I never thought, nor expected being a part of media production. It did interest me, since my Mom was a journalist and I got to see and know how things are getting done from the inside. But becoming somebody who creates news, and has such unimagined power over the imagination and opinions of so many people, was never an option. And then, one day, all of the sudden, a friend mentioned that he’s working in a radio station and looking for some fresh staff. At that time, I really didn’t think much about it, I needed more service hours for my IB degree, so I offered I can join. I contacted the radio station and had to go through the long and time consuming recruitment process. One of the given tasks was to record a news spot, about 5 minutes long. Oh dear, that took me days. I wasn’t speaking fast enough, I wasn’t speaking loud enough, clear enough, finally when I got a hold of those things, the time came for making mistakes while speaking, having to repeat myself so that I finally went mad. I’m a perfectionist so even if the whole coverage had one mistake I had to re-do it again and again. Finally I recorded my perfect spot, adding soundtrack and sound effects and send it along with the recruitment forms. I got an interview. It was long and went all right, I’m not afraid to speak to people, and I think the recruiter noticed that. Nevertheless, I got the job. I joined the team of newcomers, and we were to create the newsroom. We were soon divided into sections, and me and another girl got to cover sports news. I was quite excited about it, because I love sports so I thought it can be a change to talk about something I’m passionate about with others.
That’s how it started. From that day my love for radio started growing like crazy. Although the station was at the other end of the city, I was never late, neither my partner, and always ready to share the exciting news from the world of sports. Whenever I had to tackle a sport that I wasn’t best at, such as cover major boxing event or talk about hockey, I asked my guyfriends for help, and they were more than happy to explain to me all the details.
Preparing music for the auditions was no less fascinating. I have a very specific music taste, I listen very broadly, although majority of my songs tend to be a little melancholic. But the audience liked it. We got couple of messages from listeners complimenting our music taste, and asking for their favorite songs. This connection with audience was the coolest thing. We were a small radio station, a student radio station, so we didn’t have millions of listeners. Not even hundreds I would say. Every contact from them was very precious. The funniest thing was, while we weren’t on air, for example during the music break, we talked about the sporting events without realizing that nobody is listening to us. Then, on air, we had to repeat some things we said during the break, it was hilarious, we played with words and pretended we never heard each other’s comments before.
Radio fascinated me. Charmed me. Kidnapped me. I often think about that times. I had to finish my radio adventure soon before my final exams (matura) not only because I had to study, but also because of internal pressures and issues the radio was having. The owners were changing and they apparently didn’t like the way things were before. They had their own ideas, of becoming a big, commercial station, and we didn’t want that. Some of the team left, including me and my partner.
Being a radio person is like writing poems. These people are like artists. These who treat radio like their second soul, can make auditions that are unforgettable. That will wake you up in the middle of the night and make you want to listen to it again and again. They are like sunsets in the middle of the busy city. But I’m not a poet.
Great Post. I will think about doing radio myself. Thanks.