COPING WITH THE COMPETITION
Like all media careers, hopeful young announcers are queueing up to get behind the microphone and competition is fierce. Regional opportunities now are greatly reduced as ITV 1 has centralised its announcers to one small London-based team and the BBC is scaling back live continuity.
Basically, you'll need to be prepared to move to London, Cardiff, Glasgow or Belfast if you want to announce on television. To help those aspiring to the job, we've asked several leading announcers about the best way to get into the profession.
What is clear is that there is no specific educational requirement (although most announcers are educated to college or degree level) or right or wrong way to go about it. Today's announcers come from a variety of diverse backgrounds, from teaching and travel news to television production and acting. Many announcers have already earned their broadcasting spurs in other areas of the media, often local radio.
HOSPITAL RADIO SPRINGBOARD
Most announcers agree that for someone with no broadcasting background, local hospital radio is an excellent place to start. It is important for an announcer to be comfortable in front of a microphone and voluntary work on a hospital station or even a talking newspaper for the blind project is a good way to gain this experience.
Announcers should also be 'media savvy' and have an interest in television programmes. After all, you can't 'sell a station' and its programmes to the viewers if you have never watched it or have no idea about its style and output. (For example, the type of announcing used on BBC Three is very different from BBC Four or The History Channel. It helps to know this.)
Other essential requirements are flexibility and the ability to work under pressure. Announcers really come into their own when schedules have to be changed at the last minute and they will need to quickly re-write links against extremely tight deadlines and keep on top of a rapidly changing situation.
An ability to write crisp, clear and interesting copy to fill very short slots is also important. Most announcers get just a few seconds to impart important information about the next programme or the day's schedule so there's no room for lengthy speeches.
If you wish to work for the BBC Nations - Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland - you will need to be technically adept. Announcers in these areas operate all the kit at the same time as they announce so they have to be skilled vision and sound mixers, lines controllers, aspect ratio 'policemen' and graphic artists at the same time. The computer illiterate wouldn't stand much of a chance as TV presentation departments in these areas use half a dozen computers, all of them running different complex programmes (transmission automation, server control, picturebox graphics, Aston graphics, script access, and network routing).
A FOOT IN THE DOOR
So what's the best way of getting your foot in the door? Jobs are advertised very rarely and when they do appear they generate sack loads of applications. Even so, it's worth checking for vacancies on the websites of the main television companies and also perusing the sits vac pages in publications such as Media Guardian, Broadcast magazine and The Stage newspaper.
One way of getting yourself considered is to make a short demo tape containing a range of different announcements of various lengths to reflect different programme genres - i.e, an upbeat or light-hearted link into Blind Date and something with more gravitas for use before the news. Watch a station's output for the night and jot down the timing and style of each continuity announcement. If you're working in hospital radio you will have access to the facilities (with permission) required to put together a decent demo.
If you are lucky enough to know an announcer you could ask them to crit the tape. Take their advice and keep trying until it is right. One mistake that many people make is to assume that to be a television announcer one needs to adopt a certain type of voice or use cliched 'announcerese'. Most presentation directors want to hear your real voice, not your impression of Peter Lewis or Trish Bertram.
BE YOURSELF ON-AIR
Regional accents aren't necessarily a problem these days, in fact, many channels encourage them (as long as they are not too broad!). However, certain dialects don't play well - you won't hear many scouse or westcountry twangs emanating from the continuity microphone - and whatever your accent, you must be clear and understandable.
Once your demo is ready, send it to heads of presentation across the different TV networks. Most satellite channels pre-record their continuity in one go a month at a time and tend to use established announcers and voice-over artists. ITV in England no longer uses regionally-based announcers, so there's no point wasting a stamp on sending a tape to your local station. Check who is in charge and whether continuity is done on-site before you send off your tape.
Offer to audition and make yourself available for 'work experience' shadowing the continuity team, it's a great way of really seeing what the job entails and gaining valuable experience and contacts. You may be lucky and find a vacancy or an opportunity to do relief shifts covering for holidays and sickness. Good luck! |
