Sports Broadcasting
Nathan Karseno 5/6 period
Introduction
Have you ever noticed the people who commentate the game as its playing. They are both behind the camera and sometimes on it. They tell stats of all the players and know almost everything about the sport they are commentating. Some broadcasters include Craig Way who broadcasts all University of Texas sports, Kirk Herbstreit with college football, and Mark Followill who commentates Dallas Mavericks games. These professionals have been through years of schooling to get to this career. Here is what it takes to make it to the big time and become a sports broadcaster!
Brent Musburger (right) and Kirk Herbstriet (left) getting ready to call a college football game.
University of Texas sports broadcaster Craig Way (left) interviewing football coach Charlie Stong.
Derek Harper (left) and Mark Followill (right) applying post game analysis after a Mavericks game.
What it's like to be a Sports Broadcaster
Sports Broadcasting is a career that requires lots of knowledge of the sport you are commentating or all sports in general. Broadcasters have many tasks they have to accomplish in this career. Broadcasters don't just do the play-by-play of the games. A broadcasters job is to share knowledge of the game and statistics to people around the world. They must to their "homework" behind the scenes before the game to gain all the knowledge they can get to present during the game.
Education
To be a sports broadcaster, you must have at least a Bachelor's degree in Public Speaking, Mass Communication, Sports Broadcasting, Sports Entertainment, Journalism, or any other field of study relating some what to those topics. There is different information that is needed to be learned depending on the job title you decide to pursue in sports broadcasting. Some occupations are sports reporter, play-by-play commentator, color commentator, sports news anchor, and sports talk show host. All people related to sports broadcasting must know the basic rules of that sport or sports, the players that play that sport, the basic terminology used in the game.
Experience
To be a sports broadcaster, experience is a tool that you should consider having before you apply for a major broadcasting position. There are many ways you can get experience. For example, one way you can gain a little experience coming out of high school, is working for a radio station. One specific radio station that is run locally out of DFW is 1310 The Ticket. Gaining extra experience like that could really help a young high school student get involved in the career of sports broadcasting.
Salary
In 2013, the average salary for a radio or television sports announcer was $41,800. The average annual salary for a person who broadcasts the games live was at a record high, $92,360. Sports news analysts have an average salary of $84,710 in that year as well.