Before the school year let out, I had the opportunity to speak to a journalism class at a local high school about my career in radio. I did my usual spiel about how I got started in the business (interning my rear end off!), how I grew into management and eventually became part of an ownership group. I talked about working for independent stations and working for larger media companies and some of the differences between the two.
I also spent time on the new world where you are not just radio, you also have a bunch of digital products that a handful of people actually understand how to sell (I left that part out), and that today, the media business as a whole has completely changed and we are all learning a bit as we go.
Now, the funny part of this is that after I introduced myself and told a bit of my story, I asked the class of 20 or so students, ‘How many of you listened to radio on your way to school today?’ My expectation was that half the class would say yes. Two people raised their hands. Two.
Turns out they all listened either to a podcast or had their music playing from their own device through Apple or Spotify or something similar.
That caught me off guard a little bit, I’ll admit. I knew it would be low, but as I said, my expectation was 50%, not 10%.
One student, however, seemed to really like radio and the media business and asked a few questions. He said that he listened mostly to sports on national radio and local play-by-play when he wasn’t in front of his television. He also inquired about the various roles at a radio station, saying he wasn’t sure he was cut out to be on the air.
That student followed up with me recently and posed the question which titles this article. “Would you recommend pursuing a career in radio?” he asked in an email.
I hesitated. This is a business I have known for most of my life and has played such a huge role in who I am, it’s how I have provided for my family and the thing that I know most about. Well, I also have considerable knowledge about 80’s and 90’s rap music and the history of the St. Louis Steamers indoor soccer team, but professionally, I know the most about radio.
I was genuinely shocked by my hesitation. I have always been one of radio’s biggest supporters, so why was this answer so difficult for me?
Well, turns out after thinking about it for a day or two, I realized that it was just the way he phrased it. And like most things, it really requires breaking down exactly what he means by the question. Should he pursue a career as a radio DJ? No. Should he pursue a career as a radio salesperson? Maybe. Should he pursue a career in sports content? YES.
As I ended up telling him, our business from a content standpoint has become like the line from Field of Dreams, ‘if you build it, they will come.” Except in our case, it’s ‘if you create great content, it will be found.’ As several people have shown, it could be a few viral social posts and boom, your content career is born. You no longer have to take any sort of traditional path.
Now, it isn’t likely to hit it big on your own, but the point is, you can create content and get it out there by yourself. It is easier than ever to create videos, to create a podcast and all of the other ways you can get your message or thoughts out there. The question is, does anyone care? If they do, you might have something. In which case, you may have your own media company if you are also willing to go out there and sell your own product, promote it like crazy and eventually grow it.
The advice I gave was ultimately about versatility. It is what got me through my career. I tried to learn everything. And others that did found different things they might want to do in order to be in the business but not necessarily be a content creator. Learn to shoot video. Learn to edit. Learn as much about audio as you can. Learn social media and stay up on it. Be a master at YouTube and figure out all of the monetization strategies. That is what I would recommend. Be someone who can help a content creator with all of the things the content creator doesn’t want or doesn’t have time to do.
If you are reading this and are thinking about a career in this business, don’t limit yourself. Don’t say you want to do radio or television or just digital content. Learn about all of it, see what you like and figure out where you do your best work. Look at the business from the standpoint of what you and your friends like and how that content is being delivered to you.
You certainly do not want to limit yourself to just doing something that only 2 out of 20 of your classmates are even interested in.
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The Best Thing I Heard/Watched Recently
I really enjoyed listening to Sean McDonough talk to Adam Schein on SiriusXM about what he has been going through during the NHL Finals. If you don’t know, McDonough has been sick and has not sounded himself on a few of the broadcasts.
McDonough was a bit bothered by some of the online chatter about a perceived lack of energy he had during the games. He told Schein he was powering through and had been working with some of the Edmonton Oilers’ medical staff to be ready for the games.
McDonough is one of the top play-by-play broadcasters in the business and it was obvious he was disappointed to not be at his best, but he clearly wanted to explain the situation and talk about it rather than not addressing it.
If you are a SiriusXM subscriber, you can search for Schein on Sports on their app to hear the whole interview.
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In Case You Missed It
Earlier this week, Peter Schwartz caught up with former longtime New York Daily News NFL columnist Gary Myers. Football fans will remember Myers from his role on HBO’s Inside the NFL, which he was a part of from 1989 to 2001. As a young radio producer back in the mid-90’s I remember Myers as a great radio guest.
Myers is till covering the NFL but doing it in a very different way. He is writing books and consulting on a documentary about Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
“I still have way too much energy to retire,” Myers told Schwartz. “I’m taking advantage of what I call my institutional knowledge and put it to another way of using it. If I knew I was going to be this happy writing books and working as a consultant on other projects, I would have gotten out of the newspaper business a long time before then.”
You can read the full story by clicking here.
