by Tim Brown

 

I may not be the best person to listen to when it comes to finding that first job. I say that not because I didn’t work hard to get my first job in television; rather, I say it because I got it so quickly. While others were sending out their first resume, I was driving down to the interview which would eventually land that first job in “real” TV.

 

I’ll start at the beginning, so to speak. I went through a very good broadcasting program at UNC-Chapel Hill, but at the time there were only two broadcast journalism classes: one for radio and one for television. I was worried that I might not have enough training for the real world of television sports. So I latched on to the student television station at UNC. I found myself doing sports once or twice a week for the weekly newscast, and I was able to learn more about what it meant to be on television. I was also spending a lot of time meeting people in the business – as it turned out one of my fraternity brothers was also interested in TV news, and had graduated a year before me. He was working at a small station in a town I had never heard of: Florence, South Carolina. He knew that the station was looking for another sports anchor/reporter, and he suggested that I send down a tape. It was April, a month before graduation.

 

In those last weeks before graduation, radio/TV students were putting together their final projects. A friend of mine wanted to do a newscast and needed talent. She got a friend of hers – a professional at one of the Raleigh television news stations - to be the news anchor, and asked me to handle sports. Not wanting to pass up the chance for more practice, I jumped on it. I knew that I’d be able to pick up one or two ideas from the “pro” that my friend was using. We did two or three takes for my friend’s project, and during the down time the news anchor and I got to talking. I told him that I was graduating and was looking for work. He said that he used to work at a small station in South Carolina, and that he would check to see if there were any openings. He found that there were, and he told them to expect a tape from me. As it happened, that was the very same station where my fraternity brother worked.

 

Now, I’m not sure how much you know about finding work in television news, but you should know this: it’s a crowded field. A news director who places an ad for a sports reporter can expect to get 250-300 tapes from people who want that job. And out of that number, only about 20 make it to the next round; only about three are asked in for interviews. As you can imagine, it can be hard to make sure you make it from the “big pile” of tapes into the “little pile,” let alone to the final three.

So back to my new friend and my fraternity brother. Recall that I had already sent a tape to the station in Florence, and that my fraternity brother had told his boss to be on the lookout for it. When my new friend – the TV professional – called to say “be on the lookout for this Brown guy,” the news director knew there should be a tape of the guy around somewhere. As it happened, there were two. I sent a second tape after my new friend suggested it. So the news director already had a clue that I was persistent and determined enough to want the job; the question was – was I good enough?

 

Well, at the risk of bragging, I wasn’t bad; at least, not bad for a college kid. On that day after graduation, when all those classmates of mine were sending out their first resumes, I was driving to Myrtle Beach to stay with my fraternity brother and then drive to Florence for an interview with the news director. It went well and he said he would call me. A week later, I was on his doorstep again, this time on a “meet and greet” trip around North and South Carolina. A classmate and I had planned to spend a week driving to stations in the two states, introducing ourselves to the powers that be. By the time I had come down for that second interview, I pretty much had the job offer in hand. Two weeks later, I started full time.

What’s the lesson? If you want it, make sure the people who do the hiring know it. And don’t be afraid to ask friends who are in the business already to do a little politicking for you. That means you have to make those friends in the business; don’t be shy about talking to professionals. And it also means that you have to study your craft. Pay attention to how the pros do their jobs. And why they do them certain ways. The more you can talk the game, the more you will learn from those who play the game.

 

Oh, and one more thing – don’t forget how small this business is. That “new professional friend” who called his former boss to say “Be on the lookout for this Brown guy”? You might have heard of him – Stuart Scott, now at ESPN. And one year after my first job, as I moved into my second at another station, I replaced a guy you might also have heard of – Steve Berthiaume, also at ESPN.

It pays to get to know people.

 

Good luck.