In the home of the Arkansas Razorbacks, there is much more to sports coverage than college athletics. The Local Sports Director must be a storyteller who can do it all: generate daily local sports story ideas, shoot, edit, produce and report. The Sports Director is a journalist who must be willing to cover all sports regardless of sex or age and tell personalized stories about local athletes year-round and motive other members of the sports team to do the same.
• The goal is to tell stories about local athletes, teams, coaches and events. Find exceptional local people and tell great stories about them and their sport. We’re going to focus on storytelling, not scores and highlights. The Sports Director must be willing to pitch sports stories in daily news meetings for placement in newscasts.
• The Sports Director will have the additional responsibility of organizing and planning special sporting events such as Friday night high school football and Razorbacks pregame and postgame shows. It will also be the responsibility of the Sports Director to make sure important sports stories are shot and edited for use on-air and online on a daily basis.
• The Sports Director must be (or become) a social media guru. The battle for breaking news is now on Twitter and online. Not only does the Sports Director have to be aggressive on-line, but he/she must also motivate other sports staff to be aggressive as well.
• The Sports Director will meet with the news management at the beginning of each week to discuss coverage and story ideas. Sports stories and coverage will be pitched in news meetings.
• The Sports Director will be based in Fayetteville.
Core Job Functions:
• The ability to turn a wide range of sports stories quickly, and on a daily basis.
• Must be able to work alone and shoot, write, produce, and prepare assigned sports stories for use on-air, online, and on social media.
• Must be able to manage special projects and other sports staff to execute the overall sports strategy.
• Develop and maintain meaningful contacts.
• Must be able to come up with new local sports story idea every day.
• Real-time web-intensive posting of stories online, with pictures and video, as well as regular blogging and tweeting.
• Performs all other duties as assigned.
• Flexible work schedule.
Minimum Knowledge Skills & Abilities:
Must be able to work under pressure and stress and must be able to meet daily deadlines. Must possess a valid State Driver’s License (or be able to get one). Must have working knowledge of digital video photography and non-linear editing. Working knowledge of Final Cut Pro is a big plus.
Education Requirements:
A four year college degree in journalism. At least two years of experience as a sports anchor/reporter/photographer at a commercial television station.
Physical Requirements:
Must be able to drive news vehicles safely and without incident. Must be able to carry camera and gear weighing 50 pounds. Must be willing to work in all weather conditions both day and night.
Statement about Other Duties:
The foregoing is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all functions essential to the job for which the employee is responsible, nor an exhaustive list of the minimum requirements and specifications necessary to perform the essential functions, including all responsibilities, skills, duties, requirements, efforts, or working conditions associated with the job. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different functions be performed when circumstances change or exigencies require it.
Interested parties should submit resume, application, and references to Rick Bagley, News Director, KFSM-TV, 4201 North Shiloh Drive, Suite 169, Fayetteville, AR 72703 or e-mail jobs@kfsm.com or fax 479-521-6579. No phone calls.
KFSM-TV is an Equal Opportunity Employer