I'm going to be extremely Naive...

[jgullo29]

Basically it has been a dream of mine to finally make my way behind a mic as a syndicated national political talk show host. Like I said, I'm going to be a bit naive.

My real question is, what do I have to do to at least get my foot in the door? What schooling should I take? What should be my major? Shall I go to school at all? Or simply get any position possible?

I know all of these questions and requests are quite general, but if anyone could give me even a sense of direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much,


Joey

 

[Radio-X]

You have two options...

1) Start at a college/community radio station and dive right in. You may not get the national attention that you desire, but you can develop a cult following in your locale.

2) Get an entry level position at a smaller town station. Work your ass off...kiss butt, enjoy the low paychecks, then ask a slightly larger talk station to put you on for an hour or two on the weekends...and see what happens.

It'll be a long journey, but give it a try!

Radio-X

 

[knozall]

Or, be wise, and keep your dream as just that, a dream.

 

[Twitch]

I think we can ALL agree on one thing....whatever you do, don't work for Clear Channel! The odds of you KEEPING the job once you get it are much greater if you stay away from CC.

 

[Twitch]

You have two options...

1) Start at a college/community radio station and dive right in. You may not get the national attention that you desire, but you can develop a cult following in your locale.

2) Get an entry level position at a smaller town station. Work your ass off...kiss butt, enjoy the low paychecks, then ask a slightly larger talk station to put you on for an hour or two on the weekends...and see what happens.

It'll be a long journey, but give it a try!

Radio-X

There is a thrid option as well.

If you don't want to do 4+ years of school (and skip all the science, math, english, etc), you can also check out a place like this:

http://www.gocsb.com

Of course, the previous option # 2 is always a good start. Even if you did go to a CSB type place, you'll still have to work hard, kiss butt, and enjoy small paychecks.

 

[troone]

There's one sure-fire way to break into on-air radio. Find a small station and buy the airtime. Go to the sales manager at WXYZ in Dublin, Georgia and pay them $250 for a weekend hour slot. Go out and sell a few ads to reduce the cost, if you're so inclined. This way, your position is completely secure and you can talk about politics, horticulutre or 17th century baroque art. The station wont care what you're talking about, most likely.

From there, you have experience and a demo tape. And if you're a good salesman, maybe you made a buck at it.

 

[taylorengineer]

Good idea Troone!
WGUN, 1010 Khz, will sell you time....and they are here in Atlanta. If you wanted to be on at night when the station is at low power, you could buy time real cheap! The station serves most of southern Dekalb county at night with 70 watts....if you wanted to do talk geared towards African- Americans the signal would work great.
If you want the blow torch hours (when at 50,000 watts) it will cost you up to $500 a hour....if you can find an available time.
There is a great talk show, "The Paula Gordon Show," and she does just what Troone suggested. She sells time to offset the cost of buying time. She has an excellent show and has several sponsors. Check her out on Sundays, at 5PM, on 1010, WGUN.