The “One Minute Drill” is a weekly video series full of tips and tricks for getting ahead in the sports broadcasting industry. In this edition, SportsTVJobs.com founder Brian Clapp provides a strategy for finding the right job on camera. This is a must watch for all aspiring Sportscasters and Sports Reporters.
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Finding the Right On Camera Job - Video Transcript:
I spend a lot of time looking at our site traffic and trying to define where visitors spend the most time, it turns out many people are looking at the “Become a Sportscaster” and “Become a Sports Reporter” pages. I figured it makes sense to give a couple of tips to help those people looking to land jobs on camera as a sportscaster, sports anchor, or sports reporter.
Tip #1
Don’t be too concerned with market size when you are first starting out. Aspiring sportscasters tend to think – “I need to be in a top 50 TV market” or “I really want to start out in a top 100 nielsen TV market”. What you really want to be concerned with when you are first starting out is finding a market where there is a good opportunity to create a stand out resume or demo reel to help you land your next job and climb the market ladder.
Here’s what I mean:
A TV market like Gainesville Florida is a pretty small TV market (#163) but the University of Florida is nearby so you’d be covering them and you’d be covering other SEC football and SEC basketball. Covering these types of events is going to look really strong on your demo reel. Same thing with a market like Topeka, Kansas - it doesn’t sound glamorous, but you are right near Kansas State, you’re close to Kansas City for 3 different professional teams, and the University of Kansas is right around the area as well.
Compare that to a market like Albany, NY which is #58, a pretty big market, but there is nothing sports related there. Don’t be too concerned with market size when you are first starting out, look for places that have opportunities to cover interesting sports events and that will serve you well.
Look for Tip #2 for aspiring on camera talent next week.