Broadcasting Director Interview Preparation Guide

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EAS : In November 1994, the EAS (Emergency Alert System) was approved by the FCC, with operations to begin January 1, 1997. Using digital signaling, the EAS was to permit sending more than an alert, actual information could be sent, printed out, and rebroadcast on command.

MHz : MHz is an abbreviation for MegaHertz, mega taking the meaning of 1 million. So 1,000,000 Hertz = 1 MHz.

‘Now’ is always a good answer for productions that are put together as the last minute!

QSL Cards : QSL cards are usually postcards with a station's call sign and data. These are sent to listeners who report receiving a station. Some stations will actually send a letter on station letterhead, others will send various combinations of information and maps.

Short term, the consolidation of ownership of radio, and the collapse in CD sales. Long term, technology, and its potential unforseen consequences.

In 1966, Gordon McLendon bought KGLA(FM), Los Angeles and changed the calls to KADS(FM), running only commercials: local ads, commercials and national commercials.. It was targeted to grab business from the newspapers. The want ads were either their own voices into a telephone recording device or they could use professional announcers.

In August 1967, McLendon declared it to be a failure; returns to "regular programming". The decision was made to change call signs to KOST-FM and play "beautiful music."

SCA : SCA is Subsidiary Communications Authority or, in other words, an audio subcarrier on a main station, usually FM. For many years, this was the way Muzak was distributed. Today, many private services can be found on SCA channels, from foreign language programming to radio reading services for the blind.

"What are your weaknesses" is one of the most popular questions interviewers ask. It is also the most dreaded question of all. Handle it by minimizing your weakness and emphasizing your strengths. Stay away from personal qualities and concentrate on professional traits: "I am always working on improving my communication skills to be a more effective presenter. I recently joined Toastmasters, which I find very helpful."

Tricky one but many successful people try to find a weakness that isn’t too devastating rather than pretend they are perfect?! A weakness is OK if you are aware of it and working on making it a strength. Naturally you have worked out plenty of strengths – efficient, hard working, good with people, sense of humour, understand how important chocolate is in a crisis, etc but again be honest. Your lies will be found out very quickly

A remarkable degree. Of course, public radio affords some of that, and it also helps the I was a founder of the station. I can basically initiate and execute any project I feel would be good for the station and the audience, within the general parameters of the station's programming.

"DX" and "QSL" : These terms started as Morse Code "words." DX is an acronym for "distant" and refers to stations distant from the listener. Many DXers send letters to the stations they hear, requesting QSL, or "reception" cards. These cards are then used to verify the listener has heard the station. In the 20's and 30's, stations often sent stamps (not unlike postage stamps) to be placed in a book "collecting" the stations heard. EKKO was one prominent stamp company.

Actually, I don't think so. From high school, I expected to get into a technical field, and Duke's approach was a general, theoretical one, rather than one aimed at a specific field.

Conflicts in defining a broadcast station occur due to differing interpretations of what constitutes broadcasting. Today, "broadcast" is a distinct station classification. However, during the early years, experimental broadcasts were conducted by a wide variety of stations, and often were just a sideline for the station's normal use in developmental or other activities.

This is your time to shine. Just remember the interviewer is looking for work related strengths. Mention a number of them such as being a good motivator, problem solver, performing well under pressure, being loyal, having a positive attitude, eager to learn, taking initiative and attention to detail. Whichever you go for, be prepared to give examples that illustrate this particular skill.

My work style matching exactlty what cashier job requires by: being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations, being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks, being honest and ethical, being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude, accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.

kHz : kHz is an abbreviation for kiloHertz. The term Hertz, named for the inventor, refers to the number of times an electrical signal of alternating current "crosses" the "0" line and changes from positive to negative and back to positive. Human hearing is nominally in the 50 to 15,000 Hertz range. A kiloHertz is 1000 Hertz (15,000 Hertz = 15 kHz). Frequencies above about 100 kHz are said to be in the "Radio Frequency Range" as they are used for transmitting sonic or digital information.

Journalism is changing rapidly and the technical skills required in the changeover to digital are vast and ever-changing. Often there won't be anyone to train you, so stress in your interview your general awesome technical expertise and your current level of comfort with digital editing programs, social media and the like. Show your future boss that you're a multi-tasker with traditional journalism skills and technical expertise. As jobs become less specialized in journalism, all-round stars like yourself will shine. Putting together a portfolio with a demo tape is a great way to demonstrate this as well as citing specific examples from your past work or school experience where you learned on the job and aced new programs.

Here you will need to be careful as there are many possible answers you could use, just remember to NEVER talk negatively about any prior or current employer to a potential employer. No one wants to think that in a few years’ time you could be saying the same about them. A possible reason could be to say you were looking for better opportunities, for you to grow professionally, or you were looking for the chance to work abroad.

"NEMO" : Many sources claim this to be an early telephone company term, which referred to remote broadcasts as those "Not Emanating from the Main Office." Many older consoles have this label to the selectors and pots used for remote broadcasts. On the other hand, the name of the captain from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea may be a good clue. Nemo in Latin means "no name" or "no man."

One of my favourite questions in interviews for the more experienced candidate. I like that someone is honest about what they can do and what they may find challenging – as long as they are keen to learn and experience it.

Journalism requires a delicate balance of personal and technical skills and employers will want to be sure that you have the right stuff. Since it's such a competitive field you must convey your drive, energy and dedication to the job. You'll need it! Journalism is also a deadline-driven business, so highlight your ability to work in pressure-cooker environments, your interest in teamwork and your people skills. A talent for handling difficult situations with diplomacy and sensitivity is like gold to potential employers. Finally, resourcefulness and creativity in problem solving are important for sourcing stories, managing difficult projects, working in teams and meeting deadlines. Show your potential boss you have all of these qualities and more by discussing specific instances where you met challenges and defeated them, either culled from your schooling, another job or an internship.

The practical bottom line is that there are currently more people pursuing careers than there are jobs. The radio job market is shrinking, as mentioned above, and the recording studio field is experiencing some hard times, due to the proliferation and increasing quality of artist-owned project and home studios, who are making their projects there, rather than at full recording studios. But technical people are always in demand, so a solid technical background can be a definite leg up.

Broadcasting - Because radio (RF) signals can radiate over a relatively large area, in a sense all radio is "broadcast". However, broadcasting usually refers to transmissions intended to be received by a wide group of listeners. (This excludes transmissions meant for selected listeners that just happen to be overheard by others.) Furthermore, although most of the earliest broadcasts used telegraphic dots and dashes for sending out things like weather forecasts to farmers and seagoing vessels, broadcasting is generally considered to be a form of radiotelephony (essentially voice), hence the transmission of information and entertainment in a readily understandable audio and/or visual form to the general public.

EBS : To replace Conelrad, the EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) was put into place in 1963. Originally as outlined, stations were to test weekly. They were supposed to set off "carrier detect" receivers by the following sequence (As Conelrad receivers operated on the "loss of carrier" principle, they were still used for that purpose with the EBS program.):

☛ turn their transmitters off for 5 seconds.
☛ turn their transmitters on for 5 seconds.
☛ turn their transmitters off for 5 seconds.
☛ turn their transmitters on.
☛ broadcast a 1000 Hertz tone for 15 seconds to alert other stations.
☛ broadcast a "test" message so the public understood what was going on.

Simulcast : A simulcast is when two stations run the same program at the same time in the same city. This was common practice in the early days of FM, when stations tried to save money by running the same material on AM and FM. In an effort to reduce the spectrum waste and promote variety of programming, on October 15, 1965, the FCC made a ruling demanding that at least 50% of all programming on each station be "original." The practice has been revived in recent years as station groups try to use multiple stations to cover some growing markets. WTOP in Washington, DC, for example bought an AM and an FM in the suburbs to carry their signal. (According to some reports, the simulcasts can reach more people than the original station!)