Media Industry and My Passion for Radio

Working for the media always fascinated me since I was a small kid. I always dreamed to become a TV anchor. As a kid I always emulated several newscasters. I always made sure that I didn’t miss any moment to interact with them live on TV. They were not only inspiring, but they seemed cool.

This was the very reason why I decided to study mass communication while I was in college. How it is also at this time that I shifted my passions to love the media as well as the music radio production. There was something in me which made me that I would be horrible on TV. Radio seemed cool. Anything about the media was. I decided to major in radio production, media arts and general journalism.

But getting a career on the radio wasn’t an easy task for me. After I finished college, I was taken as an intern by a local government radio station. I thought that I had the best skills by having a mere degree in mass communication. I was totally wrong. There was so much expected from me that I had earlier imagined.

As an intern, I was given a role which wasn’t quite attractive. I was an assistant reporter and I would often go from place to place to report an event happening as well as local news. Mostly, I never did the recording, but I would set up all electronic tools and equipment needed by the reporter. This mostly sucked. I felt that my capabilities were being undermined. These roles weren’t exciting at all. Nevertheless, I did have little options. Therefore I had to stick to these roles. I just prayed for the internship period to come to an end.

A Radio Internship Opportunity Where I Failed Education

It did come eventually after 6 months. However, I must admit that I gained little experience if any. I simply was no different from a newly graduated journalist. This was confirmed when I applied for jobs to several local radio stations only to be turned down. Most of the response for my rejection was the fast that I did not possess the ‘necessary’ skills. No employer was ready to have me. This was very traumatizing and pathetic for me. Time was running and I still couldn’t secure a job. I felt that I had made the wrong choice in my career.

I started contemplating going back to college for further studies. However, the current financial situation in my family couldn’t allow. My two younger siblings were still in college and thus my parents were shouldering a heavy burden. If I were to further my studies, I then had to wait. Yet, I wasn’t ready to wait for another one and half year or so doing nothing.

I considered the prospects of venturing into business. Yet, I had no capital required to commence any business no matter how small it was. I was somehow becoming frustrated. I decided that I had to do things differently if at all I was to be given any opportunity to work of the radio. That is when I started researching more about the life of a media and radio presenter. I read many stories and gained knowledge about what makes one a professional and adorable media personality.

How volunteering helped me gain more experience in media career

At that time, I also decided to volunteer at a community radio station. I wanted to gain more knowledge and skills which would make me more marketable. One of the most vital experience that I gained at that time was the need have passion about media communications skills. I realized that I didn’t have to do it for fun. I had to develop passion.

The most important aspect though was the learning to listen and then learn how to a media and radio personality narrates all the stories that one ears. I had to develop the art of writing cool and interesting pieces of brief, pitches, scripts, education, health etc from all the stories and views that I got from people. At first this wasn’t very interesting, but with time I started gaining experience.

I gained the skills of researching for various stories and also getting information from experts and opinions from people. One thing which greatly helped me then was the facts that I had great interpersonal skills which helped me to elicit stories and more information from the people that I interacted with.

I also had to have a wide knowledge about the current affairs and news happening not only locally but all over the globe. The internet became my best tool to help me get updated. By this time, I was freelancing. It was a tough life given that I didn’t have much money to cater for my daily expenses as I went from place to place covering various stories and writing pitches to radio station.

My Career development in the Media and Music Industry

However, one piece of story that I did about the engagement of community in national affairs caught the eyes of one local radio station. It was a piece that I had thoroughly researched on and recorded enough opinions and data from people. It is this piece which enabled me to get employed as a reporter by the media station. Within time, I was promoted to become a programmed editor.

The more I gained experience, the better I became. I also tried to be unique in my own ways especially in the presentation of the views and opinions of people in the various programs that I produced. Eventually, I was also given the role of being in the media as a radio producer while still working as a program editor.

The most vital aspect which has extensively helped me in my career and in developing creative pieces of programs for the radio is networking. You have to know various people and get as much information as you about any topic if at all your music and show listeners will eventually get convinced that you are professional. You have to also have great interpersonal media skills and be ready to work with other. Also respecting the opinions of others is also very important given that you are not working on anything about science and people will always think differently. Yet, this is one of the most fulfilling careers if you have passions for it.