On Friday, November 9th, 2007, Medaille College had a monumental day. This is due to it being the first Media Day in the college’s history. At 9:00, the Mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown, gave a speech officially declaring it Medaille Media Day. At 9:15, there were three workshops for the first session. I went to Radio 2007: The New Frontier.
Radio 2007: The New Frontier
The moderators for this session were Mike McKay, an underwriting consultant for WBFO and Medaille’s own Lou Pozantides. WBFO’s Eileen Buckley, Heidi Raphael from Greater Media Communications, and Andy Kazarowski from WWWS were a part of this panel. With every one of them a Medaille alumnus, the panel discussed the exciting career opportunities in the radio industry today.
Mike McKay has been in the business for 20 years and talked about how he was a newsman for 15 of those years. He is now a sales person for WBFO and he said that the communications field is all about connections. “Leave a lasting impression on whomever you meet, because it will help you out a lot” is what he had to say.
Eileen Buckley, also from WBFO, has spent 22 years in the field, working at 10 different stations, but being at WBFO for 6 of them. Her advice was to “stick with the program you get into, read everything you can about your field, and be very knowledgeable”.
Heidi Raphael spent 5 years at 97 Rock and has been director of Communications at Greater Media in Chicago. She said that there are many opportunities in the field and that “every day is different so take advantage of it”.
Andy Kazarowski of WWWS said that the most important skill to have in radio today is writing.
Session 2: Radio & TV Production (Behind the Scenes)
Session #2, which ran from 10:15 to 11 a.m., was moderated by Robert Mootry, a 2006 Medaille graduate. The panelists for this session were Val Pawlowski, a radio personality from WHTT, as well as a professor at Medaille. The other one was Tom Vetter, a videographer.
Val had a video for her presentation; it was a presentation on what it was like working at Citadel Communications, who owns WHTT. In the video, it was pointed out that it is a tough job to do, plan on moving around a lot. You need to pay your dues, so work up the ladder as much as you can. The best thing you could do is to get a spot at your college radio station and do a lot of internships, and get all the experience that you can.
It was mentioned that job are disappearing because most jobs are done by machine and corporations are taking over, so a lot of what you can do these days are regulated.
Tom Vetter was a cameraman for Channel 4 for 15 years, and he is now a freelance videographer. He kept implying that internships are a must in this business. He has a video on Youtube.com called “Second Chance Children”. He mentioned how he has a chance to shoot videos on Pope John Paul II, famous people, and famous places.
Session 3 (11:15-12:00): TV Today
This panel was hosted by the head of the Medaille Communications Department, Lisa Van Valkinburgh. The panel was made up by Mylous Hairston from Channels 4 and 23, Mary Alice Demler of Channel 2, and Joanna Pasceri of Channel 7.
Joanna started out for the panel. She has been working in TV for 20 years. She said to enjoy your classes, but be prepared for your internships, and reach out more than possible when you are interning somewhere. She was a part of the Washington Senator Program. She started out as a weekend anchor in Elmira, and held a production job.
Mylous was up next. He mentioned how his first job was at McDonald’s. He practiced his TV anchor voice in the drive-thru area. In college, h was a radio dj. Like Joanna, his first job in TV was in Elmira. He said that behind-the-scenes people are the key to great TV production. His advice was to treat your internship like a job, meaning dress appropriately, and arrive early. He said that the least amount of job security in TV is the on-air department, because you need to be correct and not biased. He also mentioned that personal life will suffer too because you are always doing your job there.
Mary Alice Demler started out by saying that she wasn’t originally interested in doing TV. She was a Biological Science major at Niagara University. She went to do a study overseas in France and decided she did not want to live there. After working in a hospital for a few years, she met a TV reporter who had gotten her to change her mind and she went to Canisius for communications. She was on the radio first, but then moved on to TV. She said in order to succeed; you must take your skills and your talents and develop them.
All three mentioned that in order to succeed in the industry, you need to be a really good reporter. Reading a lot is a must, and you need to create your own unique style
Media Luncheon
The luncheon went from 12:15 to 1 p.m. Don Tomasulo of Entercom was presented with an award and Andy Brocato of Tops Markets gave the Top 10 in both do’s and don’ts for a job interview.
Overall, I had a great experience at Media Day. It was nice to hear the stories of all these people and how hard they worked to get in the business. I am more strived now to achieve my goals to make it to the radio industry one day.
~Leon-Ryan Adams
