The GM reports to the station owner while several departments report to the GM, including the news department, production, sales, business, and engineering.
The news department gathers information and reports it on the air, the production department makes sure it gets on the air, and the sales department sells advertising spots to support programming efforts.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, television stations create or buy the right to broadcast television programs, including news, talk shows, awards shows, movies and other entertainment programming.
In smaller cities, television stations generally have smaller staffs and employees are often required to do more than one job. Serving multiple roles helps staff members gain more hands-on knowledge in the television industry.
Working in television requires long hours and can be very demanding and very stressful. Most of the jobs require a college degree or advanced training beyond high school.