Midterm

Charlotte Brereton

October 5^th 2010

Practicum Midterm

    For the past five years I have been working really hard towards becoming a television host, this is what I am driving to be as my ideal career choice but I am aware that without a lot of hard work and building up my resume this is going to be extremely difficult.

   I have always had an idol in this industry, she is a British TV presenter named Fearne Cotton. Out of all of the TV presenters that were on TV at the time Fearne really stuck out to me because she was a young female doing the shows that I would love to present and she had a fun spunky way of delivering her script, she had a dry sense of humor that never got old and matched mine.

    Fearne began her presenting career in 1998, at the age of 17, with early morning GMTV children's programme The Disney Club, after she was discovered in a nationwide talent search during the show.  In 2000 she left to concentrate on her other projects with CITV, including Draw Your Own Toons and Mouse. What I found interesting is that she started off her career at the age of 16 working on a small radio show and getting her name out there locally before ever taking on anything bigger. In 2006 I joined a radio show near my school at the age of 16.  I went every Wednesday night to volunteer helping out, gathering all the song requests and organizing the nights show. After a few weeks of getting to know everyone I was asked to be one of the regular Wednesday night DJ’s on a show which lasted for two and a half hours.  I stayed with this for two years before I graduated from my school and couldn’t commute to the radio station anymore.

      Small television stations routinely hire rookies to host local programs. However though my research I learnt that hopeful TV personalities should perform a reality check before embarking on this career path. It takes more than a winning smile to land a TV host job, and only mega-stars take home huge paychecks. If broadcasting is truly your passion as it is mine, I would find hosting my own TV show rewarding. On the other hand, if you’re just looking for riches and fame this is going to be a very hard way of finding it.

   To find out more about this industry I took a 3 week course in London on TV hosting, we covered everything a TV host would be required to do, I was writing scripts till the early hours of the morning, interviewing people on the streets and working on my improvisational skills, read from the tele-prompter in front of a green screen, interview in a studio, shoot a location piece and memorize an article lasting a minute in the studio. After the three weeks of intense training I was awarded my TV hosting diploma from the London academy of television.  The course taught me a lot; I learnt that television hosts take on a wide variety of duties both on and off the air. They conduct interviews, introduce show elements and relay information to program viewers. Most TV hosts have a hand in writing scripts, booking guests and researching material as well. To enhance their public profile, hosts might also be required to participate in community events and other outside activities.  

     Only television hosts working for major stations and national networks rake in the big bucks. Most hosts are employed by small or local stations, and salary figures reflect that fact. According to BLS reports, the mean annual wage for television announcers was $41,590 in 2009. Half of all workers represented made between $19,390 and $42,290. BLS experts say hosts working in New Jersey, Washington, Arizona, Massachusetts and California earned the most in 2009. Annual wages for workers in these states averaged more than $54,000, it isn’t as glamorous and well paid as everyone thinks.