Rising to the Top: How RLC Helps Build Student Leaders

Connor Spielmaker, graduate of the University of North Florida, once served as the general manager of Spinnaker TV, UNF’s campus station. And now he’s a content producer for a major news studio. Justin Dobrow, graduate of Oswego State University, previously held the title of general manager at WTOP, Oswego County’s local TV station during his college days. Now, he’s the lead operations coordinator for another major studio.

Residence Life Cinema: Can you describe your experience working with your school’s Residence Life Cinema service and TV stations?

Connor Spielmaker: As the general manager, I oversaw all station operations. This included being the decision-maker [for] all things Swank-related, from the contract to how many episodes of “The Office” we wanted. I was relatively hands-off in programming the channel, I left that to the programmer, but I did help when needed and provided the general direction I wanted the channel and on-demand services to reflect.

Justin Dobrow: WTOP is Oswego County’s local TV station. It airs county-wide with live news, sports and original productions. I had the opportunity to lead over 250 students at WTOP in creating quality entertaining television to benefit college students and the greater Oswego community. At WTOP I worked alongside an incredible team in this all-student organization. Residence Life Cinema played a big role in providing quality TV shows and movies to student residents who lived on campus. Both on-demand and on our channel, it really was a great hit for many of the students at Oswego State.

RLC: So what skills, knowledge or experience did you gain from your involvement with the service?

CS: All of them. Seriously though, Spinnaker’s structure was pretty different from the standard campus student media operation. Students had full editorial and operational control of the business. There was a UNF staffer that served as our adviser and had to endorse some of the financial decisions, but the students were responsible for what was going on. This meant it was up to me whether or not to renew our contract with Residence Life Cinema, what movies we wanted, and to get the best deal in the interest of the students. This was true for all things at the station, but was particularly beneficial with RLC because they were an outside vendor, and so it was exactly like it is in the “real-world." I had to deal with contracts, customer service, and all the things that come with it.

Our relationship with RLC and the account executives who helped me gave me valuable experience on how to manage a crisis, how to handle things as a customer on a larger scale (politely, yet firmly) when things went wrong, and how to build relationships that help you do your job better and therefore operate a better service. Because we had such a great relationship, we went from any old client to a super-client, frequently helping test new RLC services, providing feedback and more, which resulted in the latest and greatest for our audience. I wouldn’t be where I am, with the knowledge and abilities that I have, without Spinnaker TV and Swank Residence Life Cinema!

JD: I really gained an understanding of how important it is to learn the needs of the community you’re providing programming for. RLC gave us many options, and it was a great opportunity to learn what would benefit our school the most. 

RLC: Did you get involved with your campus’ TV stations because of your career interests, or did your current career develop because of your involvement?

CS: I always knew I wanted to go into journalism, so kind of. But I didn’t realize how much interest I had in the business side until I had the opportunity to run the show as general manager.

JD: I always felt that I wanted to work in the media. The main goal was to bring some joy to people’s lives in and through media. Knowing that I went to Oswego because of the incredible potential to get involved both there and especially with WTOP. The fact that it was all student-run gives students the potential to make it what they want to.

RLC: Do you think your experience with the station and RLC service at your school give you an advantage when pursuing your career? How so?

CS: Definitely. For a barely-out-of-college kid, I have a substantial resume without needing any fluff to make it look better... it was already pretty well-rounded because of my experience at Spinnaker and the TV station specifically. I had experience as a journalist, experience programming and running a TV station, experience in customer relations and service, and an understanding of the business-side of the news and TV industry that made me better at my job. I was lucky to be picked out of thousands of applicants for my internship here. My resume helped me get that. But it was the skills I had learned at Spinnaker and through working with RLC that allowed me to finish my internship and stay here to work as a professional before I had even graduated.

JD: RLC helped play into my experience at WTOP on the business and content side. Overall, though, my experience at WTOP working with six different departments, leading a $600,000 HD upgrade, and continuing to develop an organization that strives to be well known and in the interest of the students, college, and community – that definitely played a large part in landing my current role. 

RLC: How did the skills you learned while running the TV program at your school translate to valuable real-world experience?

CS: A big part of my job right now is understanding the needs and wants of an audience as well as the needs and wants of a TV station. Running the TV station did an excellent job of preparing me for both because it was my job to worry about the audience at UNF and how that translated to what I wanted to do with the station. The additional relationships with other businesses aspect was huge too, as a large part of my job is client relations.

JD: An insane amount of time went into learning about people and how to manage and lead them. In a great way I learned how important it is to be humble, transparent and act with integrity at all times. On the production side, I had hands-on experience from freshman year where I was able to learn, teach, guide, and develop the station both in a technical and business prospective. It translates to this: get involved, be passionate and work hard and in the end it will be rewarding. I would always say to my peers, “Be ready and humble enough to scrub the floor at any time, do whatever needs to be done, and it won’t go unnoticed.”

RLC: What advice do you have for students interested in pursuing a career similar to yours?

CS: Go work at a local TV station or local paper. Run the teleprompter. Stay late. When news happens, go into the newsroom even if it’s your day off (I mean not every story, but you know what I mean). Unless you go to one of those huge schools where their classes are the local news, your classes are not preparing you. Even if you’re at one of those, you’re still at a disadvantage to the same student that went and worked at a normal station. Before you get in there, work for your campus news outlet. It’ll help you get in the door at a TV station with some actual experience you can put to work there. Plus, it’s fun, and your campus needs to be covered, too.

JD: The broadcasting field can be tough; here's my advice. Whether you want to be on-air talent or behind the scenes, it's all about connections (and doing well in class, too). Get to know fellow students and alumni, apply for internships, talk to family and relatives to see if they know anyone. Make sure you work hard and have a good reputation. Diversify your skill set as much as possible. Defy the societal norm of a "millennial" by showing your strong work ethic and willingness to do whatever is needed – no matter how mundane. Learn good communication skills and be genuine.

RLC: Great advice! One last question for you guys. What actor would you choose to portray you in a film and why?

CS: Jack Nicholson – we have different looks, but I think personality wise we’re similar. And he’s just great, you know? I do have a few gray hairs though, so I don’t think George Clooney would be a stretch either.

JD: I'd like Ryan Gosling to play me. Why? Because he's Ryan Gosling... who wouldn't?

Want to learn more about how Residence Life Cinema Can build student leaders? Contact us or give us a call at 1-800-244-6173 to take the next step.