Sportscasters select, write, and deliver the sports news. This may include interviews with sports personalities and live coverage of games played. Broadcast news analysts, called commentators, present news stories and also interpret them and discuss how they may affect the Nation or listeners personally. Show hosts and hostesses interview guests about their lives, their work, or topics of current interest. They may ask questions of contestants, or manage play of games to enable contestants to win prizes.
Announcers frequently participate in community activities.
Sports announcers, for example, are masters of ceremonies at touchdown club banquets or are on hand to greet customers at openings of sporting goods stores. Many announcers present early morning shows, when many people are getting ready for work or commuting, or do late night newscasts. Working within a tight schedule requires split-second timing, and the resulting stress can be physically and mentally tiring. Employment Radio and television announcers and newscasters held about 56,000 jobs in 1992. Nearly all were staff announcers, but some were freelance announcers who sold their services for individual assignments to networks and stations, or to advertising agencies and other independent producers.