Here's Your Advice Kids, from Another Kid

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WTTG Weather Anchor Matthew Cappucci has some advice for kids that are looking to get into TV news.

Cappucci claims he’s an expert, and anyone that tells you that you need to pay your dues is full of BS.

Matty says that he landed his first job in TV at the age of 23 years old in the DC market.

The young kids coming out of J-school should not take low-paying jobs in smaller markets, and they should never listen to “veteran TV people with ego problems.”

Matty says that “you are worth more than poverty,” and on that point, I agree with him. TV companies should pay better, and I try and point that out here on FTVLive almost daily.

But, should you start in a big market?

No, you might think you know it all at 23 years old, but I can assure you, you’re not even close. You need to learn this business from the inside, and you need to learn from your mistakes, which you will make.

It is better to be making those mistakes and learning in a market outside the top 25 and then moving up. In the end, you will also get more money when you make that jump.

Some kid fresh out of college in TV deserves a livable wage, but they shouldn't walk into a top 25 station and say, "HERE I AM! PAY ME!". Let alone, if someone is taking a chance on you no matter how small the station, that's a great start to building a great career.

Big market stations that higher inexperienced kids just out of school do that for one reason, they know they can get them cheap.

Cappucci thinks he’s all that because he landed his first job in DC.

First off, does that mean he’s really good, or is his boss just really bad at making hires? It is worth noting that this is the same station that hired Blake McCoy, so their record isn’t all that great.

Stations make bad hires. Look around your newsroom. Do you think your News Director has hired all winners?

My guess is that WTTG hired Cappucci well under market value, and here he is, slamming some Journalist that has worked their way through the ranks.

I know TV agents often get offers for their clients in markets that are much bigger than they are ready for. The good agents turn those offers down, get the client a bit more seasoning and then land them in an even bigger market, making much more money than the offer they turned down just a year or two earlier.

Matthew Cappucci might think he’s an expert on all things TV news. But, in reality he is a kid with a gigantic ego that has so much more to learn.

My advice is to not take his advice.

Find yourself a good agent that knows how to choreograph your career and move you in the business at a speed that works for you.

Some people might only need two years at a smaller station before jumping to a top 5 market. Others might need 5 or 6 years. TV agents have been doing this long enough that they know where you should be and when.

Some whiny kid in DC doesn’t have a clue.

Here’s Matty’s little rant. Who, by the way, blocks FTVLive on Twitter.

Yet somehow, we found away around that.