Radio Internship Reviews

Call up any Radio Broadcaster or Program Director and ask them how you can break into the business. The answer you're most likely to hear is: "Radio Internships are the way to go".

One little problem they never mention is...

Radio Internships are usually only available for currently matriculating college students.

What they're actually saying is: unless you're in college, there's no way you can get in radio and be on-air.

That's a bunch of bull as you'll see down the road here, but if they had it their way their station would be filled with nothing but free laborers doing Internships.

Let's take a look at what Internships are...and aren't:

Radio Internships are for college students

Traditional Two Or Four-Year Colleges:

You can choose this route for your journey, and cross your fingers that your college will find you a radio internship as a part of the curriculum. Most colleges restrict outside internships to upper-class students, so you’ll have to wait a year or two.

But despite these obstacles, traditional colleges are the most widely traveled path to a career in broadcasting - the operative word here being 'widely'. Many do travel this road, but according to U.S. Department of Education statistics, only 12% of interns ever reach their destination of being on the air.

Ouch! Two to four years, tens of thousands of dollars – and my chances of being on-air are just 12 stinkin percent?!

That’s right - only 12 out of 100 who choose this path for the journey ever reach their on-air destination.

In all fairness, you can’t fully blame colleges, or even the internships, for this low figure. College students sometimes decide that broadcasting is not for them, or they might hear another calling while in school.

Before you choose this path, here is your roadmap. You need to have information about what internships are – and are not. Then and only then can you make an informed decision to begin your journey down this road.

An Internship IS:

1. An offer of your services to a radio station in exchange for college credit and exposure to an on-the-job setting.

2. Exciting and informative, although you are only permitted to observe the on-air process, and do not participate.

3. A chance to see how other departments inside a radio station work. Most interns are expected to help out by making copies, handing out flyers, or give away promotional CDs at remote broadcasts.

An Internship is NOT:

1. Geared toward on-air training. To the contrary, Federal Fair Labor Laws prohibit interns from replacing or performing employee job duties.

2. A chance to make a Demo Tape to send out. Many stations prohibit interns from using the equipment for any reason. Plus, what would you put on the tape since you have no formal training or sound bites yet?

3. An internship is NOT available to a non-college student (typically).

As long as you understand these limitations, a traditional college approach and internship might just work, if you can wait two to four years to get out into the real world.

Remember, though: Internships are usually limited to college students only. Offering your services to a station for free, as part of an “informal internship,” is not a promising route.

Corey Deitz, longtime DJ and radio guide at http://radio.about.com, advocates teaching yourself this lesson the hard way: “Call up as many stations as possible, and offer your services free of charge”. You'll see what I'm talking about.

I’ve worked with hundreds of radio stations, and my experience is the odds of finding any takers would be equal to hitting a home run in the bottom of the 9th inning with 2 outs!


Lack Of Radio Training During Internships Hurts Your Chances Of Being On-Air:

The lack of any hands-on training is a serious flaw to the college/internship approach. Lest you think training doesn’t matter, try this little exercise. Grab a microphone and speak for two staright minutes about your favorite topic. If your goals are to become a DJ, then talk for a minute, then play a song from your favorite band, then speak afterward.

Now, play back the recording. Not what you expected is it? This exercise will give you a deeper appreciation for the skill that broadcasting requires. Not to mention a healthier respect for the jocks that perform flawlessly each day.

Radio Internships Produce NO DEMO TAPE?!

Few, if any, internships will give you the chance to make the all-important “air check” demo tape. Without a demo tape — forget it! Verrrry few radio decision makers will even consider hiring you for an on-air position without first hearing how you sound behind a microphone.

After Doing An Internship - You Still Need a Plan:

Upon completion of any internship, the student still has to devise a plan to acquire actual broadcast training. It is not the station’s job or intent to train any intern to become a radio personality.

I’ve always felt that a smart intern would recognize this and utilize the resources around him. Close observation of the entire process during show prep, taping, and the actual on-air procedures can be instructional, though it is passive training.

You can then take this information and start your own Internet radio show, perhaps from a place like http://live365.com. An Internet show would at least give you the chance to implement the techniques you've observed.

You can then take the tapes of these Internet shows and use them as a demo tape, or ask a DJ to critique them. This would help you to develop your on-air skills, and would also show station management your initiative and desire.

SUMMARY: Lack of actual training, I believe, is the primary reason that only 12% of college graduates who’ve done internships actually go on to a broadcasting career.

It's apparent the College/Internship path is a well-trodden one, and with a bit of luck, in a few years you could be one of the 12% who make it on the air.

As you can see, the Radio Internships do one thing the broadcasting schools failed to do: Get your foot in the door at a real radio station, around real professionals and real decision makers...who have the very real ability to hire you.

With no formal training, however, they neglect the "What you know" portion of the saying, but are spot-on in addressing the 'WHO you know' portion.

Imagine if you could find one model that addressed BOTH sides of the equation and provided answers to both WHAT you know and WHO you know?

Stick around, someone way smarter than I has thought of just that solution.

Until next time,

Many Blessings

Michael Madden

http://BroadcastingCareer.com/