TV station job?

[kittyhas1000legs]

Hey all,

I wasn't sure which section to post this in, so I figured here is close enough.

I recently moved a couple thousand miles to Grand Junction, CO. My wife will be going to school out here, and I transferred to another location of the giant pharmacy chain I work for. I mostly stuck with them just to be sure we had some sort of income out here. Now that we're settled in, I'm going to be applying for something I might actually enjoy.

A local CBS affiliate is hiring a part-time production assistant. It's entry level, so I might have a shot at getting it. Thing is, career-wise I have no relevant experience. However I have experience with setting up OTA, FTA, and some basic video editing software. The job entails operating cameras, setting up the news van, making graphics, and other various tasks.

Is there anything I should know about the industry before interviewing? Anything I should avoid mentioning about FTA to a TV station? I know to never contact an uplinker, but I don't think a local would mind (and I don't do 4:2:2 anyway.)

 

[Titanium]

Was in the production industry for many years. PAs are definitely entry level and you will probably be competing against film school graduates trying to get their foot in any door.

Usually a TV station PA in a major market is the runner or go-fer. Expect to be fetching coffee, delivery courier, client/guest driver, cable puller, audience wrangler or any other menial task that a "qualified" staff wishes to delegate. Not likely to give you any technical opportunities, but it may introduce you to some people who might open future doors if you wish to pursue working in the industry. Mentioning FTA or editing experience would not likely earn any points other than showing interest in technology.

 

[Magic Static]

I think in this case it would be a good idea to bring up your hobby and interests in TV and satellite broadcasting. As a mechanic I was working on a company car for a local TV station. The user of the car was an engineer for the station. It just so happened I was working on a new ATSC tuner at the time. I couldn't tune this same afore mentioned station. It was a driver/PID problem, but I had not discovered this yet and so I was quizzing the guy about what the PIDs actually were so I could manually input them. I explained my issue and he offered me a job. LOL He said I knew more about this stuff than the guys he had working there .

 

[stejamand]

Was in the production industry for many years. PAs are definitely entry level and you will probably be competing against film school graduates trying to get their foot in any door.

Usually a TV station PA in a major market is the runner or go-fer. Expect to be fetching coffee, delivery courier, client/guest driver, cable puller, audience wrangler or any other menial task that a "qualified" staff wishes to delegate. Not likely to give you any technical opportunities, but it may introduce you to some people who might open future doors if you wish to pursue working in the industry. Mentioning FTA or editing experience would not likely earn any points.

I work as a PA in Oregon, usually production staff in local TV are more technical. Occasionally you may have to wrangle guests for in-studio interviews, but otherwise you'll start out running the Teleprompter. And work your way up to running audio and graphics. However if the station is running automation, you'll most likely stay on Teleprompter. Editing will help, and it wouldn't hurt to mention FTA experience, but it's not too relevant and would probably help more in engineering.