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Advice?
Sept 14, 2006 22:19:15 GMT -5
Post by Dave Elders on Sept 14, 2006 22:19:15 GMT -5
I'm in my final year at Quinnapiac and I see that you went here for a bit. Just some questions. Why didn't you stay here? Were you involved with the campus stations?
I am looking to go into radio and have a few questions on that. Why is it that someone like H Stern can make $500 Million, and most other people can't make over $30 thousand? Do you make good money in radio? Is there anything that I can do to have a head-up when I go out into the world? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thankyou.
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Advice?
Sept 15, 2006 13:24:59 GMT -5
Post by Rich Fisher on Sept 15, 2006 13:24:59 GMT -5
Dave, I didn't stay at Quinnipiac for a few reasons. The main reason was that even though I transferred there in my 3rd year, I was treated like a freshman in that I couldn't get involved with the radio station for seniority reasons. Then they added math courses that I had to take (I'm not so good at math and it would have dragged my average down), and finally they tripled up in the dorms because they had too many people. It was way too cramped. It was a pretty bad experience for me overall. I hope that they have improved! As for making money in radio... It's a tough business, but it's possible. I worked at a bunch of stations and didn't get paid much for a long time. It was when I branched out into TV, then later government broadcasting that I made good money. If you are willing to stretch your field a bit you can make good money. I get to do radio and TV production with 9-5 hours for good $$ in the gov't, and that leaves me time to work in radio at nights, holidays, weekends, etc. I got lucky in that my part-time radio job pays fairly well too - but it took many years of working at $10 an hour stations to get there. Honestly, I would prefer to be doing radio full-time over gov't work, but it just hasn't happened financially. If you just want to do straight-out radio, then get ready to move around a lot at first, and get used to eating "Top Ramen". It's all about likeability in my opinion. People like Stern get paid a lot because there is something about their show or presentation that just clicks with listeners. He just had something about him that people were drawn to, even though he didn't have a great voice or wasn't overly clever. The same can be said for a TV news anchor like Katie Couric. She's making millions to do something that you and I can do - Reading a teleprompter that some producer(s) wrote. It's just that she has something that clicks with the public, that "it" that she has. Yeah, it's an easy job, but she can somehow bring in viewers, so she's worth the coin. If you are lucky enough to have that "it", then you will go far. Unfortunately most of us fall in-between unappealing and pretty good, while that tiny percentage of people just have "it" and become trusted friends to the audience. We know that with most of them it's just an act - Take someone like Lindsay Lohan and compare her personal life to her on-screen persona for a simple example. Either way, she just has "it". Rush Limbaugh is a good example as well. If you really believe that you have "it", then by all means pursue a radio career. Try and start out at a small station that is adjacent to a larger market so that when the time comes, you can move into that market. Hamptons-Riverhead to Long Island, Cape Cod to Providence, Salisbury-Ocean City to Baltimore, etc. You will likely make $8 an hour and have to get a part-time job doing retail or something else to pay the bills, but it will start you out. I have friends that went out to middle of nowhere non-rated markets and they were able to make a living, but my experience working at fringe market stations paid off for me. When you get that first job get in good with the PD and get him/her to critique your show as much as possible. Tape everything and self promote like crazy. Getting your name out there is important. Since you're already in CT, why not try for some of the stations in places like Danbury or New London? I always see small stations in Danbury in All-Access looking for newbie’s. Try WINE-AM and WDAQ-FM because I've seen them in there enough to remember the calls. I hope this helps. Good luck!
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