Chris Schneider - Starting Your Career in Broadcasting: Working On and Off the Air in Radio and Television

2007 Chris Schneider

All rights reserved. Copyright under Berne Copyright Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, and Pan-American Copyright Convention. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.

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Published by Allworth Press
An imprint of Allworth Communications, Inc.
10 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010

Cover design by Derek Bacchus
Interior design by Mary Belibasakis
Page composition/typography by Integra Software Services, Pvt. Ltd., Pondicherry, India
Cover photo by Michael Alonzo

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Schneider, Chris.

Starting your career in broadcasting: working on and off the air in radio and television / Chris Schneider.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58115-489-4 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 1-58115-489-5 (pbk.)
eBook ISBN: 978-1-58115-801-4

1. BroadcastingVocational guidance. I. Title.

PN1990.55.S36 2007
384.54023dc22

2007005027

Printed in Canada

Acknowledgements

Thank you to my wife Michelle for her support and wonderful editing. To my mentor Mary Beth Sweeney and her understanding husband Joe, who were key in helping me to the career I have been so blessed with.Thank you to my friend and computer guru Doug Helton, who keeps my machines, running. Thank you to all the wonderful celebrities who gave selflessly of themselves to share wonderful stories and who contributed great advice to this book. Thank you to all the teachers and leaders at universities and career schools for offering me their stories and wisdom to pass along; I will be calling a few more of you soon for the next edition. Thank you to all the great friends, colleagues, leaders, and even rivals that I have worked with over the years for enriching my life and helping shape my career. And thank you to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for blessing me with an amazing journey of destiny.

Introduction:
Why and How I Wrote This Book

My name is Chris Schneider. I have been talking on radio and television for nearly thirty years, mostly as a sportscaster. I am the Sports Director and Morning Drive Sports Anchor on KRLD and the Texas State Networks in Dallas. My journey over the years has taken me from a little town in Wyoming where I grew up to working in some of the worlds greatest cities. I have worked as a sportscaster and talk show host in Los Angeles, London, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Dallas. I have had the privilege of working on the air for some incredible organizations, including ESPN International, the BBC, Prime Sports, and CBS, alongside a host of incredibly talented people.

Working on the air is a fascinating thing to do for a living, but it is not without its challenges. Many of the wonderful people I have worked with over the years, whether they be disc jockeys, news or sports anchors, or talk show hosts, swore that they would write a book someday about their strange, amazing, and occasionally unbelievable experiences in this business. To my knowledge none of them have, so I decided that I would.

I decided to write this book because there is no real how-to guide for starting or improving a career in radio and/or television. In this age of howto books, it is pretty rare to find an area that has not already been covered. You can get career advice on just about everything, including how to sell, dress, talk, and think, but there are no books that offer solid advice on getting started in broadcasting.

I first started writing this book after a meeting with a literary agent a few years ago. He was not so sure that the novel I had written would be a success, but he was fascinated by my long career on the air in radio and television. He was enthralled by stories I told him about working with stars that he listened to and watched every day. He told me that if I could write a book outlining my vast knowledge of the broadcasting industry, the book would sell itself. He asked me how my career on the air got started, and I told him the following true story:

HOW I GOT STARTED IN THE BIZ

I was working as a bus boy at a restaurant in Torrington,Wyoming, the little town where I grew up. Torrington consisted of only five thousand people, but it was still a big city to me. After all, I had lived in a town even smaller than that a few years earlier; it had a population of ten people, and six of those ten were in my family. I knew that I had to be on the radio the first time I saw the TV sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. I was eleven years old and absolutely sure that everyone else felt the same way. I was worried that they would take all of the on-air jobs before I was old enough to get one.

One day after my shift busing tables at the restaurant I walked several miles out of town to the local radio station to apply for a job. I dodged the water puddles on the side of the paved two-lane highway heading west until I reached the gravel driveway that led up to the stations studios. After a deep breath and big swallow, I pushed open the unlocked front door and walked into a dark, empty room. There was a small light that beckoned from somewhere down a hallway in the back. I knew this could be the biggest moment of my life, my only shot at what I knew I was born to do. I walked toward the light until a shadow appeared.

Hello? I asked.

A scruffy looking man with blue jeans and a dirty red-and-white checkered shirt was startled from his intense examination of the sports page.

What the...?A look of horror and surprise flashed across his face.What do you want? he asked looking me over, his fear quickly transformed to amusement as a smile creased the corners of his mouth.

I said,Who do I talk to about getting a job? I forced the words out, hoping they did not sound as ridiculous as I felt when I uttered them.

What?

I could tell his surprise was real, but it was too late to turn back now.

I would like to fill out an application to be a disc jockey. I was pleased that the words sounded so confident.

How old are you? he asked, taking a sip of coffee. He was certainly still amused, but now I detected a small amount of respect in his voice.

Eleven. I knew it was over as soon as I said it. Sorry, kid. Youre way too young to get a job here.

How old do I have to be? I asked the question before the full force of his statement denying me a job hit home.

I think youve got to be eighteen or something.

He watched me with pitying amusement while I stole one last look around the high-tech studio and the green, yellow, and red blinking lights coming from an unbelievably impressive machine. There were felt-lined turntables (record players) where the radio gods played music, all part of a cockpit-like desk that was the heart of a real radio studio. I left without saying another word, nor did I get one from Mr. Radio. I consoled myself on the long walk back to town that I would try again when I was older, but that did not make me feel much better.

Five years later, when my parents decided to move to a bigger town (there are no cities in Wyoming, only towns), I was all for it. I knew my chances to get a job in radio would be better. Even at that age, I knew location mattered.