Steve Crossman - - Helping you take the next step in radio
Steve Crossman is from the small North Yorkshire town of Guisborough. He began his media career by doing work experience at Boro TV, the television channel of Middlesbrough Football Club, aged 15 and was so inspired by the experience that he decided to pursue a career in sports broadcasting.
After getting a degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Leeds, Steve was given his first chance as a football commentator by the Tim White Media Consultancy at 21 and hasn’t looked back.
After freelancing for the company for two years, Steve was taken on a Senior Reporter by TWMC and now commentates on Premier League and Championship football as well as the UEFA Champions League and the new UEFA Europa League.
He also covers Yorkshire County Cricket Club during the summer months and ranks commentating on the final of Euro 2008 last year as his career highlight to date.
What would be your main piece of advice be for somebody who wishes to be a sports presenter/commentator?
I don’t think there are too many people who put everything into becoming a sports journalist and fail. It really is a case of working yourself to the bone for free or for little money at first and taking on board every bit of constructive feedback you get.
Above all, get yourself involved with a radio station as early as you can.
Most stations will take people on to shadow or do work experience and once you’ve done that you can move on to recording your own pieces of commentary and getting professionals to give you some advice on how to get better.
I’d also advise doing a degree in Broadcast Journalism, there are other ways into broadcasting but that’s the way I did it and many of the good journalists I’ve met have done the same. These courses will have voice training as part of the curriculum and that will be backed up by essential skills in how to survive in a newsroom, you’ll need all of that.
What are the key skills required?
You’ll need bags of self confidence and obviously a good broadcasting voice. The latter is much easier to get because if you’re determined to forge a career in sports broadcasting then you’ll go the extra mile and pester professionals with your work and keep recording yourself over and over to constantly improve.
What is the hardest part of your job?
I’d have to say travelling. It’s very difficult to survive in your early career as a sports broadcaster if you’re not willing to be incredibly flexible so you’ll find yourself accepting shifts all over the country, and sometimes out of it, to show people that you’re willing to work hard for them.
I can promise you that if you’re strong enough to get through that, the rewards are worth the effort.