By Connor Battist

SPORTSCASTING

EXPLANATION• The Sports broadcaster is mostly known as the play by play

announcer that you hear while watching or listening to any major sports. It is also important that this person understands the sport inside and out. They need to be able to research and remember the players who are playing and have some sort of background knowledge on them.

TRAINING/EDUCATION

• The best way to receive the education/training that you will need to perform as a sportscaster is to pay to go to sports casting schools in North America, if unable to get into a school of sportscasting, you can go to a broadcasting school, but the main focus wont be on sports, you will receive training on how to DJ radio shows which wont help you as much in the long run.

REQUIRED SKILLS • A sportscaster must be extremely comfortable talking in front of a Camera and being

heard clearly on a microphone, as the voice is the most recognizable attribute of a broadcaster. They must be able to think quickly while commentating a game and not leave dead air. There are many surprises that can occur during a sporting event and you cant be thrown off. To talk to fans about sports you must have a wide knowledge of the sport yourself.

• Awareness

• Clear and Comfortable on the mic

• Knowledge of sports

• Ability to adapt

REQUIRED SKILLS 2/2

The ability to adapt to the world around you is a necessity, because keeping the show rolling is very important. An example of broadcasters using this can be found in the 3rd game of the 1989 world series (baseball), an earthquake shook the ground during the pre game show where the broadcasters had to keep calm and keep rolling.

HIRING• As a sportscaster, you most likely aren’t going to start your career as the head anchor of

TSN, so you will need to start somewhere. You need to get in with a radio station as soon as possible, start working the sports on a local radio station like 95.7 in Halifax. 95.7 is a radio station widely know for its News Talk and Sports. You wont have to worry about working as a DJ starting somewhere like this.

• Sportscaster job listings in canada

• http://www.workinsports.com/wisquickregapply.asp?idx=131029&referrer=727&rx_job=19877107&rx_source=simplyhired&rx_campaign=simplyhired13&rx_medium=cpc

• http://www.workinsports.com/wisquickregapply.asp?idx=147661&referrer=727&rx_job=36268496&rx_source=simplyhired&rx_campaign=simplyhired13&rx_medium=cpc

POSSIBLE SALARIES

• The salary varies largely on where you are working. Salaries vary between 17,000$ - 72,000$ With the median of salaries at 27,000 per year. Unless you’re Don Cherry, co-host of CBC’s Coaches Corner with Ron Maclean on Hockey Night in Canada who has a net worth valued at around 12 million dollars.

DOWNFALLS

• I feel like the downfalls of this career includes trying to get into the industry and the way people take your opinions. When first starting out as a sportscaster finding a quality place where you feel like your opinions matter and people are listening to your broadcast. If you get stuck into a dead end radio station in Halifax, Nova scotia and your goal is to reach it big time, you wont be satisfied with your career. If you do make it big, people who are listening to you wont always agree with your opinions on the players/ what is happening in the game which may cause controversy and that’s a downfall.

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BENIFITS

• In my opinion the benefits or the best parts of being a sportscaster is being involved in the world of professional sports. If you really enjoy the sports you cover you be spending everyday talking about the thing you love. It will make your life more enjoyable having a job where it isn’t a drag to pull yourself out of bed in the mornings.