Sportscaster/Play-By-Play Announcer

The attraction of spending a career in close association with the world of sports motivates many people to undertake the challenge. However, sports announcing is very competitive, and years of dedicated effort are invested before one can look forward to a network-level position. Instead, most new sports announcers perfect their skills by working as announcers for high school, small college, and minor-league teams while sending tapes of their ability to stations that carry larger events.

However, even the smallest cities and towns can provide opportunities for the aspiring sports announcer. In fact, high school football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer broadcasts often attract sizeable listening audiences for the stations that carry them.

The vast amount of sports coverage and information broadcast every day on national networks such as ESPN, as well as smaller regional networks and local stations, provide a tremendous source of education for the aspiring sports announcer. Typically, the person interested in becoming a sports announcer already lives, eats, and breathes sports. They tend to "soak up" an incredible amount of information that, when applied toward a sports announcing career, becomes extremely beneficial. For example, can you imagine how much expertise you would have acquired in say, nuclear physics, if it was given as much coverage as sports gets? The point is, you may already have a complete, in-depth education in sports that can be put to use when applied toward a sports announcing career.

Employment opportunities in sports announcing have never been better. Every day it seems, new national and regional networks are being launched. "Fringe" sports that previously went unnoticed by the general public are beginning to attract larger audiences and therefore, broadcast coverage. All-sports, or sports-talk radio stations are becoming more common, even in small markets. All these developments have created a demand for sports announcers, and an opportunity for sports announcers, such as the broadcast industry has never before experienced.

Of course, in order to be taken seriously when applying for one of these positions, you have to have experience. And it's a Catch-22 situation. You can't get a job without experience and it's difficult to get experience without a job. Which is why NBTN apprentices have been so successful in finding sports announcing employment. They not only receive real-world training, they get real-world experience, on-the-field experience, in-the-press-box experience.

Broadcasters Training Network has hundreds of member instructors who are current working sports reporters and play-by-play announcers who may be interested in training you!

Take the first step, contact NBTN for more information about sports broadcasting apprenticeships now available in your city or town.