Breaking into the Business

Ray Carter

This week has been spent researching various options for future employment. The job market isn’t the best for college graduates but there is a slight uptick in newsroom hiring. This past weekend I had to prepare for an interview for a News Reporting Internship with WISH-TV in Indianapolis. Most of the newsroom employees gave me advice on where to start your career and how to not burn out in the world of television news.

 Some anchors start small, while others get lucky in mid size markets. John Kelly, KSDK’s new Multi-Media Journalist, says that he got lucky by landing in Springfield, Mo. The area includes a lot of tourist spots such as Branson and The Ozarks. Kelly told me that it’s great to start in a medium city because of workload and housing costs. For example, in Chicago, there might be twenty-five fires on any given day whereas Springfield may only have one. Traffic in smaller markets can be attractive for some news reporters and photojournalists. A one hour’s drive to a story versus a twenty minute drive can affect news coverage.

Mid Size cities usually provide, a lot more activities for a younger crowd; employees say that Casper, WY may not provide good living for a single college graduate.  Darrin, my Assignment Editor, says the Green Bay Area is a great place for new college graduates to get hired in television news. The city is over 100,000, and it’s a ninety minute drive from the beach. He also couldn’t forget to mention Packer’s Stadium.  Darrin said that the NBC station in Green Bay and area newsrooms were pretty good about hiring fresh talent. He also points to Madison, Ws, because it’s located near the University of Wisconsin and the Dells.

 Pay can also be an issue for starting journalists. A lot of newsroom employees caution working for free. Mike Rush, the Four O’clock anchor, told me that it took him a while to find a job. When he finally found one, it was in the 150+ market of St. Charles, Louisiana. His starting pay was well under twenty grand, but he was close to home.  Mike says that a lot of small markets, like St. Charles, Louisiana or West Lafayette, Indiana have only one news station. While this is a positive for a small town, Mike says that reporters have to be creative when finding stories to write.  In Fast Track, Jim Schenke, told us that it doesn’t matter which market you wind up; you just need to love the job.

 A lot of the newsroom employees had interesting tracks to get to St. Louis. Some started out in small cities such as Kingsport, TN or Medford, OR. While others started out in hotspots such as Vegas, New York, or Phoenix. My Sports Boss Rene Knott worked in Washington D.C. and Oregon before coming to St. Louis. He says that it doesn’t matter which affiliate or newsroom you start in, as long as you get a job. College graduates can get hung up on a name or a title; this doesn’t matter when trying to break into journalism. Some get lucky, while others don’t. He also tells me to make sure a college internship helps you decide what to do in the future. What may seem fun one day may not be fun ten years from now. 

Some photojournalists or producers get stuck behind the scenes when the really want be a reporter and vice-versa. My internship Boss Ava Ehrlich suggests saving all work done from an internship and putting together a resume tape in order to get a writing job. Newsroom employees always state the old saying “You put into it what you get out of it.” That’s all I have to write for now, I’ll write again in a few weeks.