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CAREER What 37 Years Of Broadcast News Taught Me - And How It Can Help Your VO Business December 14, 2017  Note: On Friday, December 15, 2017, Dave Courvoisier steps away from the TV anchor desk (KLAS-TV, Las Vegas) after 37 years in broadcast news - a bittersweet day. For many years, he's also been a part-time voice actor - with a full-time passionate advocacy for voice actors. His next horizon: a full-time voice over career. As he departs TV, Dave blogs about how what he's learned in the TV biz applies to voice over. Here's #1 of his series. PS DAVE: Congratulations on your successes, which we know will continue in full-time VO. And THANK YOU for all you continue to teach us! By Dave Courvoisier Voice Actor & Almost Former TV News Anchor #1 of Five Things 37 Years of Broadcast News Taught Me TV defined the second half of the 20th century. Once it replaced the radio in living rooms, television dominated the post-WWII era. TV was to the 50's, 60's, and 70's what the Internet is today. Everything. What kid growing up in those years didn't want to be on TV? I did, but I didn't know I was cut out for that until I graduated college in something else entirely. Once I got over the rough spots in radio, I knew I was bound for TV and news. Luckily, over time, my hair did not fail me. But I was too trusting to be a runaway success. A farm-kid with an approval addict personality, I didn't have a natural cutthroat mentality at first. I had to get walked-on, taken advantage of, and emotionally abused by ruthless peers to eventually learn the lessons of survival in a competitive environment. Not that it changed my character, but it made me realize I had to stand up for myself, 'cause no one else was REALLY going to ... not even my agent(s). RESPECT & RELATIONSHIPS I didn't turn mean or vengeful - I just learned how to earn respect with hard work, boundaries, and finesse. Relationships mattered. I curried them (to the extent I could without compromising my ethics), and I tried to never burn bridges. Once, a man who used to be my general manager depended on me for a referral to the TV station where I was an anchor years later. I was honored he asked, and even though I didn't much like him, he felt good enough about me to seek a reference from me. No burned bridges. THE 'SWEET SPOT' Over time, you come to find the sweet spot between being hard-nosed enough to demand what you legitimately deserve, and sensitive enough to maintain the respect and decorum due to you, your bosses, and your viewers. Do you think the 'Voice over-you' deserves any less? What about your client, your agent, and your peers/competitors? Thirty-seven years of broadcasting taught me that today's adversary may become tomorrow's colleague.
Follow Dave's 5-Part Series -------------------- ABOUT DAVE Dave Courvoisier is an Emmy Award-winning broadcaster, writer, producer and voice actor, and on December 15, 2017, he retires from the main weeknight news anchor desk on KLAS-TV, Channel 8, the Las Vegas CBS affiliate, transitioning to a full-time career in voice over. He also writes Voice-Acting in Vegas, a daily blog of voice over adventures, observations and technology, and is author and publisher of the book, More Than Just A Voice: The Real Secret To VoiceOver Success. And (when does he sleep?) he is also current president of the World-Voices Organization, the non-profit association of voice actors. Email: CourVO@CourVO.com Web: http://www.courvo.com Blog: http://www.courvo.com/blog More Than Just A Voice: http://courvo.com/more-than-just-a-voice |
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