Shannon Ryker | Nov. 19, 2008
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| Photo by Shannon Ryker |
| WTHR’s Cat Andersen told students that the trials are many, but a broadcasting career is worth it if they love the work. |
Andersen visited adjunct lecturer Irene Bushaw’s J200 Reporting Writing and Editing I class Tuesday and talked of her own journey to her current job as a reporter for the Indianapolis-based NBC affiliate.
“You have to know going into this field that you aren’t going to be doing it for the money. You really have to love it,” she said. “At my first job, I made $6.25 an hour and less than $10,000 a year.”
Andersen’s career in broadcasting illustrates how most journalists do have to work their way up from the bottom. After a series of internships during and after college, she began her broadcasting career in Grand Junction, Colo., where she was, “a one-man-band,” doing all the shooting, writing and editing for their story.
“Doing the one-man-band, you really get a work out,” she said. “You have to haul around a camera weighing around 45 pounds and a tripod weighing 15 pounds. Then you have to go to the studio and edit everything before the news deadline. You really don’t get break.”
Andersen worked her way up to an anchoring position at the Grand Junction station and then eventually made it to Colorado Springs, Colo., where she got back into her “favorite” part of her job, field reporting.
“I love being out in the field, getting to talk to all kinds of different people. It makes every day different,” she said.
She was a reporter and anchor in Bakersfield, Calif., before heading to Indianapolis in August 2007.
Although it may seem Andersen’s journey to her current position was easy, she explained it really was very difficult.
“In this business you really have to have tough skin. I have a large stack of rejection letters that I have kept to remind me of how hard I have worked.”
Andersen explained that, on average, it takes about a year to get a job after graduation.
“If you get a job offer, take it,” she said.
Internships in broadcasting are almost always unpaid, which can be very unappealing to students.
“In your internships, you get paid in learning,” she said. “You really need to absorb everything you can and be aggressive so you can be marketable for a job in the future.”
Andersen noted that if you are having trouble getting a job, hiring an agent may be a solution.
“An agent can really get you behind the scenes when trying to get hired. While you usually pay them between five to 10 percent of the salary when you get hired, it was completely worth it to me,” she said.
An agent can help you get tap into a business that is “50 percent luck and timing and 50 percent effort and talent,” Andersen said.
Once on the job, broadcast reporters must have skills and keep them polished.
“Be sensitive,” said Andersen, who recently has interviewed people who were victims of an arsonist and families sending loved ones off to Iraq. “Always remember you are dealing with people who might be experiencing some intense emotions.”
Journalists also must keep up with technology and know how to use equipment and programs critical to their work.
“Even today, you can see that Anderson Cooper is now doing some of his own shooting for his show,” she said.
The more skills and experience, the more marketable a broadcaster becomes. And, a little flexibility doesn’t hurt, either.
“At one of my jobs, I was told my eyelashes were too long, and it offended a viewer,” she said. “I was asked to cut them, and did, because sometimes you just have to do it to make it in this business.”
Andersen told students not to be discouraged as they try to get jobs, as they start at low-paying positions or as they navigate those unpaid internships.
“I love my job,” she said. “If I can make a difference or impact someone’s life, the hard work is worth it.”
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