Broadcasting Schools, Broadcasting Apprenticeships, and Broadcasting Internships

With so many different career catchphrases buzzing around, what’s an aspiring broadcaster to do? Here, NBTN breaks down for you the difference between these various paths to a broadcasting career.

If you’ve ever been in a college admissions office or looked online, you know what an internship is. Internships are based on the age-old concept of “gophers” and “Girl Fridays” doing grunt work to get their foot in the door in an office of interest. From making coffee to making copies, internships are hardly exciting, but at least you are starting somewhere right? Maybe so, but there must be a better way.

Those desiring a broadcasting career are no exception to the “internship” epidemic. Day after day, many radio and tv hopefuls roam the streets and man public booths handing out stickers and promotional flyers, fueled by the dream of someday getting a broadcasting job at the station they are promoting. But since these internships teach you little real skill and are available to mass quantities of people, it is hard to stand out enough or perform at the level needed to actually obtain a broadcasting job.

If you want to save self-esteem and shoe leather, take our advice and consider broadcasting schools and apprenticeship programs instead. Offering a vastly more valuable experience in the same amount of time, broadcasting apprenticeships and broadcasting schools actually deliver the experience you pictured when you signed up for your internship. And lucky for you, they’re a lot less hyped. For example broadcasting schools and broadcasting apprenticeships provide the kind of one-on-one intensive mentorship you probably hoped for when you applied for your broadcasting internship. But rather than sweep you away in a sea of street teams, broadcasting schools and apprenticeship programs actually provide you with the skills you need to get a broadcasting job. There are several ways this is accomplished.

For one thing, well-established broadcasting schools and apprenticeship programs benefit from a long and favorable relationship with industry professionals, and willingly use these relationships to your advantage. It is much easier to provide a broadcasting apprenticeship to a single qualified individual as a favor to a friend than it is to accommodate the overflow of students from a local college. Also, many broadcasting schools and apprenticeships offer a cash incentive received only when you get hired, either at the broadcasting station you apprenticed at or one your mentor hooked you up with. The broadcasting apprenticeship is a contract, not an exchange of free labor for college credit. The goal of the broadcasting schools, the broadcasting mentor and yourself are all the same: help you begin your broadcasting career.

As you can see, if you are serious about a career in broadcasting, broadcasting schools and apprenticeship programs are a much better jumpstart for your future job. Why expend valuable energy and precious time trolling the streets with bumper stickers when you could be getting hands-on broadcasting training from a mentor of your choice? Don’t get fooled into notions of internships as “paying your dues” or “resume boosters.” While an internship may provide a temporary boost to your career, maybe even enough to get you a broadcasting job, once hired you will most likely feel overwhelmed due to your lack of skills and station experience. And as for paying your dues, most broadcasting jobs are entry-level, so there will be plenty of time for that later. If you really want to be on the radio, forget about some dubious resume booster. Broadcasting schools and apprenticeships give you what you really need to begin: an air check demo tape.

If you’d like to get started in a broadcasting career, there are a million great broadcasting schools and apprenticeship programs out there just waiting for your call. Contact www.learn-by-doing.com for more information on jumpstarting your broadcasting career.