One of the sure-fire ways to get a job out of college in the broadcasting industry, including sportscasters, is to have plenty of experience. A study according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, showed that a 2% decrease for broadcasts news analysts’ employment is expected from 2012 to 2022.
The U92 Sportsdesk on the University of Memphis’s very own WUMR Jazz Lover Station offers aspiring sport broadcasting students the opportunity to learn how to work at a live radio station.
“I’ve really learned a lot in my time at the U92 Sportsdesk,” Stuart Settles, a senior journalism major with a concentration in broadcasting, said. “Everything from how to work a soundboard to how to host a show and even to doing play-by-play at the football and basketball games has helped me develop my skills as a broadcaster.”
WUMR 91.7 FM is a live radio station that broadcasts all around the clock jazz music. It has also been the University of Memphis broadcasting station since 1979.
Today the station provides 24 hours a day jazz music both online and on the radio waves. According to their website www.memphis.edu/wumr, “WUMR will continue to be a major learning laboratory for students, giving many of them the very first opportunity to work at an FM station – on air and behind the scenes.”
WUMR accepts applications from students who want to work as a DJ for the station or just want to learn how to work at and run an FM radio station. Monday through Friday, WUMR also offers the U92 Sportsdesk for aspiring sports broadcasters.
While WUMR offers opportunities for aspiring sports broadcasting students, the station also gives students opportunities to obtain internship opportunities at other stations. Sports 56, one of the stations that have hired these U of M students, is a sports show that is broadcasted on WHBQ 87.7 FM and 560 AM.
Settles, who started working at the WUMR station on the U92 Sportsdesk in the fall of 2011, says that working on the U92 Sportsdesk helped him obtain internship opportunities elsewhere such as WHBQ Sports 56.
“At Sports 56, I worked as a worked for ‘Wolo and Bash’ – a show hosted by Dave Woloshin and produced by David Basham,” Settles said. “I worked as a producer, I played the commercial that was played whenever they needed it, made sure they sounded good and that they were on the air, and that they had a sponsor copy for whatever they needed to read on air to provide the sponsors of the show.”
Settles says that if it was not for the experience he gained at WUMR, his transition to WHBQ Sports 56 would have been much more difficult.
“The one main thing you need to know (about working a radio station) is all the equipment,” Settles said. “While the equipment differed between Sports 56 and U92 (Sportsdesk), the gist of it was very similar with how to work the soundboard and stuff like that. So really, all I had to do was do what they told me.”
Settles, who hopes to one day work for a radio or TV station as a sports play-by-play analyst – an in-game analyst who, in literal terms, covers the game “play by play” – as a color commentator – provides commentary such as facts about the game, the players or the teams playing – or as a host of his own show, says the experience he has gained both at WHBQ Sports 56 and WUMR U92 Sportsdesk have helped hone his broadcasting skills so that he is prepared for a career in sports broadcasting.
