The Student Room Group

what is the best course to do to go in to tv and radio presenting?

Ok so i should really be applying for university with in the next month or so.. my personal statement is finished.. i want to be a presenter but its finding the right course and university as there is no set route in to it.. i need advice i am targetted between 240-300 ucas points and it is STRESSING me out trying to find a uni and course!!!
i was thinking of doing BROUDCAST JOURNALISM... but what universitys have most presenters gone to? and what have they studies?
Reply 1
A degree probably won't help you, but perhaps do an English degree or something like that?

Try to get in to it by gaining work experience (ie do journalism before moving onto presenter) although your career choice really doesn't sound realistic if I'm being perfectly honest.
Jobs such as Radio or Television Presenter aren't degree jobs. You don't go to university to become these things. Save yourself £21k and get work experience instead!

You could do Broadcast Journalism or Media and communications - but these degrees do NOT increase your chances of becoming a Journalist or presenter any more than English, Economics, Geography etc.
Reply 3
Most (if not all) presenters on the radio don't have a special degree in it. The radio industry is becoming ever smaller, so my advice would be to do something you can fall back on.

If you can't think of anything else, Sunderland University do an excellent degree. They've got a community station called Spark which sounds amazing. Take a look at their courses, but my strongest advice would be do something you can fall back on as, chances are, it's going to be tough to get on air.

I know, I'm a presenter. It's a tough world.
Reply 4
How attractive are you? This is the biggest factor in whether you will ever be a TV presenter, especially if you are female.
Original post by tula baby
Ok so i should really be applying for university with in the next month or so.. my personal statement is finished.. i want to be a presenter but its finding the right course and university as there is no set route in to it.. i need advice i am targetted between 240-300 ucas points and it is STRESSING me out trying to find a uni and course!!!
i was thinking of doing BROUDCAST JOURNALISM... but what universitys have most presenters gone to? and what have they studies?


There are degree courses where I go that may be what you're looking for, I can't be certain it's exactly what you want though - link to website:

http://www.s-s-r.com/
Reply 6
FADER 205: how did you get in to it?
I currently run a big news station at my school so I have that experiance.. also my head of year who has family in the industry who are quite high up are hopefully getting me a scholarship but its all hope hope hope.. i wanted to get some experiance at my radio station when i leave school in may for a few months.. this is just really hard for me.. deciding exactly what route to go down.. my bestfriends uncle is a t.v presenter for bbc. and he said the bbc ask for degrees now a days to even get your foot in the door so its hard!!!!!
Reply 7
What sort of presenter do you want to be? - if it's news and current affairs something in the politics department would sound useful.

Fwiw
Simon Mayo did history & politics at Warwick
Nicky Campbell did history

both started out on radio one and do fairly respectable news and interview shows these days.
For every job in TV/Radio/Journalism, there will be 1,000 applicants with degrees in a range of subjects. As reflected above, my advice would be to get as much practical experience as you can, save yourself £30,000 and if you must, get an education in something that has wider career prospects.
Reply 9
Sorry to burst your bubble, but the chances of you getting into presenting are very slim. There are probably more Premier League footballers than there are TV presenters.
Original post by screenager2004
Jobs such as Radio or Television Presenter aren't degree jobs. You don't go to university to become these things. Save yourself £21k and get work experience instead!

You could do Broadcast Journalism or Media and communications - but these degrees do NOT increase your chances of becoming a Journalist or presenter any more than English, Economics, Geography etc.


lol yes they do, don't be silly, a journalism degree accredited and with a good grade is way more attractive to a newspaper than a geography or history degree
Original post by Anabolicminds
lol yes they do, don't be silly, a journalism degree accredited and with a good grade is way more attractive to a newspaper than a geography or history degree


No they don't. You're hired on your portfolio and experience, not your degree.
Reply 12
What you look like has far importance in getting into TV than what type of degree you have
Original post by tula baby
. my personal statement is finished.. i want to be a presenter but its finding the right course


How can you have written your personal statemnent when you don't know what course you are applying to? This is a clear case of putting the cart before the horse.
Reply 14
Original post by Anabolicminds
lol yes they do, don't be silly, a journalism degree accredited and with a good grade is way more attractive to a newspaper than a geography or history degree

The large number of famous journalists with degrees in traditional academic subjects suggests otherwise
Reply 15
my friend has just completed an English Lang & Media degree and got accepted onto a BBC traineeship... although i dont think this training scheme is just limited to graduates.

at the moment, the BBC seem to be on a recruitment drive (still, they arent exactly giving jobs away, competition is extremely fierce) especially in the north as they are moving up here... so if you live near Manchester, there's good opportunity to get a foot in the door with a traineeship scheme.

once he got through the rigorous online application (3hrs long), my friend spent ages preparing for the interview... put his all into it. unless you are 100% driven and determined, a job in telly is a pipe dream. and even if you are 100% driven and determined, a job in telly is gonna be hard to come by.
Reply 16
Original post by tula baby
FADER 205: how did you get in to it?
I currently run a big news station at my school so I have that experiance.. also my head of year who has family in the industry who are quite high up are hopefully getting me a scholarship but its all hope hope hope.. i wanted to get some experiance at my radio station when i leave school in may for a few months.. this is just really hard for me.. deciding exactly what route to go down.. my bestfriends uncle is a t.v presenter for bbc. and he said the bbc ask for degrees now a days to even get your foot in the door so its hard!!!!!



I did work experience. Worked for internet stations then community then got signed to an FM station. No degree needed!
Reply 17
Original post by tula baby
Ok so i should really be applying for university with in the next month or so.. my personal statement is finished.. i want to be a presenter but its finding the right course and university as there is no set route in to it.. i need advice i am targetted between 240-300 ucas points and it is STRESSING me out trying to find a uni and course!!!
i was thinking of doing BROUDCAST JOURNALISM... but what universitys have most presenters gone to? and what have they studies?


One problem with this industry is that if you go into it saying you want to be a presenter, people will assume you don't want to do anything else. And often you have to start at the bottom and work your way up. I've done radio presenting before for my uni and I've done news presenting on radio and television and you can't just focus on one thing, you have to be able to write scripts, produce a show, edit clips, work a camera, you can't just present. It is one of the hardest, most stressful jobs in the studio and so you need to know all the workings and all the other jobs to be able to present effectively...

In terms of looking at unis, anything in media, broadcast journalism, radio production, communication studies etc. will give you some insight into the industry.
Reply 18
Original post by Kerny
The large number of famous journalists with degrees in traditional academic subjects suggests otherwise


I'd argue that that's because there weren't that many established, respected and accredited journalism degrees around when they were studying... Now things are different.
A lot of radio presenters out there started in local hospital radio. Scott Mills did, Chris Moyles did, and Greg James studied Drama at university, but it was getting involved in student radio while he was there that lead to him having experience at Radio 1 for a week and then eventually being taken on as a presenter. A fair few TV presenters started working on local TV channels and even radio, just getting experience and building up contacts what is what's important.

I volunteered at a radio station a few years ago and while I enjoyed it, I didn't take to it as much as I thought I would and was glad I decided to not study it at university. Be aware that if you do volunteer you won't just be able to walk straight in as a presenter. I was stuck taking requests and being trained in how the studio works for quite a long time. Also, if you target the big and popular stations/channels for experience be aware that they probably get hundreds upon hundreds of applications a year and probably only have a few placements on offer. I'd suggest sending around a demo of some kind, to show off your skills. Tape yourself presenting a radio show at home or an audition tape for a tv presenting job. I've read about a lot of presenters doing that earlier in their careers to get noticed.

If you did decide to go to university then I would suggest Broadcast Journalism. Radio Production is more the technical side of it that would come in use if you wanted to be a producer rather than presenter.
(edited 13 years ago)

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