Keep TV, radio and live streams on the air. Cameras, audio, transmitters and the gear nobody sees.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$77,000
Starting out
$51,000
Senior or engineering lead
$106,000
Job Bank's national median is $37.09 an hour, about $77,000 a year full time. That is high for a two-year diploma. The reason is that big networks and sports broadcasters are unionized and pay well, which pulls the middle of the range up.
About $24.75 to $30 an hour
Roughly $51,000 to $62,000 a year full time
Most people start on overnight or weekend shifts in master control, or as a camera and audio operator at a small station. Small-market stations pay less but hand you far more responsibility, far sooner.
About $51 an hour at the top
Roughly $106,000 a year, plus overtime and travel on live events
Freelancers on live sport and concerts are paid a day rate. Long game days, playoff overtime and out-of-town travel all add money, which is why on-paper salaries understate what busy people earn.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
A two year college diploma at about four thousand four hundred dollars a year for domestic students is the main cost, and the three year advanced diploma runs at the same yearly rate for one more year. The low end is the two year route plus basic tools and safety gear, a cable tester, a multimeter, boots and gloves. The high end is three years plus the laptop and software most programs require you to own. Tuition here is roughly a fifth of a four year degree, and most programs include a placement, so you finish with real credits as well as a diploma.
Tuition here is about a fifth of what a four-year degree costs, and most programs include a placement, so you finish with a credit list as well as a diploma.
Union coverage
Many station and crew jobs are covered by agreements with pension and health plans.
Overtime and meal penalties
Live production runs long and the contract usually pays for it.
Travel
Sports and touring crews travel constantly, with per diem money on the road.
Free seats to everything
You will work a lot of games and concerts from the best position in the building.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A college program plus a placement, then you learn the rest on air.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 English and as much physics, math and electronics as you can take.
Broadcast or electronics program
2 to 3 years
A two-year Ontario college diploma such as Seneca Polytechnic's broadcasting television program, four semesters with a mandatory 100-hour field placement. Some colleges run a three-year advanced diploma instead.
Placement and campus station
During school
Work the college radio or television station from your first semester. Crew calls come from people who saw you work.
First job or freelance crew list
After graduation
Master control, audio assist, camera, or utility on a sports truck. Getting onto a crewing list matters more than a resume.
Specialize
3 to 8 years in
Audio, video engineering, transmitters, streaming and networks. Specialists get the senior money.
Physics
Signal, power and radio waves are physics.
Electronics or technology
Soldering, circuits and troubleshooting.
Computer studies
Modern broadcast gear is mostly computers on a network.
Music or media arts
A trained ear and eye is the part of the job you cannot look up.
Nobody licenses the technician. The station is licensed instead, by the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission), and its transmitter is certified under federal rules. What that means for you is strict logging, hard technical limits and real consequences when something goes off the air. Employers care about your placement, your crew references and whether you stay calm when a live feed drops.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Networking
Video now runs over computer networks. People who understand both are short in supply and paid for it.
Audio engineering
Live mixing for broadcast is its own craft and travels well into music and events.
Transmitter and radio-frequency work
Fewer people every year can do it, and stations must keep transmitters running.
Streaming platforms
Encoders, bitrates and delivery to online services. Where the new work is.
Driver's licence
Crews move trucks and gear. A clean licence gets you called.
Working at heights training
Needed for rigging cameras, lights and antennas.
Campus or community radio experience
Free, and it is real airtime you can point to.
Basic Red Cross first aid
Cheap and often asked for on live event crews.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Come in early, check the gear, build the show: cables, cameras, microphones, graphics. Rehearse. Then go live and stay ready to fix anything while it is happening, without the audience noticing. When the show ends you tear it all down and load the truck. Master control shifts are quieter: watch the feeds, run the logs, switch to a backup the second something fails. Nights, weekends and holidays are normal because that is when people watch.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters recently told the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) that 25 of its radio members alone represent more than 500 stations. Every one of them needs someone to keep the signal up.
A national game can involve a dozen or more cameras, a production truck parked outside the arena, and a crew of 30 or more. Most of them are technicians, not people you ever see or hear.
Stations keep backup feeds, backup transmitters and emergency playlists precisely so silence never happens. Learning what to switch to, in seconds, without thinking, is a large part of the training.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.