Jack Ellery Book HOW TO GET JOBS IN RADIO
So you want a (better) job? The following is from Jack Ellery's book, found on college campus bookstores @ $29.95. Members of our group get to read the entire book at no charge.
Let's assume I'm the Program Director at a small to medium market station somewhere. You walk in, you are young and you have no experience. Right from the get-go, I know that you probably have some problems. How do I know? Because, these are the biggest mistakes newcomers make.
Young people
Talk too fast
Do not understand the objective of radio
Say words such as 'actually' ten times a minute
Repeat trite expressions
Have no idea that they tend to be vulgar
Have high and/or untrained voices
Do I have the time to tell them they have problems? Do I have the time to help them? What can be done about these common errors? Experience is the only real teacher, and that leads to - "well how can I get experience if you won't hire me?"
If you can't get to college, or junior
college, or even a broadcasting school, you can
practice at home. It's not the best way, but, it is
a way. Let's take the problems one by one. Young
people do talk fast, as if they have to get all the
words out in ten seconds.. S-l-o-w down. Problem
number two, the objective of radio. It is to make
money. It is not to entertain, it is not to express
your thoughts on the world, it is to get an
audience so the station can sell commercials.
Problems three and four - if you cannot think of
original things to say, if you cannot avoid saying
the obvious, you need to think of another career. Repeating
expressions that famous announcers use, is not going to
get you anywhere.
Concerning vulgarity, if you can't be funny without
mentioning body parts, or telling bathroom or drug stories,
go home, lock the door and
stay there till your brain cells connect. Finally,
concerning that high voice, slowing down will help
a lot. Relax your throat. Policemen, for example, are trained
to use their voice to stop criminals. The way they say "Freeze",
many times will actually stop a criminal.
Just a couple of the things I have learned
in 40 years of broadcasting.
However, perhaps you have a Broadcasting School
background. You spent several thousand dollars, and
now you are job hunting. Let's see what you know
about radio. Let's see what they taught you in
school. Here are just a few basic
questions.
- Ratings are important, so, what is the difference between 'cume' and 'share' in ARB?
-
- If you are alone at the station when the station goes off the air, are you allowed to go to the transmitter and get it back on?
-
- You're an on-air person and you receive a gift from a sponsor. Are you allowed to keep it?
-
- How much will it cost the station if you curse on the air?
-
- If someone is 'attacked' by your station, how long until they are offered equal time?
-
- If there is a disaster, is your station allowed to increase its power, if that will save lives?
Well, let's see how you did. If you get most of these wrong, you are very much in need of a radio education.That doesn't mean you don't have talent, it just means you would need a baby-sitter at the station. We Program Directors are busy enough, we need someone who will hit the ground running.
If you got two or three or more wrong, you need help. You are not ready for Prime Time.
So what is a 'newbie' to do? Get a job at a
small station and work your way up, or be such a
blazing talent that you don't need to know
anything, because the station has other people who
will take care of the nuts and bolts. There, my
friend, is the big question. Do you go off to
northern Maine and talk to the chickens and hogs,
or do you go to New York and hope to get
discovered? Well, let's make believe you are the
station manager and some absolute unknown comes
along, do you give him a shot?
I have been a Program Director, and I will tell you
this - if I heard an audition from a relative
beginner, and if it was absolutely a killer, I
MIGHT bring the person in. The problem for the
Program Director is, "how does he know that the
audition wasn't carefully rehearsed over and over?
How does he know the talent can do this live?" So,
he has to give him a shot on the air. That can be a
big problem if the talent isn't really a talent.
I'd get fired if I brought in someone who was an
absolute dud.
I'd talk to the talent on the phone, no matter what the experience, if the audition was an absolute killer. In all the time I was a PD, in both Philadelphia and at a network in Tampa, I never got a sensational audition from people with limited experience. Never! For 99% of the people seeking a job in radio I would suggest getting experience, but for a very few, there are exceptions.
Me? I started in the boonies, and I have often wondered if I made the right choice. True, I honed my act in small towns, but maybe I wasted my time.
My first shot at the big time was with WNBC in New York. My dues had been paid. My resume included WMAS in Springfield, WCOU in Lewiston, ME, WNBH in New Bedford, MA and a host of other small to medium stations. I was NOT going blow the opportunity. On the bus in to New York, I started mentally doing the show. I envisioned the studio, I could see the records, I saw the "ON-AIR sign, and I knew what I was going to say.
Guess what? Thankfully, I was a smash hit. Within two months I was coast to coast with Joe Garagiola on radio MONITOR. I had done my homework, planned my show and worked my plan. Guys who try to "phone it in" never stick around. You have to work your rear off to make it big.
People tune in to a radio station for entertainment and information. But even when being entertained, they want to be informed. They want to know who wrote the song, they love to hear bits of 'inside' stuff about the stars. Reading entertainment mags is important, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. When was the last time you read a book on the NY Times best seller list? When was the last time you read an entire newspaper? When was the last time you watched a Sunday morning news program?
If you ask, "What the hell does that have to do with being a great alternative music jock?" obviously your brain is on 'idle'. You have to know how to communicate on air, but there is so much more about this BUSINESS. You have to know how to intelligently deal with sponsors, how to entertain at public appearances and how to deal with management. For example, if you have a Health Plan that wants to advertise with ad lib spots, and you know zip about health plans, how can you do an ad lib spot? Sponsors aren't going to give money to people who are ignorant about their business.
If you think knowing all about music will get you a great job, guess again. Sure you have to know the music, but in most stations today, you just play what the computer tells you to play. Your job is to entertain. You have to be bright, funny, glib and know how to do all this in just a few seconds. Radio formats are tight. If you blither on for more than 30 seconds, unless you are doing talk radio, you're gonna get a call from the Program Director telling you to shut up. So, you have to know your stuff, and that means more than just knowing the music.
Radio is no different than any other profession. You have to have an education, and an ability, to do the job. Being educated is a very important part of success. I don't know too many people in top 10 markets who don't have an education. You might be able to be uneducated as an athlete, or movie star, or singer and so forth, but when you have to communicate, you have to be the smartest of the smart. I constantly hear radio people in small markets complaining about the lousy pay, the rotten conditions, and I can only hope that they understand why they are not in the major leagues.
If your immediate reaction is, 'I need work now, I can't go back to school', that's understandable. But, there are things you can do. Just read on
Let me show you the value of an education in a radio show. Here's the uneducated guy:
"Good afternoon, New York. It's a fabulous
day to be a New Yorker. The Yankees won game five
of the World Series last night, and New Yorkers are
celebrating. How's that for a segue into a song?
Here is CELEBRATION comin your way."
Well, that was pretty awful. Let's listen to the
educated guy:
"From the bawdy bodegas of the Bowery to
the Brooklyn Bridge, from the Bronx to the Battery,
there is joy in Mudville. The Yanks have done it
again. Game Five is ours." (Production Note
CELEBRATION comes in cold!)
The second shows some knowledge of alliteration,
the repetition of sounds. It shows intimacy with
the city. It shows a knowledge of literature, the
term MUDVILLE refers to Mudville in Casey at the
Bat. It has oomph, it is major league, it is the
sound of a smart, educated and very cool on air
talent".
You say you can't go to college? OK, fine. There's still a lot you can do. You could go to a community college, you could go to night school. Nah, that would be too much work. That would be difficult. You want your nights and weekends free so you can meet babes or studs. You find it imperative to watch the latest episode of SURVIVOR.
Look, we understand that life has to be lived, that you need to have a social life. But, everyone can't have everything. If you really want to make the big time, it takes sacrifice. You might have to turn the TV off, and read an industry magazine. There's Radio&Records, for example. Not the online version, because that's just an outline. Can't afford a subscription? Well, they still have libraries in most towns.
See, here's the skinny. If you want a really easy way to make it to New York radio .... it doesn't exist. It simply doesn't!
I remember going to radio conventions when I couldn't afford them. So, I went without paying the entrance fee, and hoped that somehow I could sneak into the sessions. Luckily, I met some people and eventually received credentials from a guy I met at the hotel bar. I went to every session they offered, and learned more in one weekend than most people learn in five years.
The moral of the story is that you have to know everything about radio. You have to know everyone in radio.
The answers are: you have to work harder; you have to work smarter and you have to use al the tools you can find. Do you have a website? OK, let's change that, do you have a great website, or just something you threw together? You can go to a dozen different places where they will help you build a website even if you have zero computer knowledge. Why do you need a website? It's just one more thing you need in your arsenal. You need a great tape, a great cover letter, a great website, great knowledge of the industry and a helluva lot of talent.
O.K., let's talk about your audition. How long do you think a PD will listen to tapes he/she receives? Here's the answer. If the Program Director doesn't like it immediately, he might listen to 20 seconds. You have to grab him/her from the first word. You have to do something that will just stop him dead.
Picture the PD turning your audition on and hearing you say, in a powerful voice, "There is a GOD in heaven. (pause) I am telling you, there has to be something more than molecules colliding in space to make a voice like this.(drop in a song by anyone with a fabulous voice. (For example, if you play oldies or standards or lite rock use a Celine Dion song or something by Toni Braxton or Barbara Streisand or Andreas Boccelli). There isn't a PD alive who wouldn't say, "Wow, that's different, that's cool."
When you are working, or making an audition, spend the time between songs THINKING of what you will do next. As a matter of fact, while you are driving to work, think of 'shtick'. You don't need to write it down, just get it in your mind. Make it relevant, make it 'in the moment'. Then when you are doing your show, or making an audition, you have stuff ready to go. Everyone rehearses. Movie stars rehearse, singers rehearse, baseball players practice. Why is it then that so many radio people try to just wing it?
That's one small part of what the book will
teach you. You might want to order the entire book.
It sells in bookstores on college campuses for
about $25.00. Our Members get it FREE. To join,
send $10.00 to Jack Ellery, Box 100, New Brunswick,
NJ 08903. Include your email address so a password
can be sent to you.
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