Things You Won't

Find In Textbooks

I started out in broadcasting more than 50 years ago -- right about the time the first network TV newscasts went on the air..

I got my feet wet (and started making my mistakes) in high school doing on-air announcing for the local radio station.

Before I went into teaching many years later, I had worked mostly full time in two countries for seven radio stations and three major TV stations.

I experienced many things that I occasionally talked about in class -- some would call them "war stories" -- that aren't appropriate for formal educational materials.

Interestingly, these "war stories" tended to be what students remembered most from the class. That's okay, because they often carried an important lesson.

Back in the early days when radio and TV people fumbling their way along, mistakes were inevitable. This wasn't helped by the fact that equipment was notoriously unreliable. (The first TV stations regularly went off of the air for hours at a time when things broke down.)

Equipment is far more reliable today (believe it or not!), and young people starting out in radio and TV are expected to know better.

For one thing, "been-there-done-that people" like me are expected to educate them.

Unfortunately, I see people who are starting out in radio and TV today (and even some that aren't just starting out) that are making some of the same mistakes I made.

In today's highly competitive atmosphere careers can be damaged or cut short as a result.

So these blogs are designed in part to help young people avoid mistakes by knowing about the mistakes of others -- especially mine.

I'll call your attention to the quote on the index page -

If you want to eliminate as many mistakes in your own life as possible, first study the mistakes of others.

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