What Sports Update Anchors Must Learn to Do
- Monitor sports news from multiple sources, then write, voice and produce several sports updates an hour.
- Live on-air updates delivering topical, relevant, entertaining content.
- Work with the sports staff to monitor events and retrieve/edit sound bites from other shows and games.
- Research and produce special features and programs as needed. (Many update anchors also function in the producer role, creating entirely new programming.)
- Have a working knowledge of FCC and legal rules, and station policies.
- Understand and utilize advanced audio production skills and creative use of sounds.
- Run your own board, including use of faders and other techniques.
- Do it all under extreme time pressure.
What’s that? You suddenly realize that there’s a lot more to the job than you knew and you DON’T just work two minutes every hour?
Not even close. But there is a unique resource you can use to learn all that’s required to be a sports update anchor.
Learn Sports Broadcasting Update Anchoring from a Pro Sportscaster
We’re Sportscasters Mentoring Group (SMG), the one and only all sport broadcasting mentoring program in the nation. And you can learn all you need to know, quickly, affordably, and right in your local area by using our unique mentoring model.
We do it through the mentor-apprentice training model. It’s a classic way to teach new skills that pairs an experienced professional with a newcomer, right in the actual workplace. And we’ll tell you how that works below. But first, what are you going to learn?
- How to monitor multiple sources of sports information, including wire services, Internet reports, network feeds, competitive broadcasts, even emailed, social network-generated, or phoned-in tips from on-scene reporters, team or league officials, even knowledgeable fans.
- How to determine which information to immediately share, and which to either hold for later or disregard.
- How to cross-check and confirm information before putting it on-air.
- How to edit for time and integrate sound and video clips from story sources.
- When your analysis is called for and when the fans want update time only used for the facts.
- How to put it all together in severely time-limited, yet clear and concise copy.
- How to do it all under extreme deadline pressure.
You Need Broadcasting Skills Too
Reading that list, can you recognize some of the things top-notch sports update anchors do? Well, you’ll learn to do them too. And from a professional sportscaster. Who’s better to teach you than someone who currently does it for a living?
But that’s not all you’ll learn through your training. You’ll also learn everything else that you’ll need, such as:
- Proper vocal delivery.
- How to work in commercials, product placements, and other sponsor requests.
- How the pros interact with the editorial, technical, and administrative people you’ll work with in any pro broadcasting situation.
Without these skills, even if you land a coveted sports update anchor job, you won’t last long doing it.
How SMG Trains You for Update Anchoring
How does the SMG program get you up to speed to apply for a professional sportscaster position? Here’s our play-by-play:
- You contact SMG and tell us you’d like to be a professional sports update anchor.
- You also tell us four or five local radio stations that broadcast sports.
- We set you up with a professional sportscaster right at one of the stations. You two talk, and if both are happy with working together, the sportscaster becomes your mentor.
- You follow a carefully laid out training course put together by top sportscasters, including:
- Bruce Gilbert, head of Sports Operations at Clear Channel radio
- ESPN program directors Larry Gifford and Jeff Schwartz
- Play-by-play superstar Lee “Hacksaw” Hamilton of XTRA Sports 1360
- Rob Buska of NBC Sports
- The course materials will ask you to put together your own update broadcasts.
- You and your mentor meet weekly, right in the local station. No need to travel to some far-off, high priced, brick and mortar broadcasting school that teaches you to be a DJ or news guy when all you want to learn is sportscasting.
- Your mentor offers feedback and suggestions. Over time your work improves to meet professional standards.
- At the program’s conclusion, you get a diploma from SMG certifying you for professional sportscasting work. SMG and its sister company, Broadcasters Mentoring Group, are highly regarded in the broadcasting industry as a source of new on-air talent.
But you also get something more…
The Make or Break Value of Contacts
Because you’ve trained at an actual radio station, the professionals there have been able to watch your skills grow. And if you work hard, they become interested in seeing your career advance.
Almost everyone in broadcasting has a wide network of contacts in the industry, who report back when jobs open. This increases your chances to know about them before any outsider does, and when you apply, you’ll carry recommendations from your mentor and others. Contacts often mean the ball game in getting a job in broadcasting. In fact, industry data show that six of every 10 new broadcasting hires happen through contacts.
No wonder Crys Quimby, program director at WCBS-AM, flagship station of the New York Yankees, says, “The mentoring model SMG uses is an outstanding vehicle for someone trying to break into the business. It’s not just WHAT you know. It’s WHO you know.”
Best Program, Lowest Cost
But SMG has another winning edge, especially compared to traditional broadcasting schools that only offer sportscasting as a small part of their program. We’re up to 20 times less expensive compared to these schools, when they’re part of a college degree program, and less than half the cost even when they’re not. Plus, financing is available.
Take the First Step … Free
So here’s the drill: If you want to be a sports update anchor, you’re the one who has to make the first call. It’s easy to do and won’t cost a cent. Just read on in the SMG website, and especially the FAQ page, or, even easier, just fill in the Contact form below or call SMG at (818) 879-0858. We’ll put you in touch with one of our counselors for a free career consultation. There’s no obligation of any kind to learn more.
Sports fans are waiting to hear from you. So are we. Contact SMG today!
