Interview with Electronic Media Professional

The professional I interviewed was Marc Zumoff, who is employed by Comcast SportsNet and does the play-by-play commentary for the Philadelphia 76ers, an NBA team. The first time I contacted Mr. Zumoff was via e-mail, he had come to give a lecture at Rider and I didn't know about it until after i happened. One of my fellow students knew I was interested in the field and gave me Mr. Zumoff's contact information and I have been e-mailing him ever since. I have also met him in person once an called him numerous times for advice on television commentary. His job is what I ultimately want to do when I get older.
Marc Zumoff graduated from Temple and orginally went into the world of radio, working at stations such as WTTM and WBUD in Trenton. He than began his television career that ended at Comcast, he originally was the sideline reporter for the sixer's games but when the play-by-play announcer resigned, he told his boss he could do the job and he got his shot and has since won an Emmy for his work.
What he likes most about his job is how he is traveling all over the country with the team, having his flights, rooms and food paid for. He also enjoys being paid to talk about basketball, which is what most people dream about. What he doesn't like is the long hours and days that make a play-by-play announcer, there is a lot of preparation that does into it that a lot of people don't realize. He feels that technology can only benefit his position since he works with television but areas such as radio and print media are going to struggle as technology evolves.
The recommendations he made to me and he would make to students would be to get out there and get experience in the field you want to pursue. Don't be afraid to take the first step in initiating conversation with professionals and asking for help, try to get internships and be very active if you do get one. If you can't get an internship just try seeing if you can work somewhere for free, getting your foot in the door is the hardest part of any job. Qualities that are important are having a short memory, learning to deal with criticism and being determined even through failure.

The Future of Radio/Television

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The iPad, a technology that is mind blowing to some and Apple is ready to make it even better. Apple has announced that it will try selling TV Shows on the iPad for 1 dollar. This will begin sometime in April. This is important because if people can get the shows they want and be able to probably carry them around maybe they won't have to make sure if they will have time to watch their shows. Also this could lead to Apple having its own subscription service through iTunes which would most likely be successful given the amount of people that have Mac computers or iPods. This could impact the audience because it is a more convenient way for people to watch tv...portable. Look at phones and computers, cell phones and lap tops are more popular because people like being able to carry around their technology. This could be true for television, if you could carry around a mini television to watch when your on the train, traveling or stuck in line somewhere I am pretty sure most people would love that.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-YAQ1wfNqc

Posted above is a link explaning the iPad further and some of its features however it does not talk about the TV Shows because that is not coming out until April and the iPad was released a couple weeks ago. It is a mix between a laptop and an iPhone and could revolutionize hand-held technology. Another way this could help would be the late-night programming shows that most people aren't able to stay up to watch. They could wake up in the morning and on the way to work or while getting ready watch the late night show that took place the night before. (Pages 184-186 in the text).

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10451311-260.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

(website link ^)