My buddy Morris left the radio news game this spring. After 30+ years. Tried his hand at the newspaper business but that didn’t work out. He says he wants to try something online. Blogging, podcasting, etc. I think he knows it will be a tough row to hoe (as momma used to say) but he sounds very positive. In his latest email he observed there just weren’t that many “serious news operations” (he was referring to radio, I believe) in Missouri.

Morris’ situation raises a good question. If you’re a radio news reporter, and you had to go out and find another job tomorrow, where would you look? Another radio station? Group ownership has reduced the competition (and need?) for your services. The local newspaper? They’ve got their own problems. A traditional fall-back has been PR for some company/association/department. But I always wondered if that wasn’t based on the notion that you could get all of your radio news buddies to run your press releases. On the other hand, I was in a room full of PR folks back in January so the jobs seem to be there.

Radio reporters have what seem to be some very marketable skills. They can do interviews. They can write stories. They can read well aloud. So, where do they go when it’s time to go?