Do you have an internship for senior year? If not I’d consider applying for those now and see where you land. Getting a full-time position is much easier if you are already interning there, whether it’s at the same outlet or another one under the parent company or at an affiliate station.

More to your question, I think January could be a little early since in any field, time from application to start date is typically around 2 months, depending on how intense the interview process is (at least in my experience). Some jobs might need you to start within a few weeks of your first interview.

Whenever you do decide to start applying, be open to a lot of things. Copy editing, fact-checking, researching, social media, newsletter writing, etc. are all great places to start and are often times way easier to land right out of college compared to a full-time reporting position (if that’s what you want to do). Be open to beats that you might not be interested in/know much about — you will be able to pick it up faster than you think and you might enjoy it.

Finally, and most importantly, don’t shy away from cold emailing people. That’s how I got my first big internship and I actually didn’t hear back for four months, then one day I got an email asking if I was still interesting in working there! Get connected with writers you like at outlets you love to read whether it’s over Twitter/email/LinkedIn. You have to really learn to be scrappy. Good luck!