Working the overnight shift

[Slave to the Grind]

Hi all,

I graduated from school a few weeks ago and landed a job as a producer. I'm starting in two weeks and my first shift will be from 11PM-7AM.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice on working these hours- What time did you eat and sleep, what are stations like overnight, did you enjoy working this shift, etc

I'm a very flexible person and don't mind the hours at all, but I've never worked overnight before. I'm moving almost 1000 miles into a new area so I'll be trying to start a new social life as well.

thanks for the input

[TVMattNYC]

Originally posted by kkinkead:
Hi all,

I graduated from school a few weeks ago and landed a job as a producer. I'm starting in two weeks and my first shift will be from 11PM-7AM.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice on working these hours- What time did you eat and sleep, what are stations like overnight, did you enjoy working this shift, etc

I'm a very flexible person and don't mind the hours at all, but I've never worked overnight before. I'm moving almost 1000 miles into a new area so I'll be trying to start a new social life as well.

thanks for the inputWell, for one thing you can pretty much forget about a social life.

The human body is not designed to be nocturnal, so you'll never really get used to the shift. What you WILL get used to is feeling crappy all the time.

Think that this is only a "temporary" shift assignment? Think again. If you do your job well, your news director has no incentive to ever move you off that shift. Oh, he'll tell you what a great job you're doing and how there are plenty of chances for your advancement. But he'll be lying. They all do. You'll be stuck in that shift until you leave that station altogether.

My advice is to quit while you're ahead. Find a nice 9-5 job in banking or accounting ... something that gives you weekends and holidays off ... and some REAL oppportunities for advancement and decent pay.

Good luck.

[Produce man]

Well, forget the social life for the immediate future. you'll be waking up when most people are going out. You'll be getting off when most people are waking up.

You will be working largely unsupervised, (which is nice)

You will become intimate with the internet and the TV.

You will learn to black out your bedroom window(s).

Your precious days off will only torture your body's internal clock, as you will try to live "normal" hours on these days to try and maintain a social life.

It will suck.

(okay, some people love it)

On the good side, you will find that holding on to your money is easier, as you will not have much opportunity to spend it.

Good luck.

[ June 05, 2007, 01:05 PM: Message edited by: Produce man ]

[TVMattNYC]

Originally posted by Produce man:
It will suck.

(okay, some people love it)

If I may add, Produce Man ... in my experience, the only people who "love" the overnight shift are MARRIED people whose social lives are already built into their HOME lives.

Especially the GUYS.

Yes, the overnight shift is a breeze when you have a WIFE at home doing all the domestic chores ... shopping, laundry, cleaning, cooking, even planning your social calendar (dinners with friends, in-laws, etc.).

It's amazing how "easy" working the overnight shift is when at home the bathroom is always spotless ... you have a bottomless supply of fresh underwear in the dresser drawer ... your clothes are always clean and pressed in the closet ... the fridge is always stocked ... and your lunch is always packed and waiting for you on the kitchen counter when you leave for work.

Life is great when all you have to do is roll out of bed and simply *show up*.

But if you're single, FORGET IT.

[Ping-Pong Ball]

Originally posted by TVMattNYC:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Produce man:
It will suck.

(okay, some people love it)

Yes, the overnight shift is a breeze when you have a WIFE at home doing all the domestic chores ... shopping, laundry, cleaning, cooking, even planning your social calendar (dinners with friends, in-laws, etc.).

It's amazing how "easy" working the overnight shift is when at home the bathroom is always spotless ... you have a bottomless supply of fresh underwear in the dresser drawer ... your clothes are always clean and pressed in the closet ... the fridge is always stocked ... and your lunch is always packed and waiting for you on the kitchen counter when you leave for work.

Life is great when all you have to do is roll out of bed and simply *show up*.

</font>[/QUOTE]I'm married. Did I miss something? Hell, I can't even get my wife to do even half of those things in my dreams.

[TVMattNYC]

Originally posted by Ping-Pong Ball:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by TVMattNYC:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Produce man:
It will suck.

(okay, some people love it)

Yes, the overnight shift is a breeze when you have a WIFE at home doing all the domestic chores ... shopping, laundry, cleaning, cooking, even planning your social calendar (dinners with friends, in-laws, etc.).

It's amazing how "easy" working the overnight shift is when at home the bathroom is always spotless ... you have a bottomless supply of fresh underwear in the dresser drawer ... your clothes are always clean and pressed in the closet ... the fridge is always stocked ... and your lunch is always packed and waiting for you on the kitchen counter when you leave for work.

Life is great when all you have to do is roll out of bed and simply *show up*.

</font>[/QUOTE]I'm married. Did I miss something? Hell, I can't even get my wife to do even half of those things in my dreams.</font>[/QUOTE]Half is better than NONE, buddy.

[Ferrycrossthemersey]

kkinkead...First of all, good for you, getting that first job. You've just accomplished the hardest part of a TV news career.

Next...don't let the naysayers get you down. Yeah, this overnight job won't be easy, but you're young and you'll do just fine. You'll figure out a social life and everything else, trust me.

And if there comes a time when you want to get off that overnight treadmill, but the boss says no, you simply move on. Again, best of luck!

[Clever Login Name]

Matt, sounds like you need a vacation.

Or a nap.

Yes, there are a lot of downsides to that shift ... try to focus (for now) on the positives that you're two weeks out of school and already working in the industry. Learn as much as you can. Become fluent in the language of the scanner. Your people skills will have to be finely honed, because you'll be having to call and wake up a lot of people for many different reasons ... people who won't want to be hearing from you. You'll learn more, faster on this shift than you would on a dayside shift ... because of the increased responsibility. Make the most of it and welcome to the world of t-v news.

[Produce man]

Well, maybe my first post was a tad harsh, but it's all true. I would rather this person have a realistic understanding of what life will be like working overnights. Better to know now, than start working and think "What have I done?! Nobody told me it was going to be like this!"

But, it's all part of paying your dues, and I wish he/she well.

[Mr T]

Originally posted by TVMattNYC:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by kkinkead:
Hi all,

I graduated from school a few weeks ago and landed a job as a producer. I'm starting in two weeks and my first shift will be from 11PM-7AM.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice on working these hours- What time did you eat and sleep, what are stations like overnight, did you enjoy working this shift, etc

I'm a very flexible person and don't mind the hours at all, but I've never worked overnight before. I'm moving almost 1000 miles into a new area so I'll be trying to start a new social life as well.

thanks for the inputWell, for one thing you can pretty much forget about a social life.

The human body is not designed to be nocturnal, so you'll never really get used to the shift. What you WILL get used to is feeling crappy all the time.

Think that this is only a "temporary" shift assignment? Think again. If you do your job well, your news director has no incentive to ever move you off that shift. Oh, he'll tell you what a great job you're doing and how there are plenty of chances for your advancement. But he'll be lying. They all do. You'll be stuck in that shift until you leave that station altogether.

My advice is to quit while you're ahead. Find a nice 9-5 job in banking or accounting ... something that gives you weekends and holidays off ... and some REAL oppportunities for advancement and decent pay.

Good luck.</font>[/QUOTE]Most everyone I know that started on that shift were promoted to a better shift & a better show AT THE SAME COMPANY.

If you're good, they'll move you up. It might be a year or so, but it can and does happen.

[Newbie1215]

I have to agree with Mr. T. Its not that bad.

Here are a few positives...
1. At least its not weekends. I would rather work weekday overnights than weekend evenings anyday.

2. In my opinion, if you're good - they will move you up, but not until they have someone to take your place.

3. When something big happens - IT'S ALL YOU! That may seem frightening at first, but once you get a great handle on your show and the dynamics of the overnights/early am - You will be awesome!!! One of the best compliments I received was from just that type of situation.

You can have a social life - just a bit adjusted. Go to sleep when you get off work, that way you can be awake during the evening (hang out with friends).

If you need to run errands - do it in the am - go to sleep around noon.

Congrats on your new job!

Good luck!

p.s. Tylenol PM = Good Thing!

[TVMattNYC]

Originally posted by Newbie1215:

p.s. Tylenol PM = Good Thing!My point exactly.

Most people can't get through working these shifts without "help" from drugs.

[ISTHISTHINGON?]

Originally posted by Ping-Pong Ball:
[[qb]
I'm married. Did I miss something? Hell, I can't even get my wife to do even half of those things in my dreams.graemlins/icon_pray.gif HOLY CRAP. Now that's funny!

[FD2BLK]

I did overnights for a while and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Blackout shades are a must.

Turn off ALL your phones in your bedroom. Not much is worse than that solicitor or wrong number in the middle of your night.

No caffeine after 4AM!

Listen to relaxing music on the drive home. There's a local station here that plays the blues in the morning. It worked for me and helped me decompress on the drive home.

Some people will tell you to stay up for a while. I was in bed within a half hour of getting home. I read until I was ready to crash. Granted some mornings I read for quite a while. But most of the time it was a half hour tops.

Overnights are what you make of it. Make the best use of your time. Learn as much as you can. It will help you on the day shifts.

Welcome to the glamous world of TV. ;)

[photog78]

I've never taken drug because I work on overnights. I've been doing the shift for a year now. I always sleep on my off days at night. I never have problems transitioning back.

The shift is what you make of it. I usually go to sleep after 10am, up by 6:30 or 7pm. And I don't have caffeine after 3am. Good luck.

[TVMattNYC]

Originally posted by photog78:
I've never taken drug because I work on overnights. I've been doing the shift for a year now. I always sleep on my off days at night. I never have problems transitioning back.

The shift is what you make of it. I usually go to sleep after 10am, up by 6:30 or 7pm. And I don't have caffeine after 3am. Good luck.I used to be the same way.

Then I turned 35.

And everything changed.

The older you get, the more impossible these shifts become.

[RollTide98]

I did the overnights for a couple years, and I'll join the ranks of those offering constructive advice.

*I usually slept from 2pm to 9pm. I tried going to bed right after my shift, but I found it was better to run errands and do stuff around the house during the morning. Doctor's visits can be scheduled. Rarely, I even exercised!

*No matter when you choose to sleep, do NOT do a split sleep schedule. Carve out time for a full night's (day's) rest, and stick to it. Remember, if you normally sleep 6 hours at night, you'll probably need 8 hours if sleeping during the day. Make sure it's UN-INTERRUPTED sleep!

*On Friday afternoons, I took a nap and was ready to go out with friends on Friday night... same for Saturday night.

*On Sundays after church, I did have to take Tylenol PM or Benadryl to fall asleep that afternoon and be ready for work that night.

*If you're working for a good ND, you'll be able to move up. Heck, I moved from overnight producing to on-air reporting. Sure, the station put me back on producer mode for a while when my co-producer left, but that was just for a while. The replacement producer who finally came in early 2005 is now producing a main show in Boston.

*If your anchors are tenured in your market and know their stuff, listen to their advice. Yes, I know you'll have been working hard on the show for hours before they come in, but consider their perspectives in story selection and any changes they may suggest once they arrive.

*Dating an overnight nurse helped. We met for breakfast after work a lot. Now we're married. I'm now dayside. She's still overnights. Which means I haven't seen her in 48+ hours. Yargh.

[CJ]

Coffee.

I do this one night a week and I usually take a short nap the afternoon/evening before I go in. When I get off in the morning, I enjoy the drive home because everyone is getting up and in rush hour, yet i'm going to the opposite direction.

Social Life... this schedule is not meant for one to live a normal life. If you like listening to scanners and getting a grasp on what's going on, you'll love it. Just don't look outside during your shift, it'll screw with you.

[Fargin Icehole]

Originally posted by kkinkead:
Hi all,

I graduated from school a few weeks ago and landed a job as a producer. I'm starting in two weeks and my first shift will be from 11PM-7AM.

I'm a very flexible person and don't mind the hours at all, but I've never worked overnight before. I'm moving almost 1000 miles into a new area so I'll be trying to start a new social life as well. In the last five years or so on the morning shift, I've had six producers. Only one of them has migrated to the 9-5 shift. The rest have up and quit (well, one quit for another reason). Every single one of them couldn't handle the hours. It takes a special breed to hack it on these hours. What I wouldn't give to have a good producer who actually likes these hours. There's way too much turnover.

No offense intended, but the overnight producer job has to be the easiest job to land.

My hours are a little easier, but my alarms still go off at 1:30am every morning. It sucks, but leaving for the day around noon makes it all worthwhile.

[ June 06, 2007, 01:09 AM: Message edited by: Fargin Icehole ]

[Stack It]

I've done the overnight shift twice during my career. Let me start by congratulating you on getting a job. This is a tough way to start, but there are better days ahead.

The overnight shift will allow you to learn a lot about TV in a very short period of time. This is merely because you'll have far less staff around which means you'll have much more responsibility as a producer. Depending upon the situation you'll be producer, writer, managing editor/assignment editor, and in some rare instances video editor and who knows what else. It is a tough shift on the body, but if you can at least build some habits, you'll survive. It will test your meddle as a producer and believe me, any other show you do after mornings is like a walk in the park. You'll also find that morning crews are very tight knit, much like a family. They are often the closest group at a station when compared to your dayside and nightside crews. This is mainly because of the hours. Everyone realizes they're in the same boat and going through the same thing.

Be prepared, you're going to give up almost all of your social life. You will sleep while everyone else is awake and vice versa. I made the most out of my Fridays and Saturdays because my Sundays were pretty much shot. You will find while this shift is rough physically, it has some advantages. I recommend doing your errands during the week, after work. You will likely have the grocery store pretty much to yourself, and anything else you need to get done will be simpler because everyone else will be working. Another plus, because you'll likely be able to only go out on Fridays and Saturdays when you feel up to it, you will not burn your paychecks on alcohol and expensive meals.

As far as living goes, do what you can to stick to your sleep schedule. If you stray from it, it will take a couple of days to get back in line and you will find yourself struggling. I actually got to the point where my body would crash at around 4-5 PM Sunday afternoon because it knew it was time to sleep. Very creepy. Try to eat healthy and exercise. This shift can really throw your eating habits out of whack. You'll also have days where you walk in the door and sit down on the couch on that's it. Your too tired to do anything else so you doze off. Try to avoid becoming a caffeine nut. Sometimes its vital for AM survival, but it can really do a number on your teeth and mess up your sleeping pattern.

Best of luck.

[TAFKA wacowx]

I worked overnights most of my life AND have spilt my sleep and have not had problems. In fact, spliting my sleep allowed me to do things in the evenings that I love (theater and going out with friends).

Your 11-7 schedule is actually the best to be able to have a social life since you can sleep immediately when you get home and go out in the evening...assuming you sleep from 8-4.

The key to staying healthy on this schedule is to keep your sleep schedule on the weekends. That's why I split, so I can still sleep some overnight. I sleep 1-5 and then 9-2ish work nights with more of a midnight-5 or 6am sleep on the weekends with afternoon naps of 1-3 hours.

I did plenty of evening activities and was able to date quite a bit AND eventually meet my wife on this shift. I would argue it's not necessarily easier when you are married. Sure some of that stuff will get done for you, but having your spouse miss you while you are sleeping and he or she remains awake is rough. If you can have a spouse or girlfriend that is will to go to sleep when you do, all the better (listening to Howard Stern, I find that Beth O. goes to bed the same time as Howard in the evenings).

[CorkySherwood]

As a former overnighter my advice is as follows:
1. Don't split your sleep schedule, you need the REM sleep that you can only get after several straight hours of sleeping
2. Sleeping during the day worked best for me except for in the winter. In the winter I would go work out after work, then come home and read or watch tv until I was out. That way I got some daylight in my life and actually slept some of my time when it was dark out
3. Keep in touch with your boss and make them live up to their ends of the deal. If they tell you there's an opportunity to get off that shift, or you hear about one, jump on it. Especially in smaller markets news directors don't want to take people off that shift who know what they're doing, you're hard to replace. But good employees shouldn't be lied to or deceived, so make sure your ND lives up to their end of the deal.

[TAFKA wacowx]

Originally posted by CorkySherwood:
As a former overnighter my advice is as follows:
1. Don't split your sleep schedule, you need the REM sleep that you can only get after several straight hours of sleeping
REM sleep comes every 90 minutes of the sleep cycle. In fact the best thing to do in any sleeping situation is to try and sleep in 1.5 hour increments.

[Signature on File]

Learn to take power naps or sleep with one eye open. Learn to play solitare and work cross-word puzzles. Get one of those cheap door alarms and put it on the newsroom door to wake you when someone's coming in.

[TVMattNYC]

Originally posted by wacowx:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by CorkySherwood:
As a former overnighter my advice is as follows:
1. Don't split your sleep schedule, you need the REM sleep that you can only get after several straight hours of sleeping
REM sleep comes every 90 minutes of the sleep cycle. In fact the best thing to do in any sleeping situation is to try and sleep in 1.5 hour increments.</font>[/QUOTE]That is only partially true.

Every hour of sleep has a specific function for the body.

In fact, recent hormonal studies show that in the SEVENTH consecutive hour of sleep (and ONLY in the seventh hour), the body releases HGH (Human Growth Hormone), which for adults is responsible for the rebuilding of tissue and regeneration of cells. It also jump-starts our metabolism for the day, as the body's way of naturally keeping itself in physical shape.

Some scientists believe America's obesity crisis could be a result of our being the most sleep-deprived nation on Earth: the average American gets only 6.5 hours of sleep ... cutting short their sleep before the body's natural release of HGH.

[Slave to the Grind]

Appreciate the responses,

I'll just say that I spent the last four years living in a dormitory at West Virginia University, two of those as a Resident Assistant. I spent a lot of nights half awake from drunk/screaming freshman girls and the 4am coal train.

I'm actually looking to start a band in the new town, so practicing during the evenings isn't an issue. The only bad thing would be if gigs ended up going to 11pm-not much time to pack everything up and get to work.

again, thanks for the input

[Clever Login Name]

Oh good Lord, another WVU grad ... pardon us if we make you ride the short bus to Medialine with Tripe Face.

[Clubbeat]

Did the overnight shift with a wife who anchored weekends at the same stations and two small kids.

It was tough but we got though it. Did it for a couple of years before I got tired of not sleeping and being grouchy all the time.

As a young person starting out, the one thing I think you should consider is that you won't have much if any social life.

My advice, do it for as long as you think you can stand, soak up whatever experience you can then move on.

Good Luck