Click here for more on B&C's 80th anniversary
"My job-hunting completely revolved around Broadcasting magazine." "It was our
textbook." "I got three jobs from Broadcasting magazine."
We at B&C are humbled and inspired by the
response to our call for stories about how this magazine's classified ads
played a role in readers' careers. From making an event out of weekly trips to
the library to comb Broadcasting to tales of unannounced, cross-country
pop-ins at local stations that readers knew had an opening from our listings,
your stories represent a fascinating window into the driven, dedicated
community this magazine has had the pleasure of serving for 80 years.
We received many great stories, which follow in an edited
form below and invite you to share your story in the comments section.
-B&C Editors
Watershed Watergate Story
By Tom Wolzien, Chairman, Wolzien LLC
I was fired as 10 p.m. news producer at WLUK in Green Bay during the summer of 1973. That was Watergate summer, and I kept putting clips of the congressional hearings at the top of the news. The station management said Watergate was just a political vendetta, and that I should put on more Lake Michigan area weather because that was what viewers really cared about, not the potential impeachment of President Nixon. Thirty seconds of hard copy down in the show was enough, they said. Click here to read more of this story.
News Animal Finds His Cage
By Bob Smith, Director of News and Promotion, Gulf-California Broadcast Company
I found the Assistant News Director job at KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in Broadcasting magazine. I remember the first line of the ad: "Are you a news animal looking for a new cage?"
I worked at KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids for nearly 12 years. The BEST 12 years of my life.
Donahue, A 1957 Want Ad and a Used Car Lot
By Jerry Carr, President & CEO (retired), WXEL radio/TV, Palm Beach, Fla.
First job ever as an announcer. Ad in Broadcasting magazine circa 1957 WABJ Adrian, Michigan. Just celebrated 55 years in broadcasting. Now retired. Phil Donahue and I worked out of a converted silo at the station with a signal that went across the street to a used car lot.
From Akron Library Reader to Gainfully Employed Subscriber
By Jack K. Neal, General Manager, WEIU-TV&FM, Charleston, Ill.; former GM of WBRA-TV, Roanoke, Va.; former Station Manager of KUHT, Houston, Texas and WCNY-TV, Syracuse, N.Y.
LOL....Wow did the email from B&C bring back some cool old memories!
Yeah, like everyone else in this business back in the early 70s, my job hunting completely revolved around Broadcasting magazine. The weekly visit to the Akron public library was a major event. Usually I'd walk away with a few good leads. Of course on occasion, I wouldn't be the first one there so I'd have to wait my turn when a couple of other prospective DJ's or news people scoured the wonderful back pages of the magazine. Click here to read more of this story.
Blind Boxer
By Mark Walker, 30+ year Broadcast Professional and Instructor, Denver, Colo.
In 1989 I was working at KMST TV in Monterey, CA and needed to find a new job, so I answered a blind box in Broadcasting.
That led to a phone interview, and flight to NC and a job offer with what became Time Warner Cable.
I stayed with TWC and moved to Denver, was recruited to some other jobs, and am still in CO today!
Thanks Broadcasting!
Getting the Wheels In Motion -- Literally and Figuratively
By Bob Armstrong, Professor of Communications at the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY, Buffalo) in Singapore
In the spring of 1982, I was a fresh graduate of the telecommunications program at Ohio University and hoping for my first "break" in broadcast television. I distinctly remember the classified ad in Broadcasting to which I responded, not because it was unusual, but because the News Director had attached his name (and that name was the same as a presidential candidate in the late 1960s). Click here to read more of this story.
If At First You Don't Succeed...
By Jerry Tanner, Showtime/MTV Networks 1981-1989
Broadcasting had a classified ad for employment in the Dec 1980 issue for an on-air satellite coordinator for Showtime Networks. I applied for the position and did not get the position in the first interview, but I was interviewed again in June of 1981 and was given the position. I was with Showtime Networks/MTV until 1989.
The Career Launching Ad
By Randy D. Covington, Director, WAN-IFRA Newsplex at the University of South Carolina
I got my first job as a result of a classified ad in Broadcasting. The year was 1969. I was working as a news writer for The Associated Press, but I wanted to work in broadcasting. I read an ad for an editorial director of KXYZ, an ABC-owned radio station in Houston. The ad led to a job in radio. The job led to a 27-year career in television, including positions at KHOU in Houston, WAVE in Louisville, WBZ in Boston, KYW in Philadelphia and WIS in Columbia, S.C. Thanks!
Broadcasting, the Inspector's Gadget
By Ken Orchard, Calif.
I placed an ad in Broadcasting magazine in the Spring of 1957. I was about to graduate from college with a degree in radio. On Thursday June 13, 1957 I graduated. On Friday, June 14, 1957, Millie and I got married.
Our honeymoon was a trip from Glendale, Calif., where we were married, to Crescent City, Calif. From my ad in Broadcasting, I was hired at station KCRE-AM. Click here to read more of this story.
Count 'Em, Three Jobs From 'B&C'
Nancy Logan, National Partnerships, National Recreation and Park Association
I actually landed three jobs from Broadcasting's classified section! Working as a Sales Manager at our college radio station, we all became avid readers of the magazine. It was an important tool for learning about our chosen field and a kind of a career "wish-book." Upon graduation, I began my professional career in radio, working in Buffalo, NY. I made the big jump to Los Angeles and found a position with TV Guide magazine through Broadcasting's classifieds. Click here to read more of this story.
Commuters' Woe
Leads to Successful Relocation
By Jeff Finkel,
General Sales Manager, KOB
In 1998, travelling home during a rain storm, the typical
commute on an hour and a half took three hours from Manhattan to New Jersey I
quickly decided that I wanted to move out of the area. While on the bus that
night I opened up Broadcasting &
Cable and saw a job opening for an NSM position at KRQE in Albuquerque, N.M.
The rest was history. I flew to New Mexico, interviewed, landed the job and I
have been in the market since May 1998.
Chicago-Bred Ad
Exec Sets Sights on Sunny California
By Jeff Osborne,
Account Manager/Sports, NCC Media/N.Y.
I started my advertising career right out of college in
1969 at Leo Burnett/Chicago, my home town. Three years into my tenure (first
two as a TV buyer for the Kellogg account), I was an assistant account
executive on the Maytag business. During the spring of 1972 (a particularly
nasty one in Chicago) I had the good fortune of working on a three day sales
seminar for Maytag dealers (new product launch) in beautiful San Diego. It was
the first time I'd ever been to California. Click here to read more of thisstory.
Looking for a Break From the Books
By Lorna Veraldi,
Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Florida
International University
In 1973, as a graduate student in Mass Communication at
the University of Utah, I read my first Broadcasting
magazine. I was back at school to learn
about television, after my smarter, younger sister convinced me that if I wanted
to be an actress in the twentieth century, I ought to give up my struggling
stage career and get with the "new technology." On the cover was a still photo of Yul Brenner
from The Magnificent Seven. I figured there was a celebrity profile
inside, and I needed a break from my books.
So I looked in vain for the cover story, only to figure out that this
was a no-nonsense trade publication. Click here to read more of this story.
Tough Times Push
New Yorker to New Direction
By Jean W. Williams,
Director, Compliance & Special Projects, Motion Picture Association of
America, Inc.
I had been living and working in New York for the
country's largest independent producer of sports & entertainment television
for 7 years when 9/11 happened. Our
industry was greatly affected; multiple rounds of downsizing and wage freezes
left me tired, stressed and in serious need of a change. Click here to readmore of this story.
Reporter and
Author Gets the Situation She Wanted
By Carolyn O'Neil,
Nutrition Expert, The Food Network's Good Eats, Co-Author, The Dish on Eating Health and Being Fabulous! and Healthy Eating columnist, Atlanta
Journal-Constitution
Yes! I did get my first TV job thanks to Broadcasting magazine classifieds. I
placed an ad for $25 under Situations Wanted and received several serious
responses: two from the West Palm market and one for a consumer reporting job
paying $9,000 a year, the other for $12,000. I remember a bit about the wording
of my successful plea for a job:
Consumer Reporter-
smart, hardworking, recent grad with on air experience seeks position with
local news team. Consumer reports hit pretty close to home.
My first job was a consumer reporter and noon anchor for
WTVX-TV, a CBS affiliate for West Palm Beach, in 1979. I went on to CNN -
thanks to the experience gained at WTVX - in 1982. I was an anchor,
correspondent, executive producer and managing editor at CNN for nearly 20
years.
We invite you to share your job hunting experiences with B&C's classifieds in the comments below.
