Broadcast News

Bookmark and Share
05/09/2016

How To Gain More Experience And Get Your First Job As A Presenter

News Image
For New and up-and-coming TV presenters finding the first few jobs can be an up-hill struggle, so heres a few tips to help you get your foot on the ladder.

So Where Can You Find Presenter Jobs?

If I had a pound for everytime someone had asked this question, I would be very wealthy. But lets talk reality here, these jobs are high competition, so expect to fight hard to get what you want.

Want Fame Fast? Then You May Be Disappointed With The Next Paragraph!

There is no fast track route to becoming a presenter, no matter what you are told in the stories you might read. The true key to finding work (apart from having great talent) is to get as much experience as you can AND develop your selling and networking skills. There are a number of places you can explore to find presenter jobs, but always be realistic with your ability. It's likely that climbing the ladder slowly will likely guarantee you reaching your personal goal, running before you can walk never really works out, as many a failed new-comer has found out to their own disappointment.

Try Hospital Radio

As I mentioned, you should get as much experience as you can. A good place to start is your local hospital radio station, they always need help and would be very pleased to get someone as enthusiastic and determined as yourself. You will learn a lot there, ad-lib for one, microphone technique, interviews and of course being an on-air personality. Many a well known presenter started their career in this way. Dale Winton, Noel Edmonds, Philip Schofield, Gloria Hunniford are some good examples. If you want to find your nearest station check out Hospital Radio Association. ((www.hbauk.com)

Internet Radio Broadcasting

Internet radio broadcasting is growing within the worldwide web and there are many UK based stations looking for volunteers to produce and present their own shows. You will of course need some equipment and a reasonably soundproof room at home to set up a studio, but as you are working remotely, you can in theory broadcast to anywhere in the world. The following forum is quite useful for finding out the stations that are broadcasting ((www.hbauk.com)

Create Your Own YouTube Channel

YouTube has become a major player for new presenters who want to promote their ability. Creating a channel is the easy bit of course, filling it with good content (that sells your ability) is the bigger task. Don't shy away from making your own videos though, but don't have videos of you talking about yourself - display your personality, give opinions, show your expert skills, useful talents and interesting interviews. Try and make the videos unique, fun, and motivating. Joseph Garrett (better known as Stampy) is a very good example, his videos get over well 7 million viewers and has a hugely popular youtube channel. Many producers do scan youtube for talent so not being part of this will indeed cut of a possible promotion route. When you create a great video link to it via Twitter and Facebook too.

Local TV Channels Are Cropping Up Everywhere Now

Another opportunity is to get involved with your local internet TV channel. They would most likely use volunteer presenters and voice artists (although some of the regional ones do have salaried presenters and journalists too). This can be a useful way of gaining good material for a future showreel too.

Maybe Try Getting Some Work Experience

If you are fairly young you might do well by just simply contacting your local radio station (and some regional tv stations too). They rarely say no, particularly if someone is offering a spare pair of hands! Don't expect to get on air, but you will see how things works and find out how to forward your career in radio and the media industry in general. The BBC, ITV, SKY and the major channels do take on work experience candidates, but often these have a lot of applicants, so you need to apply in a formal way, but who knows it could be you.

(This article was written by Colin Cobb of Presenter Promotions)

www.presenterpromotions.co.uk
Solidmate Ltd Memory Card Hire London

More Jobs & training  Stories

09/07/2019
Ravensbourne University Students Launch TV Channel
Students at Ravensbourne University London have launched a new TV channel, RaveTV. The channel, aimed at students, was introduced last month at The Ra
11/10/2017
Opportunities Are Endless With Ravensbourne
By Aimee Lister, Ravensbourne alumna (2017), BA (Hons) Digital Television Production. A strong believer in 'everything happens for a reason', I contin
25/08/2017
Training In The Broadcast & TV Sector
I'm Pat Horridge and Technical trainer for VET training. I've been involved in Technical training for 30+ years now. Technical Training was an importa
31/07/2017
Jellyfish Pictures Announces Appointment Of Dave Wells
BAFTA and multi-award-winning production studio, Jellyfish Pictures, have announced the appointment of Dave Wells to Pipeline TD and Compositor. Bring
20/06/2017
Steven Howard Joins Miller Camera Support
Steven Howard has joined Miller Camera Support Equipment, it has been announced. He has been named as the company's Global Product Manager and will be
19/06/2017
Screen Names New Head Of Research
Screen Subtitling Systems has announced the appointment of Colin France as its Head of Research. Mr France will be responsible for exploring new marke
30/05/2017
dB Broadcast Appoints Two New Recruits
dB Broadcast has appointed two new recruits to join its permanent team. Mitchell Mead and George Edgerley have joined the company, initially as traine
30/05/2017
Presteigne Makes Two New Appointments
Presteigne Broadcast Hire has appointed Jamie Brewer as Head of Sales and Jon Philips as Key Account Manager. Brewer comes to Presteigne with more tha
26/05/2017
Marquis Broadcast Expands Business Development Team
Marquis Broadcast has announced the expansion of its team with the appointments of Neil Blake and Ben Lloyd as Business Development managers. Neil wil
25/05/2017
Senior Promotions Strengthen Genelec Marketing And R&D Teams
Genelec has announced two senior promotions within its marketing and R&D departments, as former International Project Manager Howard Jones becomes Mar