Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Another myth exploded: people are getting hired during sweeps

Well, I'd never seen this before, but apparently the time honored rules of television news job hunting are totally out the window.

Two of my clients got jobs during sweeps.

In the past (the very recent past) you'd never see this. You wouldn't dare bother a News Director during sweeps, just as you'd never call a News Director at 4:30 in the afternoon.

But now the rules have changed, as some NDs are spending time during sweeps interviewing and hiring.

What's changed all of a sudden? Not sure, but considering the knee-jerk tendencies of owners and GMs, it's possible that a few NDs are trying to get the jump on their counterparts by snatching up the good people.

Or, what might have happened is that stations are so short staffed that people who gave their notice in October will be leaving their stations stretched even thinner for the holidays, and the NDs want to fill those openings quickly.

Doesn't matter. It's a good thing.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yep, this station just hired on-air talent during sweeps, and a tv news acquaintance just got hired last week..