read my pieces regarding their schools.
While I’ve had the opportunity to work at BU covering a medley of teams, my first “big break” came for ESPN Boston High School, covering high school hockey. It’s helped me find other jobs that I hope to parlay into a career after graduation.
Eric Getzoff posted on March 29, 2017 at 11:26 pm
The first job after school…aaahhh. A topic I can talk about for hours on hours….
Along with figuring out how I’m going to save up for my next trip to Europe, (I have to go back to Paris) my first job after grad school are the two things I stress most about. What do I want to do? Is it on-air? Producer? I really enjoy sports talk radio though – can I do that on the side, and write as well? And where is it that I will be?
By working on a couple of things in my life I’ve been stressing less and less about my post-school future and have been living in the moment more and letting the answers come to me. But they are still there.
What I’ve realized, along with Tom and Michaela’s advice last week, is that in your first job after graduating from school, you’re basically still in school learning everything new. New editing programs, new studios, a new director who wants you to read VO’s off the teleprompter instead of off your script – the opposite of what we’ve been taught in sports broadcasting class here at BU. So, it’s a whole new learning experience. And you’re not expected to be great right away, either. Tom said he was put on probation two months into his first job in Allentown because the new director felt his performance wasn’t where it should be. And guess what? Tom got better, and now he’s a sports anchor/reporter in a top-10 market.
Most likely what will happen to any recent graduate is they’ll go to Lake Charles, Louisiana, or Panama City, Florida (two places two of my friends from Temple are now, actually), and not know anybody. You’ll have to learn the city, learn the people and what they care about. Tom mentioned how in Allentown he learned everything about high-school wrestling because that’s what the people cared about. Heck, I’m not a high-school wrestling fan, but in this business it’s all about standing out. I know that if I do a great job covering high-school wrestling then people will take notice, and sooner rather than later (if I still am of this belief when I get to that small-market) I’ll be out of that 130th ranked market and will move on up to a top-60 market.
When I graduated from undergrad at Temple I took a part-time job at CBS Sports Radio and within a month I was working hours at WFAN Sports Radio as well which is where I interned the summer before. I realized pretty quickly that it would be a good 10-plus years to go from where I was to on the air – where I wanted and still maybe want to be. That’s the difference in starting in a small-market rather than a big-market. Yes, by starting in New York or Boston you’ll already be in that big-market – which is maybe where you want to end up. But you won’t be doing what you want to be doing. In a small-market, you’ll be doing what you want to be doing and perhaps more. Your duties may include being a photographer, videographer, and producer. The difference between these two options really comes down to how comfortable you feel leaving your friends/family for a new place.
In my case, I would love to go to a small-market and work my way up that way. And not just because I will be doing what it is I want to be doing right away, but because of the experience of going somewhere new. Life is so much different everywhere else in the United States outside of the Northeast where I’ve only been (I grew up in NY, went to undergrad in Philly, and now grad school in Boston). And I want to experience and see different lifestyles so I can mold myself into who I want to be, and by the time I work back to a big market, I’ll have a much better understanding of who I am and what I like.
Or maybe I’ll enjoy the small/medium market atmosphere. Who knows…. Only time will tell…
Stephanie Schalago posted on March 30, 2017 at 12:13 am
I’ve been fortunate that all of my internships have basically been handed to me. I received my first internship through Twitter. I had reached out to the host of the radio show explaining I was a huge fan and interested in radio. He told me to come visit the show, and offered me an internship on the spot. Following that year long internship, I met someone at one of my radio station events. This man, who’s name is Romeo, worked for our competitors. After speaking with him for about 30 minutes, I was again offered an internship on the spot. Finally, I received my most rewarding internship in New York because of the first man, TJ. TJ worked for the New York station I interned with for 15 years before making the move to Boston. Overall, I can say that I have been very lucky. Upon leaving my New York internship, I was offered a production job at the station where I had my first internship.
I owe my entire career to social media, which is something no one expects to hear. I was lucky that someone decided to take a chance on me. Not many have someone that is willing to teach them and encourage them. I’m extremely fortunate in the sense that I don’t have to worry about finding a job after graduation because I already have one. Despite being lucky, I worked extremely hard. I made a lasting impression on my bosses, and showed them how passionate I am about the radio industry. Like Cassidy said, “hard work pays off.”
George Cain mentions in his article, “the Local Boston Sports Scene” how important the use of Twitter is. He points out that tweets get linked to other websites, and are not just published on Twitter. I personally take Twitter very seriously. I have been in contact with multiple employers, celebrities, and friends via Twitter. It’s important to keep an active presence on Twitter, and other forms of social media because people will try and see what kind of work ethic you have via your social media accounts.
Overall, I have had a very fortunate career thus far. I have been lucky, and determined. While I do still sit and think why did someone choose me, why was I the lucky one that was mentored, I think my hard work shows that I am worthy of every position I have received. I am nervous about what the future holds. Obviously, I don’t want to be an assistant producer forever. But for now, my entry-level position is great, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.