Becoming a Stringer. What equipment do I need?
- Thread starter cruzmichaelmoreno
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That's right. If it bleeds, it leads.
I can't see KVAL or KEZI having the budget to spend much on stringer video. Maybe I am wrong.
Portland should be another story. Look at all the hours KPTV/KPDX is selling ads for. 77 hours a week between the two of them. There are four newsrooms that should be competitive for even more of the ton of ad money they are hauling in. There has to be money to be extracted from somebody that wants to climb in the ratings. Rating sweeps time especially.
I live in the Los Angeles TV Market and know a stringer. It's a fairly organized thing here and there must be money to be made because they drive nice new cars and have good equipment. The stations couldn't cover spot news without them.
I can't see KVAL or KEZI having the budget to spend much on stringer video. Maybe I am wrong.
Portland should be another story. Look at all the hours KPTV/KPDX is selling ads for. 77 hours a week between the two of them. There are four newsrooms that should be competitive for even more of the ton of ad money they are hauling in. There has to be money to be extracted from somebody that wants to climb in the ratings. Rating sweeps time especially.
I live in the Los Angeles TV Market and know a stringer. It's a fairly organized thing here and there must be money to be made because they drive nice new cars and have good equipment. The stations couldn't cover spot news without them.
devicelab
Whacker Extraordinaire
A good lawyer is probably a must too. 
Let me chime in on this regarding the life of a “stringer”
You won’t make any money, period.
I retired from a large fire agency in CA during 2016, after 30 years. A year earlier, we had a large wild land fire in Central California which burned many homes and thousands of acres. I shot a 35 second video of civilians being rescued just ahead of the fire front and posted it on my personal Twitter account. Within 15 minutes, it went viral and I received multiple inquiries for its use from all the major networks. None of them wanted to pay a single dime for it, nada, zilch.
I had a good conversation with the NBC Affiliate in SF regarding its use. We came to a fairly up front deal - they help me get Media Credentials and they get exclusive use rights. The very next day, I had a nice letter on official letterhead which did just that - I obtained credentials and a other items needed to do freelance work here in CA. On a side note; the exceptional person who helped me with this in now the Chief White House correspondent.
In CA, media are allowed access to incident scenes by state law (Penal Code Section 409.5). I believe New Jersey has something similar. We are NOT allowed anywhere near crime scenes, for obvious reasons. Even with media credentials and the law on my side, I have been denied access, threatened with arrest, detained, and just simply treated poorly by law enforcement. I have had to get attorneys involved on 2 separate occasions. Can you afford to keep a media attorney on retainer? I can assure you that you’ll need an attorney at some point.
I can almost guarantee you one thing - if you show up at an incident without any sort of credentials or PPE, you are going to look like a whacker in the eyes of LE, and you WILL get hassled. As I said, out side of a couple of states, media have no rights to entry at any emergency incidents.
You also need the infrastructure to run your operations also. If LE does hassle you, I guarantee they are going to look for a business license when they investigate, and they will, believe me. You are also going to need a personal server to limit access to those outlets that do want to buy anything you have, which is rare. (If you just “throw it out there” anyone watching it will record it and use it as fair use) It needs to be password protected so that you can track who uses the video for billing purposes. Who is going to do your invoicing to the affiliates?
Which format do the local affiliates want the video in? They may have specific parameters they use.
Have you made an appointment with the agency PIO’s you will be “documenting” and got to know them and their take on freelancers? Make sure you do it with ALL agencies that maybe involved so that you have some sort of basis for a working relationship. You will find out there is a love/hate relationship with the media.
I can also tell you that any agency that has encrypted radio traffic IS NOT going to give a stringer a radio, period.
Getting a camera and a scanner is easy, it’s everything else that seals the deal. Free cell phone video is much easier to obtain than paying for the same thing. Cell phone cameras killed freelancing for the most part.
I’ve been doing it basically as a hobby, or when I’m asked to cover an event. The total amount I’ve made in the last 5 years?
$400.00
You won’t make any money, period.
I retired from a large fire agency in CA during 2016, after 30 years. A year earlier, we had a large wild land fire in Central California which burned many homes and thousands of acres. I shot a 35 second video of civilians being rescued just ahead of the fire front and posted it on my personal Twitter account. Within 15 minutes, it went viral and I received multiple inquiries for its use from all the major networks. None of them wanted to pay a single dime for it, nada, zilch.
I had a good conversation with the NBC Affiliate in SF regarding its use. We came to a fairly up front deal - they help me get Media Credentials and they get exclusive use rights. The very next day, I had a nice letter on official letterhead which did just that - I obtained credentials and a other items needed to do freelance work here in CA. On a side note; the exceptional person who helped me with this in now the Chief White House correspondent.
In CA, media are allowed access to incident scenes by state law (Penal Code Section 409.5). I believe New Jersey has something similar. We are NOT allowed anywhere near crime scenes, for obvious reasons. Even with media credentials and the law on my side, I have been denied access, threatened with arrest, detained, and just simply treated poorly by law enforcement. I have had to get attorneys involved on 2 separate occasions. Can you afford to keep a media attorney on retainer? I can assure you that you’ll need an attorney at some point.
I can almost guarantee you one thing - if you show up at an incident without any sort of credentials or PPE, you are going to look like a whacker in the eyes of LE, and you WILL get hassled. As I said, out side of a couple of states, media have no rights to entry at any emergency incidents.
You also need the infrastructure to run your operations also. If LE does hassle you, I guarantee they are going to look for a business license when they investigate, and they will, believe me. You are also going to need a personal server to limit access to those outlets that do want to buy anything you have, which is rare. (If you just “throw it out there” anyone watching it will record it and use it as fair use) It needs to be password protected so that you can track who uses the video for billing purposes. Who is going to do your invoicing to the affiliates?
Which format do the local affiliates want the video in? They may have specific parameters they use.
Have you made an appointment with the agency PIO’s you will be “documenting” and got to know them and their take on freelancers? Make sure you do it with ALL agencies that maybe involved so that you have some sort of basis for a working relationship. You will find out there is a love/hate relationship with the media.
I can also tell you that any agency that has encrypted radio traffic IS NOT going to give a stringer a radio, period.
Getting a camera and a scanner is easy, it’s everything else that seals the deal. Free cell phone video is much easier to obtain than paying for the same thing. Cell phone cameras killed freelancing for the most part.
I’ve been doing it basically as a hobby, or when I’m asked to cover an event. The total amount I’ve made in the last 5 years?
$400.00
Not familiar with your area, but I know of several guys here in the Phoenix area that were into that before smartphones became as advanced as they are. Now with everyone having a phone with a video and still camera and access to social media it pretty much put them out of the game. Hard to sell material when its blasted all over facebook, twitter, etc. As others have mentioned, make sure there is a market for your material before you go investing a lot of $$ into video equipment. Might find that listening for you own enjoyment/entertainment might be more practical.
I'm genuinely curious, do agencies who give encrypted radios to "Media" only give them to giant news stations? I know that in general big corporate TV stations & News outlets do get access to ENC radios in numerous jurisdictions around the country, but the details always seem very secretive.
If only "big media" are allowed access, I don't see how that can be constitutionally justified. It's possible they avoid arguments over who is "bona fide" media by charging all "media" entities a huge access fee (i.e. we had to buy this APX 6000 to loan you, and then we have to program and maintain it; here's a $10k bill from our radio shop).
Regardless from a constitutional standpoint it seems like stringers should have equal access to this opportunity.
However, I've also long suspected very few people with legal standing to sue over this issue (such as stringers or bloggers) would actually want to sue. In order to sue, they would first have to formally apply for access, and then get formally denied. That in itself may be quite a process, it may be difficult just to get the agency to issue a formal denial decision.
Then if they did sue, the litigation itself could result in the agency abruptly killing ALL media access to ENC radios (which is definitely legal), and that may cause other problems and ruin relationships with media outlets in that market. I guess it's a no win situation...
I don’t know of any news agency nearby that has access to ENC radios, let alone stringers. A few of my contacts in So Cal have been “in the dark” since the big E came on line with many of the LE agencies.
Get on YouTube and search LAFD. You’ll see about 100 different whackers calling themselves “media” and chasing fires. They routinely get in the way, trespass (media can’t enter private property), and generally become a pain in the ass. LAFD isn’t ENC, but just imagine if they were. How are you going to validate who is actually a true media representative and who is a whacker with media ID they printed at Kinkos?? A few So Cal agencies issue their own media credentials. The caveat - you have to be associated with a major network. YouTube, Instagram, etc doesn’t count.
My experience has been that LE has a significant hard-on for the flow and control of information. My local LE agencies go so far as putting up crime scene tape to deny media access, but actively post FB and Instagram updates as fast as possible, and they supply photos and videos (for free) to the local affiliates. Awhile back, a local engine company rescued 6 people from a structure fire. This would have been National news, but the local LE put crime scene tape AROUND THE ENTIRE BLOCK! The reason: The Fire looked suspicious.
I totally see your point, but constitutional issues are a slippery slope, especially here in CA. You would not win a lawsuit regarding media ENC access here. They would just shut it all down, just like you said. Technically they are not infringing on your right to freedom of the press. You can still report whatever you want, but where is it written that they have to supply the tools for your reporting?
Here is where we return to the original point; why would you want to deal with all this BS, and most likely never see a dime?
In many cases the "big media" has shot themselves in the foot with their antics, showing up to a scene as PD/FD is arriving or even before and causing more of an incident. In Phoenix a number of years ago, PD was in pursuit of a stolen vehicle and two media helicopters were following the pursuit and airing live. The media helicopters failed to keep in contact and collided in mid air and both helicopters crashed into a nearby park. All four people on board lost their lives that day just to get the big story. At the time most PD channels were in the clear on the new digital system, and within a week all Hot channels went silent with encryption. Soon other departments followed suit and now only patrol channels are in the clear if any at all. I have heard of some departments allowing media organizations to purchase digital radios with "certain" encrypted channels enabled, however keep in mind they have spent a lot of funds to keep things quiet and to provide these radios to the media would be counterproductive. The PIO's here are very accessible to the media releasing briefings and providing interviews but at a time that is suitable not while the officers are trying to determine who shot who, or if the situation is still active. Being a scanner listener I am not a fan of encryption but I see where the need has come from, sadly.
paulears
Member
In the UK - the concept of a stringer is dead to all intents and purposes. I do lighting, sound, production, video, comms etc for mainly theatre, and often get phone calls asking about things happening local to me. They never want to pay. In 1995 when I started, the two local broadcasters would pay happily - and you could make money from being a stringer. Now, people send in rubbish phone material that's often unbroadcastable - so they want proper quality and professional video - but the best you get is as said above, credits - which do not remotely generate any extra work. If they have shaky phone footage or me at a price, even a modest one, they go for the phone. Since April I have made just under 50USD when converted from the broadcasters, and even that came from invoicing them for a "Sir Edward Watkin - expenses". Sounds posh to the accounts department - but it was a diesel locomotive called Sir Edward Watkin - not an interview expense. I can't see anyone in the UK making anything other than pin money from being a stringer.
I used to live in the UK back in the day. There was one Fleet Street newspaper Paparazzi contact I'd sell stories and specific frequencies to. One day I'm staying in Kensington London with a friend, I have my AOR 3000A scanner connected to my Tandy Vox cassette recorder as per usual. I'm monitoring Buckingham Palace security comms and they're discussing a kid with a shoulder bag who had been hanging out by the bus stop just outside the lower Palace brick wall. The guy watching him on camera said four busses had come and gone. Then he shouts over the radio "He's over the wall". I call my Paparazzi guy on his yuppy portable mobile phone, he asks "When did this happen?" "Dude, it's happening right now, they've called out the bomb squad, everybody is coming as he's loose in the Royal grounds". It made the lead story in the newspaper (above the fold) the following morning and I got a really FAT check! The story omitted the part about the bomb squad wanting to sweep the grounds but were asked to stand down for 25 minutes while the 'Principal" walked the dogs. NOBODY postpones The Queen's walking the corgi's, not even the threat of an IED hiding in the bushes!
paulears
Member
Back in those days, having any kind of radio in public was so uncommon - having a walkie-talkie in public would generate substantial distrust from authorities. If you had a scanner, it was kind of exciting. I had a 2001, and had a normally closed switch on the internal memory battery, so I could delete all the things in it. Sitting in a car, late at night near an RAF base was pretty scary when a Landrover passed by twice!
I never had the 2001, I think that's the original AOR touch pad model, I was shown one by a friend but didn't have the cash. By the time I raised the money they'd already released the AOR 2002 which was a massive leap forward in UI. I had a friend who liked base monitoring, he fell foul of the armed Land Rover security at Menwith Hill and ended up having the spooks take his house apart. When portables came out, the conversion of Sony Walkman headphones to a mono jack afforded one a great deal of anonymity as everyone assumed you were listening to Culture Club!
I owned a stringer business in 1998-2001.
I'm in the 3rd largest media market in the USA behind NYC Metro Area and LA/Orange. The concept of "Stringer" is DEAD.
The proliferation of cellphones, No more scanners in the newsroom (Broadcastify), and everybody posts their stuff for free.
I'm in the 3rd largest media market in the USA behind NYC Metro Area and LA/Orange. The concept of "Stringer" is DEAD.
The proliferation of cellphones, No more scanners in the newsroom (Broadcastify), and everybody posts their stuff for free.
paulears
Member
The 2001 performers brilliantly, but had a simply awful membrane panel and it was dire to program. Very sensible button pressing but once it started to wear, entering numbers was a really chore - correcting mistakes. 20 memory channels I think. Neatishead near me, and Menwith Hill didn't even exist on the ordnance survey maps did they!
AOR blew everything else available out of the water for sensitivity, especially at UHF I seem to recall. My friend discovered a right-of-way path that went through Menwith. He followed the perimeter till he found a genuine hole in the fence and a worn path leading past the giant domes. So far so good though he was clearly being watched on CCTV. Things went pear-shaped when he pulled out his Nikon with zoom lens combo and started snapping away, then the Land Rover people arrived! I recall the OTAN AWAC's liked working through Neatishead Radar.
paulears
Member
They did intercept training and many times the allocator would come up replacing a controller under training and put a mouthy pilot firmly in his place. I had loads of recordings but they didn't survive the transition from cassette.
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