FUTURE OF BROADCAST ANNOUNCERS

[austingeezer]

Sad prediction from CBS Money Watch:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8334-505143_162-57343788/will-these-10-jobs-disappear-in-2012/?pageNum=6&tag=next

“The play-by-play for this occupation isn’t pretty. Consolidation has eliminated many jobs already, and technology is hijacking off-air tasks, such as editing, once performed by announcers (and future announcers paying their dues). Add the increased use of syndication and the growth of satellite radio and the picture is even bleaker. By 2018, broadcasting is expected to lose 2,400 radio and TV announcer jobs.”[/b]


  [Link added by Radio-Info.com as a courtesy]
 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I went through the entire list of ten jobs expected to decline in numbers.

I thought the articles were far too simplistic.  Their logic sounds.... well.... logical!  But I think their method overlooked a lot of threads in the fabric.  When I get back from a doctors appointment I want to find their list of 10 jobs with expanding opportunity.  See how their logic works there.

[landtuna]

I agree with you Goat.  Too simplistic.

For example, they predict a falling off of Chemists then go on to say that manufacturers are outsourcing their chemical requirements to smaller firms.  OK, assuming the same amount of work is required it appears the jobs will be relocating to smaller companies but not necessarily lost.

They also mention broadcast announcers but show a photo of Howard Stern who is anything but a broadcast announcer.  Is the job definition that large or did they screw up?

"Plant managers" is an almost indescribable occupation.  More like a responsibility than an actual job.  And what about project managers?  They could be thought of as plant managers on a smaller scale. 

Given the depth and accuracy of the article I suspect the #1 job loss might be in Journalism.

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

When I was young,  I took them at their word as the educators said:  We are entering an era of multiple careers in your lifetime.  Once in a while just to entertain myself,  I will share with someone the "employment journey" of my lifetime.  Unfortunately,  those educators who got my attention failed to tell the people who would become staff in the HR departments about the trend.  I know my resume was not greeted as a sign of "The Modern Man" in many cases.

A cynic would say:  You didn't have a career... you just had a bunch of jobs.  And then I have to organize it for them:  THREE distinct careers.

I asked my oldest offspring recently about CAD.  She arrived on the scene just as CAD hit the architecture world.  Nobody wanted to mess with this "new fangled passign fad" so when the office was told to assign someone to be their CAD "Point Person"....  they hung the unwanted task on the New Kid.  Very, Very fortunate for her! 

So here we are 30 years later.  My recent question to her was:  do you maintain any of your CAD skills today in your current work assignment?  "Dad,  I couldn't go back to that today if I had to.  There have been so many changes I wouldn't be able to catch up."  For 30 years she has done a parade of JOBS that are in the architecture/planning/healthcare field...  many of which may not have existed when she was in school,  and specific jobs that certainly did not exist WHEN I WAS IN SCHOOL.  How could either of us have targeted our studies for jobs that didn't exist?

I am always amused when the journalistic world attempts to write an article explaining how to plan your employment career.  It's a fool's venture.  But such articles do need to be written.  And they need to be scary so people stay awake and pay attention to what they must do next lest they become obsolete.

[landtuna]

I am always amused when the journalistic world attempts to write an article explaining how to plan your employment career.  It's a fool's venture.  But such articles do need to be written.  And they need to be scary so people stay awake and pay attention to what they must do next lest they become obsolete.

True.  My pre-retirement employer kept reminding all of us that, although the company had done well and had a great future, we were responsible for our own employment.  That meant staying up to date with the new technologies (which was almost impossible and required a considerable amount of your personal, unpaid time) while you were frequently using the old technologies day to day.

Although I managed to stay in the same general field my whole career I did have a myriad of responsibilities over that time, some of which I was better suited than others.  Not unlike I have read about the radio/TV field on these boards.  And although my last gig was over 21 years, there were many that lasted only a partial year or several years.  Again, not unlike people here.

The days of working for one employer for an entire career are pretty much history but that can also make working more interesting and exciting.  Nothing like the threat of losing your job to create a sense of urgency.  (I am glad those days are over though.)

[grantchester]

In the early '90s, I did an interview with a 'Futurist', who told me one of the best fields for the future would be broadcast journalism. I pressed the point, and he explained that there would be many openings by the turn of the century, as the current journalists reached retirement age. HA!

[landtuna]

In the early '90s, I did an interview with a 'Futurist', who told me one of the best fields for the future would be broadcast journalism. I pressed the point, and he explained that there would be many openings by the turn of the century, as the current journalists reached retirement age. HA!

Wouldn't the term "broadcast journalist" be an oxymoron?

Or perhaps mutually exclusive?

[daypart]

In the early '90s, I did an interview with a 'Futurist', who told me one of the best fields for the future would be broadcast journalism. I pressed the point, and he explained that there would be many openings by the turn of the century, as the current journalists reached retirement age. HA!

In a way, the futurist was right. He just didn't anticipate that the "openings" would be at self-published blogs!

It's still broadcasting.