Briana Aldridge Thesis Presentation

Trina Creighton Author

10/29/2020 Added

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The College of Journalism and Mass Communication's Diversity and Inclusion Committee invited Briana Aldridge, a recent grad of our Masters’ program, to headline our Multicultural Homecoming Event. Aldridge will share her thesis The challenges Black women face breaking into the sports broadcasting industry at 12:45 p.m. over Zoom on Wednesday, Oct. 28.

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[00:00:00.320]All right, welcome.
[00:00:01.240]Thanks for coming on Zoom today and talking to over
[00:00:04.570]100 people on a Wednesday at noon hour.
[00:00:07.600]So, thank you so much.
[00:00:09.610]We're excited to hear from you.
[00:00:11.460]Barney's already placed your bio in the chat
[00:00:14.150]so all of our viewers can read that quickly.
[00:00:17.310]But, yeah, do you wanna just kind of introduce
[00:00:20.010]yourself in your words and tell us
[00:00:22.620]what you have in store for us today.
[00:00:24.100]We can see your screen, so we're good to go.
[00:00:27.220]Awesome, okay.
[00:00:28.990]Well, thank you for having me by the way,
[00:00:31.410]I'm really excited anytime I get to talk about this project.
[00:00:36.504]I put my heart and soul in it
[00:00:37.800]and it's something I'm really passionate about.
[00:00:40.220]So I'm really excited to share this with everyone.
[00:00:43.880]But, little background on me,
[00:00:47.088]I'm going on my fourth year in the TV business.
[00:00:52.530]I was graduated from Clark Atlanta, 2016.
[00:00:57.810]Did the internship, my senior year at Top Nine Market,
[00:01:02.040]which I think really helped me out
[00:01:04.370]when I was applying for jobs.
[00:01:05.700]Those internships, for experience, that really helps you
[00:01:11.190]when you start to apply for your first job especially.
[00:01:14.590]From there I got MMJ,
[00:01:18.120]the one-man band they always tell you about,
[00:01:20.410]in the middle of nowhere in West Virginia.
[00:01:23.200]I did everything from anchoring, producing,
[00:01:28.070]I got to do it all,
[00:01:30.610]a little weather, everything, you do everything.
[00:01:34.870]After seven months, I got lucky,
[00:01:36.750]the morning anchor, her contract was coming up,
[00:01:40.320]and I got promoted rather quickly.
[00:01:42.830]So I was on the desk for almost two years.
[00:01:45.850]And then, while I was there, I was working on
[00:01:51.060]getting fully transitioned into sports.
[00:01:53.100]So I would fill in the weekends, holidays,
[00:01:56.360]no one ever wants to be there for Christmas.
[00:01:58.720]So I always wanted to do that, that's how I built a career.
[00:02:02.930]And that's how I always give advice
[00:02:05.210]to anyone trying to get into sports.
[00:02:07.920]It's not a deal breaker to start in news.
[00:02:09.980]A lot of people I know do that.
[00:02:12.635]And it really gets your foot in the door
[00:02:14.100]and get the same experience and you just get creative.
[00:02:16.980]And especially, working for local news,
[00:02:20.190]they like those feature stories.
[00:02:23.550]It's not about reading highlights like people think.
[00:02:26.090]It's totally so much more than that.
[00:02:27.990]It's really news with a twist with sports nowadays.
[00:02:32.590]Because if you can only give a quick recap
[00:02:35.770]and highlights and you can't find the deeper meaning
[00:02:38.000]of your athletes and get to know them,
[00:02:41.280]be able to explain them especially in that local content.
[00:02:44.960]And the way I was taught,
[00:02:47.520]I can see if the Saints won on ESPN, no problem.
[00:02:51.990]So, how do we make local news different?
[00:02:54.130]And so, just like a little advice before I start,
[00:02:57.950]that was just kind of my path.
[00:02:59.260]But this project, and I graduated in December
[00:03:02.530]with my masters at UNL, learned a lot.
[00:03:04.930]I'm really thankful this program is online fully
[00:03:07.950]because with my schedule, there's no way
[00:03:09.570]I'd be able to commit and still get what I needed.
[00:03:15.040]You know, full-time like I got to do.
[00:03:16.560]So I'm really thankful for this is opportunity.
[00:03:19.940]And then even more meeting Preston Crane
[00:03:23.480]encouraging me to do this topic, which is awesome.
[00:03:27.220]And the title of my project here that I'm gonna kinda go
[00:03:31.410]into is called Black Women in Sports Broadcasting.
[00:03:35.890]At first, I pitched like, let's do women in broadcasting
[00:03:40.410]and then we're like, let's do women in sports,
[00:03:42.440]and they're like, let's narrow it even more.
[00:03:44.800]And that's where it got hard,
[00:03:46.580]and that's where the heart of this project is.
[00:03:48.300]It did get hard because
[00:03:49.910]if you Google black women in broadcasting,
[00:03:51.740]we're all gonna see the same three articles.
[00:03:53.710]You're gonna see the 10 women who pioneered
[00:03:56.600]and the two of them are African-American.
[00:04:00.640]There's one about a recent one
[00:04:03.920]about coaches starting to get in the NFL Women
[00:04:07.560]for the first time breaking more barriers.
[00:04:09.740]So there's not a lot out there.
[00:04:10.930]So how I, the bulk of my project came from real women
[00:04:16.207]who've been working in the business
[00:04:18.185]from where I am from 20 years.
[00:04:22.370]Everybody was on air except for one,
[00:04:24.110]she was an Executive Producer at ESPN
[00:04:26.180]but I just thought her experience brought a lot
[00:04:28.330]to my project 'cause she kinda sees behind the scenes,
[00:04:32.990]the hiring process, all that kind of stuff.
[00:04:35.500]So that's the bulk of it, that's the purpose of it.
[00:04:40.120]One thing about it, mentioning the lack of research
[00:04:43.690]in like the first quote that I found in it
[00:04:46.320]was according to Women's Media Center
[00:04:49.570]which is where I got a lot of my numbers from
[00:04:51.240]they have an annual report every year.
[00:04:53.340]And it said people of color were overrepresented
[00:04:56.720]in the lowest paid jobs.
[00:04:58.130]And I think that for me, pushed me to do this project
[00:05:00.520]even more, because I never really thought about it.
[00:05:05.390]Like we get accepted,
[00:05:08.610]but we're getting accepted with limitations.
[00:05:12.030]And some of the jobs that were popular
[00:05:13.840]were a lot of assistant jobs,
[00:05:17.610]help desk, staff editors, things like that.
[00:05:21.150]Not that they're, not discrediting anyone in those positions
[00:05:24.280]but it's just, how do we set the bar higher?
[00:05:28.470]I don't want to only be able to be
[00:05:30.530]an assistant news director if I wanna get to management,
[00:05:32.490]I wanna take over the whole thing.
[00:05:33.730]So it's all about, you know, how we get there.
[00:05:37.210]And so here, this is where I started with my project.
[00:05:41.530]okay, who was the first woman, black woman to ever
[00:05:45.300]work for a National Network which is Jayne Kennedy.
[00:05:49.150]And I think for me, I was kind of shocked
[00:05:51.310]because I always was told Robin Roberts was the main woman
[00:05:56.410]to start that era early 90s for ESPN.
[00:06:00.270]And it was actually Jayne Kennedy who had her first role.
[00:06:04.210]And that was 1978.
[00:06:07.280]She was a co-host on NFL Today.
[00:06:10.410]And something I learned was that her job
[00:06:15.680]and what she did was kind of a little bit looked down upon
[00:06:19.630]because she was a former beauty pageant.
[00:06:22.820]And she just didn't really get the respect.
[00:06:25.050]So I'm actually just gonna play.
[00:06:26.240]Hopefully my sound is working for you guys,
[00:06:28.700]but I just thought this was really cool to actually
[00:06:31.460]see her in action.
[00:06:33.030]So I'm just going to start at kind of midway.
[00:06:34.610]Hi, Nick, Mick and Meyer.
[00:06:36.200]And Minnesota and St. Louis are still scoreless,
[00:06:39.210]Cincinnati and Baltimore also are scoreless in the first.
[00:06:42.480]And San Diego struck thanks to Lord Jeff.
[00:06:45.860]They kick the extra point, it's seven O chargers now.
[00:06:49.460]Lord Jeff.
[00:06:50.770]When the Dallas Cowboys arrived in New York late yesterday,
[00:06:53.790]CBS had a cassette of "Too Tall" Jones bout ready
[00:06:56.580]for them to view earth cross as Cowboy General Manager
[00:06:59.490]Tex Schramm his reaction to Jones's debut.
[00:07:02.920]Well, it wasn't one of the great fights of the century.
[00:07:05.930]I don't imagine, but I think a lot of people are.
[00:07:08.047]So besides what the scoreboard looked like back then
[00:07:12.620]and it's kind of the same, what we see today.
[00:07:16.320]A pretty woman, quick introduction
[00:07:19.330]quick smile, tossed to the guy,
[00:07:22.510]to handle the stats or the players and the coaches.
[00:07:26.560]So to me, like that was like really interesting to see
[00:07:31.260]like this was the first woman to ever do it.
[00:07:33.470]And she did get a lot of backlash.
[00:07:36.330]She was the second woman to do this for NFL.
[00:07:38.650]Phyllis George was also for NFL host as well.
[00:07:44.910]And it was a really popular
[00:07:47.400]and I cannot remember his name at this moment in time
[00:07:49.660]but he actually had made a comment
[00:07:51.160]saying they had set back women in sports 20 years.
[00:07:53.600]That was his comment.
[00:07:54.980]And to me, she might not be on the level
[00:07:59.040]with knowledge as Robin Roberts, who was this,
[00:08:01.980]all American athlete but it's just
[00:08:05.920]a little frustrating for me to see her get discredited.
[00:08:09.370]And she he's literally broke history the first.
[00:08:14.510]So that's where I started with that.
[00:08:15.920]Getting on to Robin Roberts,
[00:08:18.650]who I love by the way she was hired in 1983.
[00:08:22.980]So after Jayne Kennedy here and she started off
[00:08:28.430]like we all do in a small, tiny town.
[00:08:32.890]And I also grabbed a clip from her
[00:08:36.230]'cause she actually talked about her experience.
[00:08:40.140]Let's see if I can get this to cooperate here.
[00:08:43.361]Yes, I had set that goal and people,
[00:08:46.120]I remember people saying,
[00:08:47.160]well, first of all, you're a woman
[00:08:48.410]so you're never gonna work at ESPN.
[00:08:49.870]And oh, by the way, ESPN is never gonna make it.
[00:08:52.600]There weren't a lot of women doing sports on television,
[00:08:55.090]and even fewer African-American women.
[00:08:57.480]So my opportunities were minuscule
[00:08:59.950]but my big sister Sally Ann really helped me
[00:09:03.923]develop some skills.
[00:09:04.840]And she called the first station that she worked
[00:09:06.860]for in Hattiesburg Mississippi.
[00:09:08.880]And they offered me $5 and 50 cents an hour,
[00:09:11.850]30 hours a week to be their weekend sports anchor.
[00:09:16.290]So that right there, obviously she was the main person
[00:09:20.830]for ESPN for years, and it really gave us that drive
[00:09:24.810]because not only did she have the look
[00:09:27.220]that I'll get into later, but she had the knowledge
[00:09:30.150]she had experienced, she got the respect.
[00:09:31.750]And I think she really broke the door open
[00:09:34.780]for people like me who want to be taken seriously.
[00:09:39.350]And of course following her
[00:09:41.090]I think about five years later is Pam Oliver,
[00:09:44.600]which I know a lot of people still see her
[00:09:46.210]she's still on today.
[00:09:49.300]But like those two ladies really in the '90s
[00:09:51.630]just really opened a lot of doors
[00:09:55.080]and they share their experience
[00:09:56.340]which I don't wanna overwhelm you guys with all my research.
[00:09:59.260]So if you guys want to check it out later, I have like clips
[00:10:01.530]and stuff of what she is been through.
[00:10:03.710]But after 19 years of working for Fox Sports,
[00:10:07.060]she was replaced with Erin Andrews who is considered
[00:10:10.420]like the A-Squad and Pam Oliver, which I really respect her
[00:10:16.240]'cause she loves her job so much.
[00:10:17.810]She still continue to give her best, but took it kind of
[00:10:22.160]like being demoted a little bit.
[00:10:24.400]And obviously you see someone in that role
[00:10:26.730]for 20 something years.
[00:10:30.390]I don't know personally,
[00:10:31.223]I don't know whether you guys, but if I'm doing my job
[00:10:32.910]for 20 years and someone a little bit younger
[00:10:35.650]comes along that fits the look.
[00:10:38.370]And I don't know if I'd be able to personally stay
[00:10:43.150]with that company, which I think is really big of her
[00:10:48.850]and feel free to stop me anytime.
[00:10:50.110]I'm a talker guy.
[00:10:50.943]So, feel free.
[00:10:53.057]You're doing great.
[00:10:54.550]Yeah, keep it going.
[00:10:55.525](laughs)
[00:10:57.090]But kind of talking about some people I actually
[00:11:00.210]got to talk to you, I would have loved to call Robin Roberts
[00:11:03.170]on her cellphone and have a conversation
[00:11:04.940]but obviously I didn't get to do that
[00:11:06.520]but I did get to talk to a lot of people that are actually
[00:11:11.430]in the business, two work for ESPN currently.
[00:11:16.080]One is on air, Tiffany Greene I got to talk to her.
[00:11:19.670]She was the first black woman to serve as a play-by-play
[00:11:22.790]commentator for college football in 2017.
[00:11:27.160]The year before that Ann Meyers and Stephanie Ready
[00:11:30.190]became the first female duo to call NBA game
[00:11:35.300]and then play-by-play announcer Beth Mowins became
[00:11:40.010]the first female announcer to call NFL game.
[00:11:42.680]And all these things guys have happened
[00:11:44.490]between the years of 2015 to now.
[00:11:47.000]So I really hit those accomplishments because
[00:11:52.430]if you think about we're in 2020 and these things
[00:11:55.380]were still breaking the first to do certain things.
[00:12:00.266]As black women this is the first for us.
[00:12:04.700]So that's why I really chose these certain people to talk to
[00:12:07.910]like Tiffany Greene who did that.
[00:12:10.070]This lady that I talked to at the time
[00:12:13.650]was a weekend anchor in Mississippi.
[00:12:17.250]She's now actually moved on to Memphis,
[00:12:19.100]which is actually a big deal.
[00:12:21.140]If you know your market sizes,
[00:12:22.370]that's a pretty good market to be at.
[00:12:25.510]And I thought that was interesting
[00:12:26.530]'cause I just spoke to her last year
[00:12:29.000]and she's already made a big jump.
[00:12:31.670]I've talked to some people, some analysts
[00:12:35.470]that are currently working.
[00:12:36.741]And then, like I said, the producer, another sports
[00:12:40.210]she's also does sports and news.
[00:12:41.270]So I got to talk to a lot of people
[00:12:44.930]with some interesting backgrounds, but also it seemed
[00:12:51.570]to me when I spoke to them the theme hasn't changed.
[00:12:55.420]So I'm gonna play something for you guys very quickly,
[00:12:59.700]only because I felt what she said was so powerful.
[00:13:05.660]Variance and in how the standards, I would say yes,
[00:13:09.570]because you start with the look of a black woman, right?
[00:13:13.610]So they looked network
[00:13:15.660]when black women have long hair, right?
[00:13:18.330]In my experience, I know I didn't grow up with seeing,
[00:13:21.330]I've seen black women with long hair today
[00:13:24.750]and I'm like that can't be
[00:13:26.200]'cause we all don't have a long hair.
[00:13:28.540]but we can buy long hair now, right?
[00:13:30.257]And we can buy any kind of hair we want.
[00:13:34.200]I remember my friend got me
[00:13:36.137]and I told her that I'm not putting anything in my hair.
[00:13:40.081]That's not mine.
[00:13:42.210]So, and then even the state of the black woman, right?
[00:13:47.840]So most black women are usually fair skin
[00:13:52.040]little brown, seldom do you see dark skin women?
[00:13:58.290]So I think that's another standard black women are healthy
[00:14:04.150]So it's definitely not a steady
[00:14:07.100]and across the board for all women, absolutely not.
[00:14:13.350]So I kind of decided to play that clip there for you guys,
[00:14:16.750]just because she was one of the women who's been in the game
[00:14:19.840]for over 20 years.
[00:14:22.850]So basically what she was saying was
[00:14:27.040]she's been through it all
[00:14:28.140]and it really hasn't changed, but she's kind of stuck.
[00:14:31.430]Step two, what you see from her is what you get.
[00:14:34.520]Karen Hall has been a Color Analyst
[00:14:36.500]for ESPN for over 20 years.
[00:14:39.160]So she definitely has a lot of experience
[00:14:43.350]to see how things have changed.
[00:14:46.374]And we kind of talked about the sideline role
[00:14:48.760]for a lot of women that are getting jobs
[00:14:52.347]but not a lot of people do what she does.
[00:14:54.700]And that's why I have so much respect for her
[00:14:57.700]because a lot of women aren't being commentators,
[00:15:04.160]we're kind of like sometimes it kind of feels like a prop.
[00:15:08.120]And she said the way you break that is really
[00:15:10.330]come in prepared and know your stuff
[00:15:14.290]and be over prepared than the guy next to you.
[00:15:16.560]And it shows.
[00:15:18.050]And then personally when I came here, I kind of feel,
[00:15:23.420]I was the news girl, everyone knew my background was news.
[00:15:26.480]And I felt like I got discredited and a little bit
[00:15:28.470]just the other guys having a lot of experience.
[00:15:31.850]And they told I had a pep talk with Karen and she said,
[00:15:36.091]she knows who I work with.
[00:15:37.800]And it's funny because I'm the only one that department
[00:15:40.090]with actual experience as an athlete,
[00:15:42.630]like I was a dual athlete in college.
[00:15:44.480]These guys, they just like sports.
[00:15:46.200]So there she's like use that as confidence.
[00:15:50.020]So that's one thing about being a woman in this business.
[00:15:55.100]You have to be overconfident like before my live shots,
[00:15:57.840]I talked to myself in my head.
[00:15:59.390]Like you got this, the same as if I was on the field play.
[00:16:03.230]And that's really how you make it work because there's a lot
[00:16:06.580]and I'm not trying to discredit men out there,
[00:16:08.100]there's a lot of guys who helped me out and great mentors.
[00:16:12.010]But there's also guys who will throw, I wanna say shade
[00:16:16.220]that don't even know it's so natural for them.
[00:16:18.820]And sometimes I had to take a step back
[00:16:20.860]and I don't even think they realize it's a bit disrespectful
[00:16:24.940]or something they would never say to their male colleagues
[00:16:27.350]but they feel comfortable enough to say it
[00:16:30.220]without saying any names or anything like that.
[00:16:33.080]But I've been in a situation where I was getting trained
[00:16:35.800]on shooting football.
[00:16:38.270]And when you have a running play
[00:16:40.870]it's pretty simple to follow the ball.
[00:16:42.230]But the certain quarterbacks who launch them
[00:16:46.210]you have to be very quick on how you follow it.
[00:16:48.110]And he kinda like made a joke like, "Hey, I don't know
[00:16:50.397]"if you know, but in football the ball goes up."
[00:16:53.320]And I was like, he was trying, he thought it was funny.
[00:16:57.370]I didn't.
[00:16:58.410]And I didn't think it was funny because I know he would
[00:17:00.950]never say that to our other colleague who was a male.
[00:17:03.570]So it's things like that.
[00:17:05.670]Especially after doing this project and listening
[00:17:07.750]to some of these women's stories, don't be surprised.
[00:17:12.340]And the guys in this group don't do that.
[00:17:14.405](chuckles)
[00:17:15.238]And it's really just, that's why I liked this project
[00:17:18.320]'cause it's not just for women,
[00:17:19.610]it's showing other people how can we change it?
[00:17:25.222]That was the purpose of my project.
[00:17:29.790]One thing that I found there is a lot of women lifting women
[00:17:33.420]white women, black women, we're all lifting each other.
[00:17:35.790]And I think that's a big deal.
[00:17:39.180]I'm actually gonna type in a word doc to send to you guys.
[00:17:42.340]It's a few of the groups that I'm personally in
[00:17:45.210]and there's some other groups for maybe
[00:17:47.090]some of you guys that aren't a 100% sold on sports.
[00:17:49.800]That's actually really good for MMJ.
[00:17:51.990]For one to get a news.
[00:17:53.030]And also a few of my PR people
[00:17:55.120]I was sharing with Trina as well,
[00:17:56.760]there's a really great group that I'm in
[00:17:58.950]that women who have transitioned, share their stories,
[00:18:01.500]they post jobs.
[00:18:03.160]A lot of people will just be like, "Hey, I'm in New Mexico.
[00:18:06.627]"And we're looking for this person to run
[00:18:09.417]"MMJ experience to run our hospital website
[00:18:11.937]"or something like that."
[00:18:13.130]So it's really, there's a lot of stuff out there.
[00:18:15.454]And that's one thing that I learned that a lot of them
[00:18:17.470]are free and that's the best.
[00:18:19.480]I know if you're in college that's the best we like free.
[00:18:25.750]Something else that I really found in this project
[00:18:29.090]and talking to these women,
[00:18:31.534]'cause a lot of these women are busy too.
[00:18:33.210]They have careers, they work for networks
[00:18:35.030]and all of them told me I'm taking the time
[00:18:38.270]to do this with you and I hope when you get
[00:18:40.420]where I am you do the same behind view.
[00:18:44.009]And really this whole thing is getting from this.
[00:18:47.880]Like if I can help one person in here out of the 50 people
[00:18:51.840]that are logged on, that's what it's all about.
[00:18:55.370]And I really do try it because I know what it's like
[00:18:58.270]guys to apply to 25 jobs and hear back from two,
[00:19:03.090]that's scary.
[00:19:04.130]And I know how that is.
[00:19:06.400]So when I say being the helping hand, that's a part of it.
[00:19:10.790]The other part is networking.
[00:19:14.020]And when I say networking,
[00:19:15.160]you have to network and be genuine,
[00:19:19.600]follow up with who you meet, at a convention, at a workshop.
[00:19:25.700]Professor Cray and she was never even my professor.
[00:19:28.350]And she put a hand out to me because she saw
[00:19:32.850]I really wanted to do this.
[00:19:35.251]And that's what I hope.
[00:19:36.560]And that's why I'm continuing to get onto my PhD
[00:19:39.180]because I want to be able to do what she did for me one day.
[00:19:45.610]So my last thing I would probably say is just
[00:19:50.460]like I said, research your field.
[00:19:52.070]So I'm not gonna assume everybody
[00:19:53.810]in here is a die hard sports fan
[00:19:56.580]but research your field know your stuff.
[00:19:58.900]If I'm going to apply for a job in Wisconsin,
[00:20:01.760]I probably should do my research
[00:20:03.160]before I sit down and say I'm a Raider fan.
[00:20:06.680]Well, what can you do for Green Bay?
[00:20:08.532]So it's just sports has an extra step.
[00:20:12.630]I feel like, then news.
[00:20:14.700]It definitely does, but it's a lot of fun.
[00:20:17.090]The adrenaline, I being a former athlete.
[00:20:19.850]There's no better feeling than being at LSU Death Valley
[00:20:23.210]when they're playing Bama.
[00:20:25.140]There's no better feeling.
[00:20:27.290]So I definitely just want to leave you with that.
[00:20:30.181]Like I said, I made a list of all the resources
[00:20:34.220]that I think could be beneficial to some of you guys.
[00:20:37.070]I definitely want you to get the most out of this.
[00:20:40.110]If you guys ever have questions, if you see a job
[00:20:43.880]in my area always feel free to reach out to me.
[00:20:48.670]'Cause you guys are gonna be great too.
[00:20:49.800]I might be reaching out to you when I'm 70 years.
[00:20:52.740]So like I said, this is for me.
[00:20:55.760]I love to show you guys my project
[00:20:58.540]but I also like to network with you guys and be genuine.
[00:21:01.990]And we all coming from a great university.
[00:21:05.150]So why not just put UNL on the map.
[00:21:08.380]So that's pretty much my conclusion.
[00:21:10.860]So if you guys have any questions,
[00:21:12.430]feel free to throw them, right?
[00:21:14.520]All right.
[00:21:15.353]Hey, thank you Briana.
[00:21:16.190]And yes, go ahead and jump on that chat board,
[00:21:19.570]if you will, for a second and drop your questions in there.
[00:21:22.462]Briana, we've got one from Kylie's Saddam,
[00:21:24.690]Kylie one of our students
[00:21:25.840]and Kylie, if you're on, would you like to ask the question?
[00:21:30.590]Yeah, I can ask the question.
[00:21:32.540]Hi Briana, so you were talking earlier
[00:21:34.950]about how there were still breakthroughs
[00:21:36.780]that we were still seeing today that
[00:21:38.400]should have been made a long time ago.
[00:21:40.430]So what changes do you hope to see for broadcasters
[00:21:43.170]in the future that should already be happening now?
[00:21:47.117]I think the biggest thing is the roles that we play.
[00:21:51.070]I'd love to see, like I said,
[00:21:53.630]for me, my focus was, Black Women in Sport
[00:21:57.040]but I want to see more women, not just at the desk.
[00:22:01.100]I want them to be play-by-plays.
[00:22:03.380]You know, I want to be analysts.
[00:22:04.550]I want them to break down the games.
[00:22:06.460]I want them to be able to hold a 30 minute conversation
[00:22:08.870]in a radio interview and be confident opinion.
[00:22:13.070]'Cause I think a lot of us do have it.
[00:22:14.630]I know personally I do, but my first radio
[00:22:16.770]we have ESPN 1420 that we do down the street.
[00:22:19.480]I was so nervous because I just felt
[00:22:21.460]like people were gonna nitpick anything I say.
[00:22:25.010]Sitting next to two other guys and who are from here.
[00:22:28.110]But a lot of that, like I said, it comes with being prepared
[00:22:31.100]and doing your research.
[00:22:32.530]'Cause it will show if you don't know your stuff,
[00:22:35.810]if that makes sense.
[00:22:37.830]But yeah, that's definitely what I think we need
[00:22:40.020]to be able to be doing not just trying to put a cute girl
[00:22:43.560]on the sideline.
[00:22:45.430]It's a great place to start, I love being out in the field.
[00:22:47.580]But also I wanna be able to hang and have a conversation
[00:22:52.410]and feel respected while I'm doing it.
[00:22:56.370]On that theme Esther Michael
[00:22:59.170]has a question for you as well.
[00:23:01.220]Go ahead, Esther.
[00:23:02.930]Hi Briana.
[00:23:04.850]So my question is where was your first internship
[00:23:08.640]as a sports broadcaster?
[00:23:10.480]Was there like a specific black woman you looked up to?
[00:23:14.830]I started actually in news.
[00:23:17.160]They didn't have a sports internship that summer
[00:23:19.520]unfortunately.
[00:23:21.405]So I was at WSB in Atlanta, Georgia.
[00:23:24.750]I think for me there wasn't, the sports guy
[00:23:31.735]they were all guys.
[00:23:32.960]So there wasn't like a female there
[00:23:34.830]that I really looked up to in that market.
[00:23:38.120]For me I was always network and that's always been the goal.
[00:23:42.720]And I think for a lot of people
[00:23:45.280]but definitely I've always looked up to Robin Roberts.
[00:23:47.600]Her story amazes me.
[00:23:49.610]Like we just heard, she made $5 in something,
[00:23:53.630]an hour in the middle of nowhere.
[00:23:55.330]And I know what that's like.
[00:23:57.103]Cari Champion, I always praise her as well.
[00:23:59.620]I love her background.
[00:24:00.730]She actually started 45 minutes from where I started
[00:24:04.370]as a one man band in news, a long time ago.
[00:24:08.820]So I think those two women probably
[00:24:13.280]I like the top dogs and I wanna be there one day.
[00:24:16.290]So shoot for the stars but definitely looked up to them
[00:24:20.580]my whole career.
[00:24:23.970]Thanks Esther.
[00:24:26.110]Briana, you're talking about
[00:24:27.350]you having to gotta be your own one person psyche job
[00:24:31.980]when you're getting fired up to do anything on television
[00:24:34.620]just to kind of pick yourself up.
[00:24:36.960]Kennedy Jones had a question in that regard.
[00:24:39.020]Go ahead and Kennedy.
[00:24:40.250]Hi, my question is what are some of the ways
[00:24:43.053]right before you go on air that you do amp yourself up
[00:24:46.950]and that you do get yourself competent and ready?
[00:24:51.280]Well for me here in this position and for a lot of sports,
[00:24:54.408]it's not like news where it's breaking
[00:24:57.190]and you have to just, what I see is what I'm talking about.
[00:25:01.310]But basically for me, what I like to do
[00:25:04.920]in my second year, that I'm more comfortable
[00:25:06.540]and I know my teams, I make flashcards prior.
[00:25:10.350]And instead of trying to memorize word-for-word,
[00:25:13.840]what I wrote I try to just look the bullet points
[00:25:16.810]kind of like if I was doing a presentation
[00:25:18.620]and just talk.
[00:25:20.190]If you can do that and going into your starting job,
[00:25:23.860]you'll set the bar and you'll stand out
[00:25:26.240]because a lot of people get nervous
[00:25:28.650]and they try to remember word-for-word what you said.
[00:25:30.810]And like, even like saying like that and that off,
[00:25:33.120]then I gotta start over it.
[00:25:35.610]So I think being able to have a conversation with someone
[00:25:41.120]like if they're in the camera
[00:25:42.260]instead of being scripted and trying to memorize
[00:25:45.950]'cause you only make yourself nervous
[00:25:48.000]and like going back to what I said before
[00:25:50.380]that's all about being prepared and knowing your stuff
[00:25:55.020]Anytime you work in this business,
[00:25:56.790]then you know, so well that, you've gotta be focused.
[00:25:59.810]You've gotta be ready to go.
[00:26:01.950]You've gotta stay motivated.
[00:26:03.420]And the Dulce Garcia had a question she wanted to ask.
[00:26:07.759]Yeah, hi.
[00:26:09.440]I just wanted to ask, like
[00:26:11.000]how do you keep yourself motivated and keep yourself
[00:26:14.730]from getting discouraged as you kind of breakthrough
[00:26:17.550]into boys' club as a black woman,
[00:26:20.040]especially after like experiencing negative interactions.
[00:26:23.980]'Cause I feel like it can be very tiring.
[00:26:27.870]So I just love to know how you keep yourself motivated
[00:26:30.310]from kind of doing that work and breaking those barriers.
[00:26:33.960]That's a great question.
[00:26:35.660]And it's something that a mentor of mine had told me.
[00:26:37.900]She's like randomly, she's like, what do you do for fun?
[00:26:41.130]And I'm like, what do you mean?
[00:26:42.550]She's like, we have to do something out of this business.
[00:26:44.400]you'll go crazy.
[00:26:45.880]My family is in California, I'm in Louisiana alone.
[00:26:49.240]This is my second I don't have anyone out here
[00:26:52.470]but I think the best way is to find something
[00:26:55.490]that kind of releases that stress.
[00:26:59.910]And for me, it's working out
[00:27:01.630]like I've done boxing, I've been CrossFit.
[00:27:03.965]That's like how I mentally keep in zone.
[00:27:08.030]'Cause I think if I were to reflect all day
[00:27:09.830]at what went wrong at work, it sticks with you.
[00:27:13.480]You know what I mean?
[00:27:14.313]You just have to shake it off.
[00:27:16.620]And like I said, I find ways to get confident.
[00:27:19.380]When I first got here football, I know what's going on.
[00:27:23.230]But football lingo,
[00:27:24.750]the fact that each position has four different names.
[00:27:27.100]It was very...
[00:27:28.320]Their assignments, what each person, I looked up books
[00:27:32.430]in those groups that I was talking about,
[00:27:34.830]that I'm in and they recommended in one
[00:27:36.960]and it helped me a lot.
[00:27:39.380]I watch when I'm at home not doing anything
[00:27:41.540]or if I'm working on homework, I have ESPN in the background
[00:27:45.030]and I'm just listening to the talk and the lingo.
[00:27:47.690]And it's funny if you really pay attention
[00:27:49.590]the older guys talk a lot different
[00:27:51.740]than some of the younger guys, just with the lingo.
[00:27:55.150]And I just picked stuff like that up,
[00:27:57.570]and it's always changing
[00:27:59.110]and you just wanna stay up to date.
[00:28:01.730]I try to see draft coming up next year, who's injured.
[00:28:07.990]Even if it's not the Saints,
[00:28:09.490]I'm still trying to, stay knowledgeable and stay on my toes.
[00:28:13.890]And that's all about going back to confidence.
[00:28:21.630]Thanks Briana, that's really good.
[00:28:23.010]I have a question actually.
[00:28:25.340]I was wondering how you would advise the men coming up
[00:28:31.280]because they need to be champions too,
[00:28:34.080]not just women pulling up women, but men pulling up women.
[00:28:38.390]So do you have any experience
[00:28:41.220]have you ever, have you seen a man be a champion for a woman
[00:28:45.310]in sports yet in your career
[00:28:47.100]or what do you have to say about that kind of thing?
[00:28:51.940]I think personally for me, there's a woman,
[00:28:55.210]I've showed Tiffany Green who works for ESPN
[00:28:56.427]and she's like, you know what,
[00:28:58.370]I have a contact in Louisiana.
[00:29:00.740]He was running UL Broadcasting last year.
[00:29:03.360]On my off days, I would go shadow him just to kind of see
[00:29:06.400]how the whole live action worked from a live truck
[00:29:09.160]and how they do it.
[00:29:09.993]And he totally let me, he was super nice,
[00:29:12.910]we kept in contact.
[00:29:13.930]And recently he got another job and he called me to say
[00:29:17.450]hey, I know you told me you wanted to grow,
[00:29:19.740]I had this position opening up next year,
[00:29:21.530]would you be interested?
[00:29:23.030]And that just meant so much to me
[00:29:24.780]because I really looked up to him.
[00:29:27.150]He was connection through a connection
[00:29:29.380]and that he was listening to what I was saying.
[00:29:33.170]And when I was here, "He's like, oh yeah
[00:29:35.277]"we can definitely get you in top 50 market."
[00:29:38.470]That's no problem.
[00:29:40.270]You make sure, like I was getting all these,
[00:29:42.660]He's like, you're getting all these degrees
[00:29:44.020]make sure you're able to back these up.
[00:29:46.800]Like, you don't want to just go in there and get distracted.
[00:29:49.900]So make sure like you're doing stuff to show
[00:29:52.750]why you have all the stuff.
[00:29:53.850]And that stuck out to me,
[00:29:54.683]'cause I was really focused on school.
[00:29:56.200]'Cause it's a lot with work
[00:29:59.590]but I definitely give credit to him.
[00:30:03.807]But like I said I don't sit here
[00:30:05.710]and discredit men from trying.
[00:30:08.420]But if I give any advice to any of the men in the group
[00:30:11.570]treat us like you would treat your girlfriend or your wife
[00:30:14.040]don't change up when you come to work.
[00:30:16.060]That's how you talk to her
[00:30:18.640]is probably how you should be talking to us.
[00:30:22.510]Some great advice, some good questions.
[00:30:25.530]Go ahead and keep dropping us questions
[00:30:27.100]on the chat board here.
[00:30:28.390]And let's talk just kind of mechanics for a second.
[00:30:31.760]We're even doing this now for about four years
[00:30:33.820]since you began the broadcast business.
[00:30:36.360]And I know you made mention about how you've been able
[00:30:39.330]to kind of keep your contract in mind
[00:30:41.930]as you kind of plot your career moves.
[00:30:45.540]Can you talk a little bit about your contract status
[00:30:48.610]at KATC right now and then kind of what your objectives
[00:30:52.220]are going into the future, for your career.
[00:30:55.390]It sounds like your passion is sports
[00:30:57.080]but maybe you've got some other things too.
[00:31:00.070]Yeah, my contract, I signed a two year,
[00:31:02.300]which is pretty standard.
[00:31:04.580]I know there's one girl in town, she signed a three year
[00:31:07.350]and I'm like you brave soul.
[00:31:09.440]'Cause it's really hard to commit for three years
[00:31:11.910]to anything if you think about it.
[00:31:14.340]So I think the advice I would give just talking
[00:31:17.710]about contracts, always try to put in an out
[00:31:22.100]I'm just saying my old contracts that if I got hired
[00:31:25.020]and market a 100 or above,
[00:31:26.340]I could leave without being penalized
[00:31:27.950]after being there for a certain time.
[00:31:30.130]And that's nothing I knew about,
[00:31:33.470]getting into the first jobs when I resigned
[00:31:35.500]I was like, hey, I need an out.
[00:31:37.320]So definitely don't be afraid to try to negotiate
[00:31:41.060]those types of things, especially when the pay is so low.
[00:31:44.440]A lot of news directors are willing to bend a little bit.
[00:31:48.120]Personally, if I had to be able to pick my next job
[00:31:53.360]I would like to transition out of local news.
[00:31:56.960]I feel like it did its purpose for me.
[00:31:58.730]I got a lot of experience, but as a producer
[00:32:02.010]for news for two years, I know if something happens
[00:32:04.890]sports is probably gonna be the first thing I cut
[00:32:08.190]which is kind of traumatizing for us.
[00:32:10.290]If we work all day on something and now we gotta chop
[00:32:12.410]our whole sports cast in half.
[00:32:15.210]And that's understanding news, especially being in a place
[00:32:18.870]for weather it's so dominant here
[00:32:22.180]sports is gonna be the first thing to go.
[00:32:23.620]And if you're working for a university
[00:32:26.220]or a regional network, that's not the case.
[00:32:29.550]So that's why that's my personal goal.
[00:32:33.260]But yeah, definitely looking to eventually transition.
[00:32:37.670]I'm not against news,
[00:32:39.060]I do news here too as well for scripts.
[00:32:42.600]Scripts also has a lot of news and sports hybrid jobs
[00:32:47.060]that's how I got into this door here.
[00:32:49.320]And I recommend that to anyone else out there
[00:32:51.640]who's like act like sports, but I like news.
[00:32:54.010]There are jobs that allow you to do both
[00:32:55.930]which I think gives you the best of both worlds as well.
[00:33:00.380]Thanks Briana.
[00:33:01.213]You were talking about being versatile
[00:33:02.750]and you certainly have done that so far in your career.
[00:33:05.500]So would you say that made you better at sportscasting?
[00:33:11.540]I definitely think so.
[00:33:12.940]I'm not going to like lie.
[00:33:14.600]I was a little discouraged when I sports
[00:33:17.010]when I realized how hard it was to get a sports job.
[00:33:20.535]Because with all seriousness, especially the big markets
[00:33:25.300]it's an old guy, as a sports director
[00:33:28.400]and it's someone young trying to get some experience
[00:33:30.490]and they just flop it up at one every two years.
[00:33:32.550]And that's really how it is.
[00:33:34.010]So for every seven MMJ jobs I saw, I saw one sports job
[00:33:39.210]and then I have 20 people trying to get that sports job.
[00:33:42.960]So that it is a little discouraging
[00:33:45.680]but a lot of my friends who started in a little higher
[00:33:48.940]market getting it to half the things I got to do,
[00:33:52.030]don't know how to produce.
[00:33:55.029]That was a big thing that caught a lot of people's attention
[00:33:57.690]that I could produce a whole show
[00:33:59.970]by myself, did it.
[00:34:01.130]I have the ability to run my own live shot,
[00:34:03.670]which a lot of people like to see
[00:34:04.503]'cause it saves them money on Photags
[00:34:08.360]and anywhere MD can save money,
[00:34:10.400]they will hire you in a heartbeat.
[00:34:13.020]But I could literally get called out right now
[00:34:17.010]to whatever storm is coming our way I'm sure
[00:34:21.710]and I could set up my live shot,
[00:34:23.560]I can feedback be, "Oh, I can go get sound,
[00:34:27.797]"I can turn a package and an hour or less,
[00:34:30.657]"I can do all that."
[00:34:31.490]So I definitely feel like
[00:34:32.780]that gives me the upper hand for sure.
[00:34:35.690]We have a few minutes left.
[00:34:37.480]Mario Belanez has a question for you.
[00:34:39.930]Go ahead, Mario.
[00:34:44.420]Yeah, so I was wondering as a Hispanic
[00:34:48.920]and people who identify as Hispanic or Latinox
[00:34:51.250]how do we stand out from others who are applying?
[00:34:58.690]Well, that's actually interesting question.
[00:35:01.140]I'm actually half Mexican.
[00:35:04.010]I'm a pretty fluent in Spanish as well.
[00:35:07.330]And I'm trying to be even more fluent than I was getting
[00:35:13.100]into the business because you have the upper hand,
[00:35:15.910]if you can speak two languages already.
[00:35:18.810]I always was like scared.
[00:35:20.840]And I always put like conversational
[00:35:22.820]but that's been like a really big thing
[00:35:24.520]especially in California, especially in Texas.
[00:35:27.900]Some of those jobs say it's required to be able to do that.
[00:35:32.557]And that gets you in the door already from somebody else.
[00:35:38.180]And I'll probably have to add it to the sheet,
[00:35:39.840]but I'm actually I'm in the,
[00:35:41.910]there's a Black Journalist group
[00:35:43.020]but they actually have Hispanic Journalists group as well.
[00:35:46.060]They were a part of our big convention.
[00:35:47.680]They combined the two this year and it was virtual
[00:35:50.430]'cause the COVID, but it was awesome.
[00:35:52.150]And I think finding those types of groups,
[00:35:54.050]just like I did for Black women in broadcasting,
[00:35:57.200]there's a lot of stuff for Hispanics as well.
[00:35:59.120]And when I tell you, I just joined everything
[00:36:02.190]because you can never be in too many groups.
[00:36:03.800]You can never network too much.
[00:36:06.910]And even if you, like I said, show you're different
[00:36:10.030]and you're real throw something where you're talking
[00:36:12.140]in Spanish, why not?
[00:36:14.280]You know, be different.
[00:36:16.250]Something I told another student
[00:36:19.170]that was told to me by news directors,
[00:36:21.850]social media is it right now?
[00:36:23.600]Throw something where you're at a scene and you're live,
[00:36:26.160]they like that kind of stuff.
[00:36:27.460]'Cause everyone's not doing that.
[00:36:29.700]So I don't think it really matters
[00:36:31.747]if you're white, black, Hispanic,
[00:36:34.340]find what makes you stand out?
[00:36:37.110]Because somebody else will.
[00:36:39.420]So be the first to do something different.
[00:36:43.660]We have a little bit of time left
[00:36:44.880]and anybody out there that have some final questions
[00:36:49.760]you'd like to have our guest, Briana Aldridge answer.
[00:36:53.060]Briana, thanks for taking the time to join us today.
[00:36:56.384]Oh, I'm off today, I'm all yours.
[00:36:58.965](laughs)
[00:37:00.160]All right, anybody out there
[00:37:01.730]feel free to jump in and ask a question.
[00:37:11.100]Some of our students are already transitioning
[00:37:13.070]into some other classes.
[00:37:14.510]So let me make, thanks again Briana.
[00:37:17.430]I wanna turn it back over to person who introduced you,
[00:37:21.230]my colleague, Jen Shepherd.
[00:37:22.939]Yeah, for sure.
[00:37:24.630]I have a ton of questions, Briana
[00:37:26.030]but I also have a 1:30 class, I wanna thank you again.
[00:37:29.650]This has been so great and relevant and cool.
[00:37:33.350]So I just really appreciate that.
[00:37:35.310]Like you're on the ground
[00:37:36.730]you're doing what our students wanna do.
[00:37:38.730]So just so fascinating to hear from you.
[00:37:42.060]Thank you for coming on.
[00:37:43.430]How can a student reach out to you?
[00:37:45.280]What platform do you prefer
[00:37:47.400]if they had like follow up or just kind of networking?
[00:37:50.250]Are you the Twitter girl or you Instagram or LinkedIn or?
[00:37:54.580]Well, I would say probably the best way to find me is my,
[00:37:58.700]I can drop my personal email.
[00:38:01.010]Like if they just have a question about
[00:38:02.400]like a real or a job now, probably the best way LinkedIn.
[00:38:06.446]I'm starting to use that more,
[00:38:09.510]Twitter, don't do that.
[00:38:10.590]I won't find.
[00:38:12.380]I post all the time but like, I don't get notifications
[00:38:14.820]when I get like messages and I feel so bad
[00:38:17.010]when I see it two weeks later, but I have two phones,
[00:38:21.310]so I will get the email the fastest way.
[00:38:24.620]And like I said,
[00:38:25.453]I'm totally willing to help whoever needs it
[00:38:29.850]or has questions.
[00:38:31.140]I know I get a lot of real questions.
[00:38:32.960]That's pretty, that's normally the first thing, do that.
[00:38:36.880]But yeah, if you guys have questions
[00:38:38.320]where to look for a job, I'm totally here for that.
[00:38:42.230]And what would your email be?
[00:38:43.800]I'm gonna write it down.
[00:38:44.633]Do you want me to send it in chat for you?
[00:38:46.928]Yeah, that'd be great.
[00:38:48.360]I'll do that. Thank you.
[00:38:50.580]So long.
[00:38:51.714](mumbles)
[00:38:52.585]I just want to say that,
[00:38:54.589](laughs)
[00:38:55.422]every time I explain why my first, middle name, last name
[00:38:57.940]is all in here 'Cause it's all.
[00:39:04.360]I sent that and I'm gonna send Trina resources as well.
[00:39:09.340]So you guys can have that,
[00:39:11.820]I'll list them some of the free ones
[00:39:13.720]and then some of the different ones.
[00:39:16.070]So I think that was very helpful for me as well.
[00:39:19.870]Great, okay, thank you so much.
[00:39:22.180]And good luck with everything.
[00:39:23.430]Keep in touch with us.
[00:39:24.990]Go big red and yeah just keep killing it.
[00:39:28.820]You're awesome.
[00:39:29.770]Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

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Briana Aldridge Thesis Presentation

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