technicien des réseaux radio

broadcaster

writer

news reporter

représentant de services aux entreprises

Vista Radio

If you need a place to work short term to learn the ropes, sure. If you want to get anywhere in this industry, grow, be rewarded for your efforts, and move up in the world... look elsewhere. They like to promise employee's a lot, but they don't deliver on anything...ever. A constant game of carrot and stick is at play and it's really unfortunate because a lot of good people work there for peanuts.

Their facilities are sub par (jocks are in big open rooms, voice recordings sound awful) and they have a lot of trouble holding on to exceptional talents because they don't reward them. They're a bit of a revolving door of talent that way.

They lie... like.. a lot, They offer the bare minimum as far as compensation goes.. Honestly, you can bust your a** every day, and they'll tell you you're doing great! They won't reward you beyond a pat on the back. Looking for a raise? A promotion? Good luck! You'll be lucky if you get a basic cost of living increase. As far as promotions go, you won't get one. Just accept that.

They're like radio vampires basically. Don't let them lull you in. They will suck you dry and give you as little as they can in return. If you stay long enough, you will grow to resent the industry because you'll think that's just how it is. ('That's just how it is" should be their motto)

The only good thing about this place are the little people who work day to day. They're a great, hard working bunch of individuals who are warm, friendly and make the day worthwhile. It's a shame those people aren't treated better. The company has trouble holding on to those good people it seems. I don't wonder why. 

Don't work for Vista unless it's your first job, and you want to learn what the bottom of the barrel of this industry is like.

Vista Radio is the poster child for the current state of Canadian journalism. Pay is minimum wage, no overtime pay, 50-60 hours weekly. News is clearly an afterthought: it's demanded we drop everything and type up any press release that comes in automatically, regardless of importance. Despite how many asks, we didn't have a police scanner. Our whiteboard and calendar were taken away because it didn't fit the new building aesthetics. The whole station is open-concept and the newsroom is placed in the middle of everything (try interviewing your MLA while both of you can hear the rock DJ doing a bit about farting). News was never brought up in our nationwide conference call. There was no training, manual, outline, protocol, nothing. The on-air staff are either outspoken and miserable or have drank the kool-aid and are miserable.

Despite working with some good people.  Frequent senior management changes resulted in counter-intuitive directives coming down the line, enough to frustrate local management and employees.  Equipment was tired and obsolete and considerable amounts of time were spent trying to repair broadcast equipment rather than spending money to replace it.

Vista touts itself as a hyper-local company except when it comes to pricing strategy when it prefers to gouge smaller markets which is very hard to explain to clients, especially when the whole region is recovering from wildfire disasters.

High turnover of staff is an issue with the few experienced staff becoming overloaded and jaded.  

Pay is on the low side, unless you have a huge client base willing to pour money into advertising.  Hours are long with sales staff expected to do unpaid overtime to accompany jocks to outside broadcasts.

There is no such thing as  typical day in radio. If anything, the most typical thing is it is atypical - each day brings different challenges and opportunities that need to be navigated.

Time management skills were consistently put to the test as the demands on you time were considerable as I was responsible for three locations - two of which were one and two hours away respectively.

Management was fair, encouraging and open to ideas.

My team all worked together to the benefit our listeners and customers. They are the heart and soul of each station and community champions in their communities. Very proud of each and every one.

The hardest part of the role was not being able to be in three places at once given our geographic locations.

The most enjoyable part of the role was interacting with my colleagues in their respective communities knowing we were making a difference.

I learned a lot about the local radio industry at my workplace, and was impressed by the organization and friendliness of the management team. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my co-workers and feel like I have made life long friends. The hardest part of the job was working with some of the outdated software, while working with such talented hosts and staff was the most enjoyable part of the job. A typical day at work would be coming in for your shift, usually starting at 7am, then you would host a show, read local news, play music, make sure commercials were airing correctly and at the right times. It was a wonderful job.

Supervision from head office was minimal but efficient 
The entire staff enjoyed coming to work, the atmosphere
was excellent.  The performance of the station was 
award winning and well recognized in the industry across 
Canada and the US broadcasting community.
We set new records and new standards for a great place
to work.
This was a most enjoyable job, my staff and I looked forward
to every day at work!
The best part of it all was the

I was stoked to be the voice on the morning show in the kootenays. I uprooted my life and moved to Castlegar just to be let go 6 months later due to corporate cutbacks. Corporations that bought up all the radio stations across Canada dont care about the talent anymore, so the morning show became a job and not fun anymore. Kinda glad I was let go because it opened my eyes to the reality of the broadcasting business. It's dead.

Help local community businesses advertise. Meet new people. Daily challenges. Building relationships.Critical thinking and solving problems. Management needed work as on my first day and many days I worked here I was told about her bad opinions about my co-workers.I tried to tell manager to speak to the other co-workers. Still manager persisted to tell me her negative opinions about co-workers so I emailed my managers bosses requesting assistance. I was fired soon after.

Great place to work doing what I love. Management really cares about radio and they also care about the team. The benefits are decent, they also have support for counseling services which is cool. Amazing people to work with! Everyone there is passionate about radio and is committed to doing a good job for the listener. The company is driven by a local community focus. 

My experience was a complete nightmare in a working environment that was nothing more than an old boys club fueled by ego and verbal harassment. Equipment is also either outdated or inadequate, and the expectations are extremely high on an otherwise sinking ship with no real team. While the pay and benefits might be decent, you have to ask yourself is it worth destroying your self esteem and increasing your stress levels? I think not. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Technicien des réseaux radio 3 salaries reported	$75,000 per year
Broadcaster 1 salary reported	$77,500 per year
Writer 3 salaries reported	$39,333 per year
News reporter 1 salary reported	$40,000 per year
Représentant de services aux entreprises 2 salaries reported	$87,500 per year

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