Leaving the Business

[yayforme]

I've been in television weather for almost two years. While it has been a lot of fun, I am considering getting out of the business when my contract is up this spring. With the recent trends of the industry, combined with low salaries, consultants, horrible/non-family friendly hours, etc., I'm debating about whether to move into a new chapter of my life. It's not that I don't love what I'm doing, it's more along the line of "i don't know if I can/want to do this my entire life while having a family in addition to the job".

For those of you that have left the biz, but still follow the medialine message boards, have you had any regrets after leaving? Is the private sector everything that you thought it would be?

My background qualifies me for the national weather service, and I have had some good contacts from some private firms and a recent offer. So, it's not like I'd be leaving without any job opportunities.

Thanks ahead for any advice/thoughts.

[maddawg]

I left the business a few years back. I wanted more time with the family, I didn't like the direction the station was going, the new management and I didn't see eye to eye, etc... I had another job lined up too. About a year later, I wanted to get back in, but it's been tough. I've been freelancing for a while, but as for a full time job, it's been tough to get back. Think about it for a while to make sure that's what you want. Whatever you choose, good luck to ya.
-Maddawg

[forecastguy]

Cue TAFKA in 5...4...3...

:whistle:

[From the Right]

I've been in the business more than 15 years. I've considered leaving more than once, sent resumes, made contacts and have always stayed in the business in the end. It's taken all 15 years but I've finally reached the point in my career where I love my job, love my station, love my city and make good money.

It hasn't been easy though. I've worked in terrible markets for terrible money. I've worked at bad stations for bad managers. I've worked holidays, weekends etc. etc. etc.

My advice would be to make sure you're 100% ready to get out because it may be difficult if not impossible to get back in the business. Broadcasting is a slightly different beast but it's also very much like other businesses in that you have to work your way up the ladder. It takes time to become content with a career.

You've been at it for 2 years, that's not much time at all. I had made my mind up to leave the business more than once and I'm thankful I didn't. Think long and hard before you make such an important decision. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. Just my 2 cents....all the best to you.

[MI_Wxman]

I'll bet many of us contemplated this decision when things in our life change.

When you started 2 years ago, where did you think you would be in 2 years? Where do you want to go, professionally? Are you content staying there if your pay increased? Lots of variables to consider.

Me, I went thru 2 divorces in the past 15 years. Yup, I thought changing my career goals would help - but it didn't. It's not an easy job and it takes the strength of the family (especially the spouse) to make it worthwhile to stay in TV. I'm not saying you should divorce... But seriously consider your training, schooling and personal goals. Why would someone want you to give up what you trained for?

Have you laid out a plan for yourself to increase your name recognition? Don't expect the station to do it all! Get aggressive and get active. That means doing radio for almost nothing at first. Do you get out and "Schmooze" with the public at events? It takes more than 2 years. More like 5-8 years. Bring your family to these events, let the public see you for who you really are. Then the pay curve starts going up over time. Just because you are on TV doesn't mean it's an "automatic". You need to create that wave and then ride that wave as long as possible (which could be 10-15 years or more).

This "wave" for some may be "looks" which will take them to a bigger market, but looks fade over time. The love for your community and helping at Cancer events, Toys for Tots, Feed the homeless.... That "wave" never fades. And the public recognizes this and when they open the doors to their house to you (tuning you in), you become part of their family. This is a very cool feeling as I am there now!

Stability is important and if you have the goods (described above), you have a much better chance of enjoying the fruits of hard labor and family (time) sacrifice. I can't count how many arguments I had about lack of time with the family..... But it paid off and now I have more time for my family. I go in early to get that 3 hour dinner break. I still work 8 hours, I just break it up thru the day.

My third wife (and last!) has made my job as the Chief much easier for me which has opened her up to new opportunities in her career field. As a Nurse, she can now respond to late night, early morning emergencies now that she has a spouse that understands the responsibilities of their job.

In the NWS, you'll work shift work and the pay scale will be much slower compared to TV. Nice job, government pay. But I love getting out and meeting the people. Shaking hands and helping where I can.

But the final decision is yours after consulting with the family. In the end, you'll have nobody to blame but yourself for your actions. Good luck and I hope the decision you make will be the right decision for your family's future.

[TAFKA wacowx]

I have been in and out and back in again. I agree that 2 years is a little quick to know for sure if you want to get out 'for good'.

For me at least, there was no TV shift...except maybe a M-F noon and 5P show, that would work for me and my family so I always knew the business would eat into family time.

It is true that the grass isn't always greener...and in some cases, your next shop may not be all it's cracked up to be either. If you are worried about starting a family and seeking to enter the NWS, be warned that the shift work there can be very tough. You rotate shifts every couple of weeks which, honestly, can lead you to an early grave. It's just impossible on the body, regardless of how many days off you have in between to adjust. AND, being on a swing shift doesn't work very well with family life/duties...you might be working overnights nmext week when Jimmy has soccer playoffs and you might be working dayshift when Janie has a school production and early dismissal.

I would say, if you have some good bites from private firms, think long and hard about it. You CAN jump back in to TV, but you need to have a great 'tape' when you leave AND be willing to do some fill-in work locally or at a neighboring market to keep your material 'fresh'. If at all possible, I would steer away from NWS unless it's too good to pass up, OR your best offer...I know Keyeser has joined them, but it's a schedule I couldn't hack unless I absolutely had to.

I sometimes miss TV, but not as much as you'd think. The perks of this business keep me from missing it too much. As usual, the biggest things I miss are the people I worked with. Thinking about getting back into the grind of having to worry about weather on my days off and possibly having to come in to help cover severe weather is enough to scare me back into my right mind. :) Now, when the weather is nasty, I can actually get out and ENJOY thunderstorms, like I used to way back when.

Above all...since 2 years really isn't a long time to know whether this 'industry' is a good fit for you, I'd say tough it out...maybe one more job UNLESS you have an offer from a private firm you can't refuse. I know the energy business starts newbies at a minimum of $50K with yearly bonuses, so something like that is hard to pass up if you are struggling to make $20K.

WATCH OUT for startups and jobs that seem too good to be true...they often are and disappear. I can say with certainty though, that at least the energy sector is booming and is likely to create more jobs in the next few years.

PM me if you have other questions.

[Keyeser]

I must disagree about the NWS in NMI's response...since I now work for them. I took a job with them after about a decade in TV. My starting salary was MUCH higher than my last TV gig. If you have enough experience in other weather-related industries... you don't have to start on the lowest grade scale. I was hired as a GS-9 vs. GS-5 or 7...which is what many interns and/or journeys start out as. I was promoted from intern to journey after 3 months...granted there was special circumstances and that was considered very rare. (Usually you have to spend about 12-18 months competing the intern requirements and related learning courses.) I went from GS-9 to GS-11. After fulfilling my time (which is normally about 2 years) and hopefully get a lead forecaster position...I will go to GS-12. When you work for the Feds...you automatcially get two different pay raises per year. One is called a "step" raise. You get this raise each year for spending time in a particular grade. I will go from GS-11 Step 1 to Step 2 in May. Also...each year the gov't determines what is called the "General Scale Increase". This is basically is a "cost of living" adjustment. Last year it was around 1.5-2.5%. This year...it is 2.5% to 3.5%. For Pocatello, ID... it is 2.75%. Here is a link to the gov't pay info so you can look for yourselves so I don't post that data here. http://www.opm.gov/oca/08tables/indexGS.asp This is a link to the base pay scales and the individual "locality pay" increases for designated areas. If you don't live in those areas...you automatically get the "locality pay" listed in the last set of salaries. (I don't know why they even bother with the base or draft salary scale.) However...that is just BASE PAY. This doesn't account for shift differentials and/or holidays (which there a lot more of outside of the TV world).

In my experience...health insurance is so much better and you can actually afford it. You can get not only regular health...but very good dental and vision coverage as well.

Shift work can be a challenge...but I do get family time now despite rotating the schedule. My family just adjusts to that and is willing to do it...whereas I was "on call" all the time for the TV station. I don't have to worry about sweeps and vacation time year around. Heck...I earn so many hours of vacation and sick leave per check and that changes as you farther along in tenure.

I could go on but I'll stop here. Everyone has their opinion on working in TV or in other weather-related industries. You just have to do what is best for yourself.

[MOCR]

How's Pocatello compared to W. Co?

[MI_Wxman]

I must disagree about the NWS in NMI's response...since I now work for them. I took a job with them after about a decade in TV. My starting salary was MUCH higher than my last TV gig. If you have enough experience in other weather-related industries... you don't have to start on the lowest grade scale. I was hired as a GS-9 vs. GS-5 or 7...which is what many interns and/or journeys start out as. I was promoted from intern to journey after 3 months...granted there was special circumstances and that was considered very rare. (Usually you have to spend about 12-18 months competing the intern requirements and related learning courses.) I went from GS-9 to GS-11. After fulfilling my time (which is normally about 2 years) and hopefully get a lead forecaster position...I will go to GS-12. When you work for the Feds...you automatcially get two different pay raises per year. One is called a "step" raise. You get this raise each year for spending time in a particular grade. I will go from GS-11 Step 1 to Step 2 in May. Also...each year the gov't determines what is called the "General Scale Increase". This is basically is a "cost of living" adjustment. Last year it was around 1.5-2.5%. This year...it is 2.5% to 3.5%. For Pocatello, ID... it is 2.75%. Here is a link to the gov't pay info so you can look for yourselves so I don't post that data here. http://www.opm.gov/oca/08tables/indexGS.asp This is a link to the base pay scales and the individual "locality pay" increases for designated areas. If you don't live in those areas...you automatically get the "locality pay" listed in the last set of salaries. (I don't know why they even bother with the base or draft salary scale.) However...that is just BASE PAY. This doesn't account for shift differentials and/or holidays (which there a lot more of outside of the TV world).

In my experience...health insurance is so much better and you can actually afford it. You can get not only regular health...but very good dental and vision coverage as well.

Shift work can be a challenge...but I do get family time now despite rotating the schedule. My family just adjusts to that and is willing to do it...whereas I was "on call" all the time for the TV station. I don't have to worry about sweeps and vacation time year around. Heck...I earn so many hours of vacation and sick leave per check and that changes as you farther along in tenure.

I could go on but I'll stop here. Everyone has their opinion on working in TV or in other weather-related industries. You just have to do what is best for yourself.

I said "In the NWS, you'll work shift work and the pay scale will be much slower compared to TV." Not lower...but slower. At least you have the opportunity to "wheel & Deal" with your GM as opposed to the standard 2.5% payraise every year. But I agree with you in that more experience can elevate your starting pay. Where I am now, it wouldn't pay for me to switch. But the "bennies" are much better.

[atutt]

Although, I agree 2 years is a short amount of time to decide if it's not right for you, if that's your decision you need to go with it. I left in mid October and haven't looked back. However, that was after 11+ years in the biz. I had contemplated leaving a few times but never had the right opportunity. When one finally came along (when I wasn't looking), I jumped all over it. Now I can actually "enjoy" the weather again. Case in point, we are in the middle of an ice storm and instead of pulling 12 hour wall to wall shifts to say hey, it's icy, be careful, I'm at home w/my wife enjoying a day off of work. Family time, church time, weekends off, holidays off, untouchable vacation, not being bothered at home, etc, etc. I have found "Cloud 9", it is a reality. Good luck! -AT

[Keyeser]

I would consider yourself lucky in that regard if you have gotten quicker raises from TV than what I have gotten in 1 year with the NWS. I was lucky to get more than a couple of thousand per year with my last TV contract. The most jump I ever saw from switching jobs/stations was about $6k. Going from GS-9 to GS-11 was around $10k. IF you combine my "step" raise and "cost of living" raise that is around 7.5%...which isn't bad IMHO for a year AUTOMATICALLY. I guess I generally have to disagree with your statements and I guess we'll have differing viewpoints on this. ;)

I said "In the NWS, you'll work shift work and the pay scale will be much slower compared to TV." Not lower...but slower. At least you have the opportunity to "wheel & Deal" with your GM as opposed to the standard 2.5% payraise every year. But I agree with you in that more experience can elevate your starting pay. Where I am now, it wouldn't pay for me to switch. But the "bennies" are much better.

[MI_Wxman]

I don't disagree. Your background and experience really paid off. Not many have that available. You are fortunate in that regard.

[Jack Nicholson]

and life has been great ever since. Sure I miss it sometimes. But when it came to the big picture it just wasn't worth it. I have one son and a wife that makes decent money as a nurse..even with that it wasn't worth it.
What I would recommend is this:
Make sure the job you get into is right for you. What do you like doing? For me I wasn't a meteorologist, so working as a PIO for a state fire agency has been great for me. I still get to be on tv and make MUCH more money than I ever did in news.
BUT, the first year was tough because I went into a dead end job I hated. I felt, "This is ridiculous, I was a prestigious figure in the community with a laid back gig and now I'm actually working with a bunch of 9-5 bottom feeders."
BUT I was strong enough to get out and I'm happy now. In retrospect, it would have been smarter to line up the PIO job first and spare me from that year of hell.
I love life now though more than ever. I have a beautiful home, live in the community I grew up in..where all my friends live. And I feel in my element.
When I watch the news now..I see it in a different way. I still do watch it, but I'm very critical of the people on it. I can see through them it seems.
Life is just too short to live an ego-driven path.
Happiness and piece of mind is much better than the social perks that came with being a TV weatherman.
But with the way the business is headed..it even goes beyond that. When small stations cr ap out in the 2009 digital deadline, the pool of workless will skyrocket.
Just find something else you can do...this is America, the possibilities are endless..just use your imagination.

[Red Rover]

so working as a PIO for a state fire agency has been great for me. I still get to be on tv and make MUCH more money than I ever did in news.


What is a fire agency and how does one get a PIO gig? I've heard many media refugees on medialine go that route, but never say how they got the gig. Do a lot of corporations and state agencies have PIOs?

[Jack Nicholson]

just log on to your state or local government's website and check out the jobs.