A little more than a month ago I walked away from 25 years in TV weather. During my final days, I posted some lessons I’d learned throughout my career. In case you missed them on Facebook or LinkedIn, I’m also sharing them here.
- DREAM JOBS
When I first started out in TV my goal was to get a job in Chicago. It’s where I attended college and near where I grew up in Michigan. What I quickly learned was you couldn’t get a job straight out of college in such a huge city (at least you couldn’t in the early 90s). Believe me, I tried. You had to move to a small town (small TV market) and get some experience first. From there, you moved “up” in market size to other towns, other TV stations, and finally “arrived” at your end goal. Sometimes people stay at a station for 2-3 years and move on, but sometimes they get to a small town, set up their life, and stay forever.
- MARKET SIZE
The TV news world is broken up into “markets” based on population. There are 210 total markets across the US ranked by size. New York is number one with an estimated 6.8 million homes with televisions. Los Angeles is number two. Chicago is ranked third and so on. Orlando (which includes Daytona Beach and Melbourne) sits at number 18 with nearly 1.5 million TV watchers. Glendive, Montana is the smallest market at number 210 and 3,600 potential television watchers. People might jump to a bigger market for more money, a better position or schedule, or even for a location more (or less) meteorologically challenging.
Sometimes people end up in their “dream market.” Other times the dream changes to match the current situation. My definition of success changed over the years. I stopped measuring success by getting back to Chicago. I began to measure success by happiness, contentment, family, personal fulfillment, meaningful friendships, and the ability to overcome obstacles and pain by focusing on blessings and helping others.
➡️ “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau
Have a great day !!!