How Crucial are Insider Contacts?
Simply put, we assign you to a working broadcaster, in an actual working radio station in your area. He or she becomes your mentor and through regular meetings and time spent together, you get to see how broadcasting is done.
Even more important, both your mentor and others at the station get to see you do it. Over time, they watch your skills grow, observe your level of commitment, and hopefully form a favorable opinion of you as potential on-air talent.
Then, when a radio job opens at either your current station or another where your mentor has contacts (and experienced broadcasters have lots of contacts), those who already know you are in a position to confidently recommend you or, if they’re decision makers, hire you themselves.
This “leg up” on the competition is the crucial factor in getting you hired when others don’t even get the courtesy of a rejection letter.
How crucial are insider contacts? Think about this fact:
According to industry data, nearly two of every three new radio job hires happen by way of an industry contact. In other words, thanks to the insider contacts you’ve made, when you walk into a potential new radio job situation, your foot is already two thirds in the door.
How BMG’s Program Works
- On application, you tell us what specialty you want to pursue in broadcasting: DJ, newscaster, sportscaster, or talk show host.
- You also submit four or five local stations at which you‘d like to train. Then choose whether you’d prefer to undertake either a three month or six month course of study.
- You’ll then be set up for training with a working broadcaster already in your specialty at one of these stations. You’ll meet for an initial interview, and if the arrangement works for both of you, you begin training.
- Unlike traditional classes, training meetings are set to your schedule. No need to quit a present job or otherwise alter your activities.
- BMG supplies all the training materials you need.
Training is comprehensive, and depending on your choice of specialty, includes these key skills:
- Operating in the studio environment, including equipment and procedures
- Vocal Development
- Developing a Personal Style
- Commercial announcing
- News announcing
- Music announcing
- Sports announcing
- Guest Interviewing skills
- Job Hunting Skills, including resume and demo development – Lifetime job placement assistance is also included
Importantly, your training is done right at the station. You walk into your new job already familiar with the mechanics of broadcasting, another key advantage.
Your Own Radio Show
A key part of your training will be to create your own weekly radio show, applying the skills you’ve learned. Your mentor will go over each show with you, returning detailed, constructive feedback designed to make you a better broadcaster with each review.
Then, at the end of your program, you’ll receive a Certificate of Completion. BMG is well known in the industry. This alone will make you a more attractive candidate for a radio job.
But even more important is that coveted recommendation from the hiring manager’s fellow industry insiders. You’ll have that crucial ‘missing link’ you lacked till now … an inside path to broadcasting success.
As long time broadcaster David Brody puts it, “I can’t think of a better way to enter the industry than to go through this program. It gets your foot in the door at a station. Once in, there’s no telling how far you can go.”
KBAY host Jona Denz Hamilton adds, “Mentoring will put you on the fast track.”
Different from Traditional Radio Broadcasting Schools
By the way, please don’t confuse the BMG program with traditional radio broadcasting schools that demand you travel to a far off brick and mortar location, sit through lectures conducted on inflexible schedules, practice on obsolete equipment, and leave the same way you entered … just another unknown knocking unsuccessfully on Broadcasting’s door.
Instead, you’re training right near your home, in an operating radio station that you choose, under working broadcasters willing to share their success with your own.
Also, unlike traditional schools, we have no fixed and inflexible starting and ending dates. Since you are a class of one, you can start anytime you wish. Our programs are always ready when you are, to provide both the skills, and the insider contacts, you’ll need.
But the first contact to make is with BMG. Our counselors will discuss all the details with you and answer your questions. There’s no cost or obligation to learn more.
Just pick a specialty that interests you, then click for more info.