The Fanshawe students I spoke to back in January have disappointed me.
I heard from a few of them in the weeks following my chat to the first year broadcast journalism students. But I had extended an offer to them. Drop me a line and ask for it, and I’ll send my tipsheet of 10 things you can do to become a better broadcaster. Not one of them did! (Too late now, folks. You’ve got to be a subcribing aircheck client to get it now!)
They’re hungry and eager to get their careers underway in a highly competitive industry – even more so than it was a year ago. While I was there, they had lots of questions about getting ahead and improving their craft in a big hurry. If it were me, back in my college days, why, I would have had a self-addressed stamped envelope in the mail by the end of class! (There was no email back then. We used tree sap to scratch out our messages on bark and sent them off via covered wagon.)
Any of the kids who did write will get my new monthly tipsheet. Lisa Brandt Creative Services is putting out a brief note once a month to clients and friends with a broadcaster’s tip and a little update on what I’m doing. But I would have thought these students would have sponged up any advice that was offered for free. I know I would have, back in the day of sap and bark.
Hi Lisa:
I’m afraid your experience is symptomatic of the modern student. I recently brought in the Sports Director of a local radio station to speak with my second year students and none of them uttered a peep! It was a good opportunity for me to bone up on my interviewing skills, but such a wasted opportunity for them.
Now as they prepare to find practicum placements it will be all that more difficult to get their foot in the door, especially when they ignored a golden opportunity to make a favorable impression on a potential boss… but then again, I’m preaching to the choir, aren’t I?