Q and A with Laura Britt, On the Many Opportunities in Sports Media
Story was originally published on the Reynolds Sandbox.
Jessica Romo interviews a rising sports journalist, who took on many opportunities to build her career, and now juggles family life, 13-hour football game days, and going all in digitally, which includes “social media backlash” but also the camaraderie of odd working hours.
Q: When did your interest in journalism begin?
A: News was always on in my house. And so I think it actually started long before I realized it. So it wasn’t like a dream that I had since I was little. It was in college I was a sophomore and I was an undecided major for as long as you possibly could be. And I sat down with our guidance counselor that you have to pick a major. And we basically started xing off stuff. Like, “I know I don’t want to do that. I know I don’t want to do this.” And then it came down to media. I ended up finding a personality test from eighth grade and it had me in this field too. So I think it was long before I actually came to realize it when I was older in college. I actually started in the news. I interned in news departments for a local station and then also for a national network.
Q: When did you know you wanted to work in sports?
A: It was after I did those internships, I realized that news is a lot of death and destruction. And I just wanted to do something that people were passionate about and something that people find an escape in. And sports is really that, I mean people are generally for the most part happy when they’re at sporting events. It’s their off time. It’s something exciting and fun and that people are passionate about. So that came my senior year of college was when I realized I wanted to do sports as opposed to news.
Q: How has the journalism/broadcast industry changed since you started? How do you see it continuing to change in the future?
A: It’s changing every day. When I was in college, I remember a lot of negativity about getting into the industry. And so I would hope that you don’t buy into any of that if this is what you want to do. I graduated college in 2009 so that was right when a lot of newspapers were laying people off, and everyone was saying that local TV was going to die and it’s actually made a resurgence.There was a lot of negativity about “you shouldn’t get in this industry, you can’t make it anymore in this industry, there is going to be no jobs.” And I have found the exact opposite. That’s not to say that those aren’t real things that happened because a lot of people did lose their jobs on the writing side of things.
But now there’s this whole digital front where you used to start in a local market and move up to the next market and move up to the next market and move up to the next market. Where now a lot of newspapers have video hosts and that didn’t exist before. There’s a lot more opportunity I think for the younger generation that’s coming into the industry to be able to get a job that wasn’t there 10 years ago. The 49ers have a team reporter. Every baseball team for the most part has a team reporter. Those didn’t exist and some of them are still adding that now. I think there’s a lot of opportunity out there.
Q: What would you consider to be the most challenging part of working in the industry?
A: I think a lot of people struggle with the hours and the time that it takes to make it in this industry. I have a family, I have three kids and a husband and I work nights and weekends. But that’s not a struggle for me because that’s what you sign up for. And that doesn’t mean that it’s not hard sometimes. I have worked a major holiday every year since I’ve gotten into this industry. And for the first two years I worked every major holiday. Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving. I still work those now. And that just is something that I knew coming in. And so that wasn’t a surprise to me. It’s something that I try my best not to complain about. Even though there are days where you’re like, “Man, it’s 11:00 PM on a Friday. What am I doing?”
But then you realize, “Hey, I’m getting to cover sports for a living. This is not a bad game.” So I think a lot of people struggle with that.
This is something that I don’t really struggle with, but a lot of people do in this industry is the social media backlash. I just don’t listen to it. Everybody’s got an opinion and, if you allow the positive people that you don’t know into your mind, then you’ll also allow the negativity. So I just try to tune out anyone that’s not personally connected to me. I just try to focus on the people that know me and their criticism, both positive and negative, but those were some areas that I think are big struggles in this industry.
Q: What has been the best part of working in sports?
A: I’ve moved all over the country. I’m from Alabama. I’ve lived in Jackson, Mississippi. I’ve lived in Chicago, Illinois. I’ve lived in New York and I’ve lived in San Francisco. So, while that is difficult, when you think about the logistics of it, it’s really an incredible opportunity to be able to see different parts of this country, see different cultures in this country. The people that I’ve met at all of those places are friends that I’ll have for the rest of my life, and that you never would have met had I not been in this industry and had the exposure and the moving that I’ve done with all of this. So that’s been the coolest part for me is you kind of form these little families when you move to these places because of the weird work hours and you’re all there at night and on weekends and on holidays. Most of the time most people are spending that time with their family, but you’re spending it with your work family and so you really get to know people and it’s fun. You kind of formed this work family and you form really special bonds that I think is unique to the industry.
Q: What does a game day look like for you?
A: So game days are definitely my longest days by far. No time to breathe, no time to do anything. Throughout the week I’m prepping for the matchup that I know will happen Sunday or Monday or Thursday, typically Sunday. So when I wake up on Sunday, I do all of my getting ready at my house before I leave to go to the stadium and then I’ll drive down to the stadium. I have a desk at Levi’s Stadium, so I just post up there, get my computer and everything set up for the day. Then I start to review the rundown that I had gone over with my producer the night before. Just start tweaking it, adding some more notes. I talk to our 49ers insider who has a desk at Levi’s right next to me. I talk to him about what information he knows and anything that we want to talk about in the show because he’s a part of the show. So we kind of hash out what he wants to discuss. And then it’s really just about sitting and letting all of the information marinate because we don’t use any prompters, so everything I do is ad lib. It’s really important to know the information by heart and to be able to talk about it off the cuff. So I just go over the rundown a few times and fill in some notes I can reference when I’m in the middle of a show.
Then I’ll head out to the field to get some pregame coverage just on my social media channels… of the players warming up and just talk to people out on the field. And then I head into our studio about 20 to 30 minutes before showtime because our studios at Levi’s stadium are in a different location. I like to get mic’d up early. I like to get my IFB (the earpiece through which a director or producer instructs a correspondent in the field or anchor in the studio) early and talk to my producers, get everything set up, final touch-ups, final look over of the rundown. And then as the analysts come in, I’m able to greet them and talk to them and just make sure everything’s calm, cool and collected so that it’s not a rush. So then after that we go straight to the pregame show.
We are on right up until kickoff. So we run upstairs to the press box, sit and watch the game, and then about the end of the third quarter, I head back down to my desk in Levi’s to get ready for the post game show. So with about six minutes left in the game, I’ll walk out on the field in the fourth quarter. I’ll get mic’d up, get IFB’d up, get ready to go and make sure that I can still see and hear what’s going on in the game. I’m writing my note cards throughout the duration of the game time to make sure that I have the notes for my post game show. And then immediately following the game, we go on air within 15 seconds of the game ending. We do an hour long show. And then after that, I go back to my desk, sit down and then I do a podcast with Matt Maiocco. Then I make sure everything on Twitter is updated. And then I pack up and head home. So it ends up being about a 13 hour day.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who wants to start a career in sports broadcasting?
A: First, the negativity, like I said earlier, just don’t listen to it. If you know, this is what you want to do, do it. You have to be passionate about it because of the hours. You will find out within the first three years whether you really want to do it or not because it requires a lot. And typically starting out in the industry you don’t make a lot. I made $26,000 a year in my first job. I was what they call a one man band. I shot all my own stuff. I edited all my own stuff, I wrote all my own scripts. But every single thing that I did at that first job, I use those skills to this day. So now when my producer asks me for something, I know what they need because I’ve been in that chair before.
My biggest piece of advice is just don’t get discouraged by the long hours and don’t get discouraged by people telling you that it’s a dying industry because it’s just not, it’s just changing. And I think change is scary for a lot of people, but change doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s dying. It just means that you have to evolve and be able to change yourself. Just take advantage of any opportunity. No job should be too big or too small for you. When I first started out I always just tried to serve the people around me. So if an anchor needed an umbrella, I would go get it.
My first time anchoring the news, there was a tornado. Everyone in the news department was out except for the sports department, which was me at that time. They were all out trying to cover the tornado. My news director was freaking out because our main anchor was not back. And I told him, I’ll anchor the news. Just try and get yourself out there and jump at every opportunity. And the worst thing they can say is no. So just be confident in yourself. Be confident in the fact that this is what you want to do and don’t be afraid of hard work.