The News Director's timetable

Most of you see an ad for a job and can't figure out why you sent a great tape and haven't heard anything. Or why you sent a great tape and heard something two months later.

It's because the News Director has a timetable different than your own. And this time of year, there's no rush to do anything.

You're probably thinking that if there's an opening, a News Director drops everything and spends the entire day looking at tapes, interviewing people, etc.

Uh, no.

You still have to put on a daily newscast. You still have to deal with the whims of upper management. You still have to take care of the staff that's already in place.

And in the middle of July, there's no rush to do anything. Why? Well, the November book doesn't start for several months. And many NDs see no reason to add salary in this economy when the next rating period doesn't pop up for awhile.

In many cases the job hunt this time of year is a leisurely one. A News Director knows he needs someone, but his goal might be to get someone hired around Labor Day. That will give that person enough time to get comfortable by the November book. This isn't true of all newsrooms, but it does happen in many of them.

So just because you didn't hear anything in the dog days of summer, it doesn't mean you're out of the running.

It just means the ND doesn't follow your timetable.


TVNEWSGRAPEVINE, copyright 2011 © Randy Tatano

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