By Frank Macek
 |
| The Channel 3 Control Room |
For those looking for work in northeast Ohio, local television is another area of equal opportunity for those willing to work hard and put in long hours.
Technology has been a game changer in the television industry over the recent decade as computers and automation system have ebbed the demand for some "behind the scenes" positions, while opening plenty of other opportunities in newsrooms and information centers as some television stations now call themselves.
Future growth opportunities in local television will mainly concentrate around multimedia journalists, content creators and advertising sales representatives over the next five years.
The phrase that pays is "adapt or die."
Let's take a look each of these opportunities in more detail:
MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISTS
A multimedia journalist is the redefinition of the traditional reporter or videographer who would work in tandem on a story in past years. Today, newsrooms have separated these positions into one person crews where either individual is tasked to write, shoot and edit their own material for both on-air or on-line platforms. In today's world, it's digital first - then on-air.
Also, handheld cameras from companies like Sony, JVC or Canon are much lighter and more portable today. Such cameras are comparable to camcorders people have used for many year, but are broadcast quality. Even iPhones have changed the way video is captured and used for on-air and on-line.
Other key skills of multimedia journalists require the ability to use standard editing software packages such as Grass Valley's Edius, Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro or Sony Vegas to work under tight news deadlines.
Having the ability to work by yourself is essential in today's broadcast environment.
CONTENT CREATORS
Content creators are teams of people who work in newsrooms and focus primarily on the dissemination of information through on-line and social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or individual blogs.
More and more today people are getting their news and information from non-traditional sources other than radio, broadcast television and newspapers. The inseparable connection people have with their smartphones have changed the way people look for news and have become key battlegrounds for viewer's eyeballs on these evolving platforms.
Content creators write original stories and post videos they have created themselves or that multimedia journalists have worked on throughout the day. Whole departments of web based writers are being added to newsrooms to work on just social media avenues giving you a great opportunity to use your writing skills.
ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVES
Advertising opportunities have been around for years, but are growing in importance as television stations look for energetic and persistent professionals who can connect with the business community to bring additional revenue into a station. Competition from other sources of media continue to grow exponentially, while slices of overall revenue have grown smaller for any particular part of the industry.
This position often entails selling non-traditional or digital advertising as well. On-line banner ads for web pages and mobile devices and pre-roll advertising for video feeds are great opportunities for sales people to sell to advertisers who may not be able to afford the higher cost of over-the-air advertising rates.
As long as there is television, a strong need will exists in this sales areas.
You can always find our job opportunities for WKYC on wkyc.com at the following link: http://bit.ly/wkycjobs
----
Frank Macek is the weeknight director for Channel 3 News at 7 & 11 p.m. You can follow him on Twitter @frankmacekwkyc and his own behind the scenes WKYC "Director's Cut Blog" at http://wkycdirectorscut.blogspot.com
