Meeting with Kevin Cooper

Around 12:30 I showed up at Reliant Stadium (where the Houston Texans play) to meet with the Public Relations director for the Houston Texans organization, Kevin Cooper.  If you know me personally you know that I am currently majoring in Broadcast Journalism, I have a job (that I’m not getting paid for) at Missouri’s NBC affiliate KOMU, and I am the executive producer of Triple Play (The ONLY sports Trivia Game Show on the Mizzou Campus!!).  All of these things point to me having a career on television yet I am meeting with a Public Relations officer.  Yes, confusing I know but let me explain.  The average journalist that works for 20 years or longer tops out at $90,000 a year.  Along with that disturbing statistic many broadcast journalists will move from ridiculously small town, to small town, to medium size town before they can consider settling down, needless to say that disturbs me.  Say I want to start a family or just keep a reasonable relationship, I CAN’T, and all the while I’ll be making a staggering 20 – 30 grand.  I feel like life can be better.  So lately I’ve been looking into public relations as a possible career choice and I wanted more information on it, i.e. Kevin Cooper.  So out of the discussion I received a few encouraging things and a few not so encouraging things.  Fist off he told me that the most utilized skill in Public Relations is what I thought it would be, communication.  Communication with players, the media and anyone else interested in the organization you’re representing.  This is really encouraging to me because that has always been the basis of what I want to do.  Also he said that you will have to move being a PR but the move will be from Chicago to Houston, not Woodville to Lubbock.  A lot of the PR job is apparently planning and pre-planning.  The job requires a  of writing which has lead me to consider a minor in English which isn’t necessarily what I want to do but what I will do if it will help.  Overall the meeting was productive in letting me know what is required of a PR and in helping me weigh my options.