Michelle Merker
Program Development Coordinator
PBS SoCaL
Milestones
My road in life has taken me all over.
I was a theater and speech major in college. I was going to be an actress.
I saw an ad on a kiosk at school for auditions for the school's TV show. I didn't get the job.
But I transferred into the TV program, and in a few weeks I did get the on-camera hosting job.
An executive at a broadcast TV station saw me on the cable show and asked me to audition.
I got the job, was promoted to news director, and was lucky enough to stay there over 20-years.
I went into radio, teaching, voice-overs, films... things I hadn't tried before!
But my first love was always broadcast TV... so I returned.
Now I'm learning so much about the difference between commercial broadcast and public broadcasting!
Education
High School
Career
Program Development Coordinator
I help producers get their programs on TV.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Television
Writing
Communicating / Sharing Stories
Day to Day
My department reviews content or ideas from producers, and we decide if their program might fit in well with our schedule or viewers. We help producers develop their content so that it has wide-ranging appeal. We work with scheduling, marketing and promotion of the program, and appropriate content is also guided and molded to share with a national audience. It would be fine if these things happened one at a time, but we are juggling hundreds of projects in all different stages at once!
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for professionals
I've made a lot of transitions in my career, and the only thing that stays the same in this business is that nothing stays the same. You need to be able to anticipate and prepare for the changes in technology, what viewers want to see and how they receive the information. Then you need to figure out how your skills will fit with what is needed going forward.
Recommended Education
My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:
Associate's Degree
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Society in General:
"It's such an unpredictable business. You won't have a future in TV."
