Radio: Not Dead Yet-Why You Should Get a Job in Radio

The radio panel of Stewart Vanderwilt, of KUT in Austin, and Dave Davies, of KSTX an NPR San Antonio station, started their session by addressing the monumental question: Is radio a dying industry?

The answer is no.

Radio is not dying, but changing and rapidly growing, like other media outlets, with the power of the internet.

The 80-seat session remained attentive as Vanderwilt stated statistics that show the current growth between the internet and radio industry. Students that had to sit up against the back wall to listen to the presentation.

With his charts, Vanderwilt pointed out the fastest growing thing in the industry. To date, radio has tracked 10 million podcast downloads and 19 million satellite listeners. Both of those options were not available in the radio industry as little as 10 years ago. With the addition of more broadband to cell phones, the internet is acting as the catalyst that radio needed to update its format.

"One hasn't hurt the other," said Vanderwilt. "Eventually, the cell phone is going to be the one device for all our audio and entertainment."

Davies recognized that radio has changed by going into national broadcasting and dropping the community reporting.

"It's changed in a way that it's no longer local. Very rarely does a city have its single radio station that airs community events. Coporate media has taken over," said Davies.

Both panelist addressed the fact that music will always go hand in hand with radio, but stations have to expand the definition of how music is presented in the digital age.

"A station that is going to be successful has to put the audience in control rather than only letting people listen in real time," said Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt, KUT's station manager, said that NPR is the largest podcaster in the world, and KUT helped launch NPR's podcasting with the station's show, "Radio Without Borders".

Using http://www.indie103.fm/ as an example of progressive radio, because the station offers slideshows, audio, and podcasts. Each offering gives the audience a perspective of a band/artist that radio or TV cannot offer.

After clarifying the state of radio, the two presenters stressed why radio is offering good, entry-level opportunities. They emphasized how employers are looking to hire recently college graduates, because students have the multimedia skills that current stations don't have.

"Jobs that pay the most in radio are the technical positions, like webmaster and web developer," said Vanderwilt.

Vanderbilt advised students to come offering good journalism first and presentation second. Keeping up with blogs is how he suggested someone could remain up-to-date on a subject.

"You don't want to deliver a story with less that what your audience knows," said Vanderwilt.

Davies stated that every news reporter carries a digital camera with them and goes through a multimedia training. He pointed out the obvious student advantage at most radio stations.

"We are learning this technology late in the came, but you guys are swimming in the media. You are like fish that don't even know the water is there," said Davies.