For many of us in the broadcasting community, calling games isn’t the only role we play. There may be a second job on the side, or another position within the organization.
When I started in Junior A hockey, I was just doing play by play, and running the social media for the team. Quickly I found that wasn’t going to be paying the bills, so when the office job opened up I managed to squeeze my way in. Along with the office job came running game day operations, sales work, and the best part, reception work.
Once the extra jobs started piling up, I found that broadcasting was getting pushed down the priority list as I came into the job at the busiest time of the year when the team schedule was jammed with home games that needed planning. As much as I wanted to focus on broadcasts, making sure the games went off without a hitch was what kept the team running.
Finding a way to adapt, I started to combine the two roles. While making up the game day sheets, I was filing away information that would go into my game prep. Lots of time was put in after hours as well looking up stats that could be used on the broadcasts, and making up splitters that could be used when coming back from a break. When I’m working on game day promotions, I add it to my advertisement lines that I can read while on air previewing future games, or other contests that the team is putting on.
When I started the job, the two people that had the office position before me warned me to be careful of getting run down. With all the late nights from game days doing a recap and then preview for the following day’s match, the work hours add up, while the sleep hours dwindle. Resting up isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but whenever I have an off day I try to get away and refresh from hockey. I love the sport, but I promised myself that when I took the job that while I want hockey to be a huge part of my life, I don’t want it to BE my life.
Having a number of bosses also changes the work dynamic. When I was just broadcasting, most of my work was through just the coaching staff with interviews and my time was spent with them on the road. With the office job, I now work under the Business Director, with the board of directors watching over my shoulder as well. That adds about ten people giving me directions. The tip I’ve found most helpful is making work lists, and keeping a well organized schedule. My parents love their lists, and I never understood why until I had to start remembering to do 100 jobs with some needing to be done at different times. With a check list I can tally what I’ve done during a day, keep track of what stills needs to be done, and it’s much easier to run down a chart an prioritize what needs to done. With the calendar, I’m able to plan days in advance and keep track of later deadlines.
The most important part, is that as soon as the headset goes on the focus goes to just the call, and not what’s gone on that day in terms of planning, and to stop worrying about who will fill the empty spot for an anthem singer the next night.
