A Question for you Flagpole Willy - Non-running related

Sound and Vision,

I have a degree in journalism and English. During college I wrote for a generic drug magazine. After college I was a sports reporter for The Columbus Dispatch.

Then, after a move to California (I had landed a job with the San Jose Mercury News as a sports reporter only to find out that the guy who hired me was fired when I got out there, and they were restructuring the sports department) I worked for a publishing company as a reporter for several weekly newspapers in the towns of Los Gatos, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Burlingame, and Saratoga. Did that for a while and then took a job with a magazine publishing company as an entertainment writer/food critic - great job, but horrible pay, but better than I had been making so it was good.

Then after 3 years of that went back to school for a Masters Degree in English Education. Worked part time as a reporter for a biotechnology magazine and taught summer school and a class at a community college. Currently work as a technical writer for a software company.

My suggestions are the following:

1) If you LOVE being a news reporter, then do it. If you don't LOVE it, then quit now. The hours are horrible - often late into the evening as you have to cover meetings and sporting events that often start at 7:30 and aren't over until 10:00 or later, and then you have to write the story so it can be put to bed by 2:00 a.m. NOT condusive to married life, especially if you have children. I recognized that BEFORE I even had children, so I got out. Lots of gays (not that there's anything wrong with that) and divorced people in the newspaper business.

2) Get your technical skills up so that you can get other types of writing jobs if you want - get versed in FrameMaker, RoboHelp or some other help authoring tool, and perhaps even other desktop publishing programs like Quark Express - just depends on what you want to do. Technical writers make very good livings these days if you can find a job, especially those with managerial duties like the job I have. And, a technical writer can work on all kinds of things from airplane schematics to software to electric pianos - very varied work.

3) If you like travel, consider trying to hook up with a national magazine. My sister-in-law worked for Ladies Home Journal for a while, and she loved it until they had children - then she left for the same reasons I left my journalism job.

Not sure what else I can offer you. If you have any specific questions just ask. Just make sure that whatever job you choose isn't a chore. You only live once.

So you know Ray Stein?

Whoops, hit post before I was done. I also used to work at the Dispatch, but it was after your time. When I was there, Stein was the assistant sports editor to Strode. I didn't work with Ray much, but I did some, and I know he could be tough. That's OK, though, because as long as you did your job the way you were supposed to, Ray was a good guy. Do you know Blackledge, too?

former agate guy,

Yes, I know the guys you speak of. Blackledge went to OWU where I did.

I worked most closely with soccer beat writer Craig Merz when I was with the Dispatch. As The Crew weren't in town then, Craig was NOT a soccer beat writer when I worked with him. All the other people I worked with are still there in some capacity - Felix Hoover, Bill Mayr, Steve Stephens.

Got to interview Bill Shoemaker, Mark Plaatjes and Butch Reynolds while there - I was a low man on the totem pole, but those where the best interviews I did one-on-one. I did cover a Reds-Indians final spring training game they had at Cooper's Stadium when Pete Rose was still manager and under fire and Chris Sabo and Paul O'Neil were Reds. Good memories, but man I wouldn't want to do it again.

former agate guy, Do you know Steve Blackledge? My experience is that he is a great guy, an excellent reporter and writer, and a great GREAT advocate for all high school sports, especailly track & XC. Our sport would have few popularity problems if we had more guys like Steve.

Sound and Vision wrote:

FW,

I was wondering what your background in journalism is and what your suggestions are for a university journalism major to be doing one year away from graduation. I'd appreciate your insight if you could spare a few minutes. Thanks.

S&V

Pick another profession. Logging onto letsrun and asking flagpole willy for advice indicates that you have no idea where to find sources and will inevitably rely on bad ones.

just the facts wrote:

former agate guy, Do you know Steve Blackledge? My experience is that he is a great guy, an excellent reporter and writer, and a great GREAT advocate for all high school sports, especailly track & XC. Our sport would have few popularity problems if we had more guys like Steve.

Yes, I do know Blackie, and I agree with you that he is very good at what he does. Besides that, he's a hell of a nice guy, too. And there's no doubt that he loves track and cross and is a great friend of those sports.

I don't live in central Ohio anymore, but I understand he recently was inducted into some sportswriting hall of fame (the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association, maybe?). He's a young guy, still in his early to mid-40s, but it's an honor well-deserved.

Man, a thread aimed at ME that then turns into a thread about Steve Blackledge - what's that about? :)

Flagpole Willy wrote:

Man, a thread aimed at ME that then turns into a thread about Steve Blackledge - what's that about? :)

lol

you never cease to amaze us

pml

wow, Blackledge is an awesome dude. had a great jumper. played hoops with him in Delaware and we used to do our long Sunday runs together.

Flagpole,

It's a small world, and you give good advice.

Dad hailed from Akron, went to OWU on a partial track scholarship, served a stint with the Beacon-Journal and spent about 25 years in the sports department at the Mercury News. I went to j-school myself and worked for a couple of weekly rags in Santa Cruz County til I could see burnout on the horizon. I quit and went to work at a running store. Now I'm getting ready to open my own shop. I miss the writing and being on the front lines. I don't miss the rotten hours and working for the man.

sonofabattlingbishop wrote:

Flagpole,

It's a small world, and you give good advice.

Dad hailed from Akron, went to OWU on a partial track scholarship, served a stint with the Beacon-Journal and spent about 25 years in the sports department at the Mercury News. I went to j-school myself and worked for a couple of weekly rags in Santa Cruz County til I could see burnout on the horizon. I quit and went to work at a running store. Now I'm getting ready to open my own shop. I miss the writing and being on the front lines. I don't miss the rotten hours and working for the man.

Interesting little connections there. Lots of things I miss about being in California. As I'm still a writer, I don't miss the writing because I do it every day. Like you though, I'll never miss the rotten hours.

FW,

Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it. I recently learned for the umpteenth time that I am not very good a relationships already, so I've become pretty independent. Getting married doesn't seem to be in the cards for me. As far as rotten hours, I guess I could deal with that. I do like news reporting. I did it full time last semester anbd enjoyed it. I do like to travel, and one thing I've got working in my advantage is a very good grasp on the French language, so I've considered working overseas.

I guess I do have some other questions. Does everyone work otally from the ground up in the newspaper business. Specifically, does everyone start out working night cops or high school sports or is there a way around it? How long does it typically take to work out of an entry level position? Also, I'm sort of a big-city oriented person, so my goal is to work for a large metropolitan daily. Should I start out working for a smaller town newspaper or should I try and get my feet wet taking a plunge with a larger paper? Again, thank you very much for your insight. I'm a year away from graduation so I'm trying to get things figured out.

S&V

I live in delaware, do you guys know me?

Sound and Vision,

You're welcome, and by your own description, I would say you seem to be a good fit for a newspaper reporter. I've laid out the negatives for you and they don't seem that bad to you, so perhaps it's the right career - there's something for everyone.

Having worked for a large daily and the weekly rags, I'd say that you should DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO WORK FOR A DAILY - large or small. You SHOULD NOT view weekly newspaper jobs as stepping stones to daily newspaper jobs. The ones who do really well at weekly newspapers are those who love small communities or want to be able to write on a variety of topics all the time. Big things are possible at big papers, and when the big papers look for people to hire, they look for people with DAILY NEWSPAPER experience, so it is best to hook on with a daily paper as soon as possible - 5 years at a weekly newspaper doesn't necessarily get you anything there.

Tips:

1) Call large newspapers and ask to work as a "stringer". They will pay you per job. Let them know that you are eager to take on as many jobs as they have for you.

2) Send letters to newspaper editors (even to several different departmental editors at the same papers (news, features, sports). In it (along with your college paper clips or any other clips you have), tell then that your DREAM is to be a staff reporter for a LARGE DAILY NEWSPAPER and that you will do anything it takes to get on that path. Be prepared to answer this question - "who is your favorite journalist"?

3) Know this - GOOD JOURNALISTS ARE PASSIONATE! Editors know that. Lots of people can write well, but it is the passion for it that leads to greatness. Make sure in your interaction with the editors that they realize your PASSION for journalism and print journalism specifically.

4) Since you have some time before you graduate, try your best to get an internship at a paper - even an unpaid one.

Good luck man. Journalism can be an exciting profession with the right attitude, and it appears that right now you have the right attitude. Nothing better than being excited about your profession.

semper fi wrote:

I live in delaware, do you guys know me?

Delaware, OH? Don't think I do - I don't know many in that town anymore.

Damn I thought we could go hang out to the Brown Jug or Clanceys and get drunk!

Hey Willy, did you run for OWU? I'm going to start running XC for OWU this fall. Just wondering what your thoughts were on the NCAC running scene?

Give me your e mail address and I could hook you up with some guys on the team so you can get their thoughts. Chris Buoy does a real nice job coaching. Its ashame OWU lost their womens coach, Trish Blair, she was a real nice piece of ass.