Clement Gibson
Editor-in-Chief
The Hyatt Regency in downtown New Orleans served as the site for the 2019 Louisiana Association of Broadcasters Conference.
This annual event is a career workshop for students of all classifications who are interested in television— news, sports, entertainment, and or radio broadcasting.
Former and current members of stations like iHeart Media, ESPN, ABC, CBS, Entertainment Tonight and CNN all gathered to share insight on their careers and the industry.
The first panel was for radio and focused on how to launch and maintain a successful career in radio.
The panelists included radio personalities— The Morning Q Crew, Shy and Cathy, Matt Moscona from ESPN’s sports and iHeart Media’s, Tori Kahl.
Shy warned the students about the cons of social media and how important it is to keep your profiles clean.
“With the advantage of social media, there’s a disadvantage too…When you post something it’s out there, and you can’t get it back. So be very careful with your social media footprints and what you’re posting and commenting on… Because if you’re coming to our radio station and applying for a job, I’m going to check out your social media first,” she stated.
Kahl urged students to speak up and shared what she looks for in potential employees when going through the hiring process.
“With iHeart and a lot of these other companies here, you have so much opportunity for growth. Once you get in the door of a radio or television station, all the opportunities open up. You should always speak up to say, ‘Maybe not today, but one day I want that.’ And I know now as I hire people, I want to hire the people that want to be in my chair and chairs above me. We encourage that,” said Kahl.
The second panel for television and keyed in on how to launch and maintain a successful career in that field.
Emmy Award-winning Correspondent Nischelle Turner, ESPN Anchor, Stan Verrett, Multimedia, Professional Broadcaster, Carley McCord and News Director, Randy Bain sat in on the panel.
Turner expressed how her experiences with Hurricane Katrina in 2005 helped her see the human side of being a reporter.
“We are not robots, we are reporters and we feel, hurt and ache. There’s been times when I’ve broken down crying on people. It happens and that’s okay. I think that a lot of times we think we have to be this unbiased reporter— and we do, but we are also people. When you personally connect to a story or subject, that is when you shine doing your job,” she said.
Verrett ended the panel by advising journalist to do three things— ask open ended and lean questions, and to be neutral.
He stated, “Open-ended means no yes or no questions. You’re a journalist, you’re trying to get answers. You’re trying to get the subject to talk. You also want lean questions. One of the hardest working questions you can ask is, ‘What happened?’ That’s two words, but you leave it to your subject— who is the person you want talking because you’re interviewing them… Last, be neutral. You may have ideas about that person is going to tell you, but you don’t want that person to affect your question.”
Demetris Valentine, a junior journalism and media studies major from Vicksburg, Miss. says she enjoyed the panel speakers and how honest they were when telling their stories.
“What I enjoyed the most were the panel speakers. They were very honest and open about their journey and what it took to get to where they are. I really enjoyed that because it helped encourage me,” said Valentine.
Valentine said the most importance piece of information she received from the panelist was to have dedication and passion.
She continued, “After hearing the panelist, I learned about dedication and passion. You really need to have a lot of that to go into this business. Although I do have a lot of passion, sometimes it may stray when you’re faced with a lot. Especially when it comes to deadlines because mass communication is based on a lot of deadlines.”
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