Hi, new to the forums, I've been scouring the internet for information on this subject and...I'm more confused than ever now.
I left high school with the ambition to be on the radio and went to Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN. I quickly got involved with their radio station and after just one semester my buddy and I had our own show. I've never felt more alive than when I was on air, we had a blast, we even started gaining a solid audience that would call in and make requests. Then my Dad got laid off work and some other family stuff ended up in me leaving college to come home. Looking back I would've definitely just struggled through it and stayed in college, but I'm still working on the Delorean to fix that problem.
Now here I am, 26 years old, married with a 16 month old. I like the job I'm in OK, but I keep thinking about how much I enjoyed being on air. I was getting pretty good at being on air too, I have an excellent "announcer" type voice for news and I used a lot of impressions and silly voices to create some pretty memorable skits and characters for our show. Comedy is definitely my forte, but I love reading the news as well. My mind keeps wandering back to a career in radio, I just need some help getting started.
My first thought was going back to APSU to continue my short lived 1 year there, but with a family and a tight budget that would be hard, not impossible but not ideal. I've read and been told by a few people that a degree, while handy to have, doesn't really get you far in radio. I've seen some Broadcasting Schools advertised, but not sure if that's the route I need to go. I've just now discovered all these "mentor" sites like ABS and Radio Connection, where you pay a hefty fee and they get you in a local radio station to work with a DJ as an intern. That could be the way to go and sounds like the way I would learn best, but the high cost makes it seem not so kosher.
I've considered putting together a smallish resume and making a short demo cd to mail out to all the local stations. While something recorded on my home computer wouldn't sound as good as a demo done in a studio, it could be a start. I live in a small town about 45 minutes north of Nashville, so Clarksville and Nashville are the markets I'd be looking at.
I understand I'll have to start out at a small station working crazy hours, but I'm willing to do whatever I need to, this is my dream.
You can probably tell I almost get dizzy considering all this because I have absolutely no idea what direction to go in, any help would be VERY much appreciated.
tl:dr version: 26 year old looking for help getting into the radio industry, thanks.
I left high school with the ambition to be on the radio and went to Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN. I quickly got involved with their radio station and after just one semester my buddy and I had our own show. I've never felt more alive than when I was on air, we had a blast, we even started gaining a solid audience that would call in and make requests. Then my Dad got laid off work and some other family stuff ended up in me leaving college to come home. Looking back I would've definitely just struggled through it and stayed in college, but I'm still working on the Delorean to fix that problem.
Now here I am, 26 years old, married with a 16 month old. I like the job I'm in OK, but I keep thinking about how much I enjoyed being on air. I was getting pretty good at being on air too, I have an excellent "announcer" type voice for news and I used a lot of impressions and silly voices to create some pretty memorable skits and characters for our show. Comedy is definitely my forte, but I love reading the news as well. My mind keeps wandering back to a career in radio, I just need some help getting started.
My first thought was going back to APSU to continue my short lived 1 year there, but with a family and a tight budget that would be hard, not impossible but not ideal. I've read and been told by a few people that a degree, while handy to have, doesn't really get you far in radio. I've seen some Broadcasting Schools advertised, but not sure if that's the route I need to go. I've just now discovered all these "mentor" sites like ABS and Radio Connection, where you pay a hefty fee and they get you in a local radio station to work with a DJ as an intern. That could be the way to go and sounds like the way I would learn best, but the high cost makes it seem not so kosher.
I've considered putting together a smallish resume and making a short demo cd to mail out to all the local stations. While something recorded on my home computer wouldn't sound as good as a demo done in a studio, it could be a start. I live in a small town about 45 minutes north of Nashville, so Clarksville and Nashville are the markets I'd be looking at.
I understand I'll have to start out at a small station working crazy hours, but I'm willing to do whatever I need to, this is my dream.
You can probably tell I almost get dizzy considering all this because I have absolutely no idea what direction to go in, any help would be VERY much appreciated.
tl:dr version: 26 year old looking for help getting into the radio industry, thanks.