Thank You BSR
The year was 2017. It was a Friday in early September, around 11 a.m. I zip into room 224 of Franklin Hall for my Black Squirrel Radio show audition for the fall 2017 semester.
When I enter the lobby, nobody is in the room. A woman comes out of the studio and directs me into the studio for my audition. The woman introduced herself as Brooke, the BSR General Manager, and she introduced me to her Programming Director Karlie. I introduced myself, then I gave my show pitch.
Off the top of my head, I don’t remember what the name of my show was called, but I remember telling both girls I was going to talk about the major topics in sports each week, and how I was looking forward to the opportunity to present my (sometimes) controversial takes to an audience. I’ve been into sports since my youth, and I’ve always wanted a career in sports, so having my takes heard over the air was a dream of mine.
The audition lasted about 10 minutes and from what I could tell, it went well. They seemed impressed and told me they would let me know in 24 hours if I got a show.
The next day, Karlie contacted me via email, letting me know I did not receive a show, but only because of my limited availability as I was only available on Fridays that semester, and Fridays was the most popular day for shows, and they couldn’t squeeze me in.
When I left the BSR lobby 24 hours prior, I knew I would be back, but I didn’t know when. Little did I know I would spend hundreds of hours in the lobby and studio over the next four years, and BSR would catapult me, an introvert with not many friends, to somebody who would build relationships with many people that will last a lifetime.
Though I didn’t get a show my first semester, I joined BSR’s web team and wrote sports articles for the website. In the spring of my freshman year, I decided to take 18 credit hours instead of the usual 15 to lighten my load down the line, so I didn’t have time to audition for a show, but I still wrote for the website.
Entering my sophomore year, I joined the “official” BSR Staff as a Sports Coordinator. My job was to assist the Sports Director in anything he needed, whether it was setting up meetings for the sports department, calling Kent State home games, attending staff meetings and producing articles for the website.
Attending staff meetings each week gave me an opportunity to get to know Brooke on more of a personal level. Before, I would only see Brooke occasionally in the hallway in-between classes, but the more I talked to Brooke, the more I wanted to work for her and the station. Before becoming GM, Brooke was the Web Director for the station, so we bonded over our love of writing.
As the middle of September began to hit, and show auditions were sent out, I realized it was now or never for me to make it as an on-air talent at BSR. I wasn’t about to get denied for a second time.
I named my show Brandon’s World. The whole thought behind the name was I wanted viewers to enter into my world of sports. My tagline was “Giving listeners a perspective they may have never thought of before.”
I meant every word of that tagline. I’ve always prided myself in being different than everybody else, and where I feel I differ from the norm is I’m never afraid to call out anybody for having a terrible performance, and I can’t stand being politically correct.
There were significant differences between this audition and the first one I attended a year earlier.
- I had a better idea of the type of show I wanted
- I had more confidence in my abilities
- I was a sports coordinator, which meant I knew the staff, I had a comfort level with them, and I wasn’t brand new to the station.
Brooke and her new Programming Director, my former Web Director Reid, were extremely impressed with my pitch. Because I worked with Reid my freshman year, and I was beginning to know Brooke more, the audition went seamlessly.
I expressed my idea for a show in more concrete detail than the previous fall. I had segments planned out for the show, including potential guests and a mock show run down. At the end of the audition, Brooke mentioned to me and Reid how she felt I had a more prepared pitch this time. She said to me, “It’s time to get you on air!”
I left the studio that night ecstatic. I couldn’t wait till show orientation that Sunday when I would find out what day my show would air. I didn’t care what spot I got, as long as it was in the morning. I ended up getting the 10 a.m. -12 p.m. spot on Wednesdays, which to me was perfect. It was right in the middle of the week, and I didn’t have classes on Wednesdays.
At orientation, Brooke and the other Directors explained how everybody’s first show will suck. I thought she was crazy because I rarely get nervous about anything. However, my first show was a disaster. My voice was low, and I sounded like a scared little boy.
As the weeks went on, I got better, and my roles at BSR increased throughout the year. For the spring semester of my sophomore year, I was promoted to web coordinator, so along with my sports coordinator duties, I also began to edit pieces for the website.
I loved the feeling of making people’s writing better. The more and more I edited, the more I fell in love with web.
The combination of writing, editing and posting for the website got me up in the morning. For the first time in my life, I found something that wasn’t sports I was passionate about.
In April of that semester, I found out the current Web Director, Conor, was going to be taking over the General Manager role as Brooke was graduating. I was upset Brooke was graduating because she’s the one who recruited me to BSR. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
However, I was excited for Conor. He was a strong leader and a great communicator. I knew Conor going back to my first semester in the fall of 2017. When I first joined web staff, Conor was my web coordinator, so he edited my articles.
He helped me notice little things in my writing that could take it to the next level, such as using stronger verbs in my sentences and using more conjunctions to combine sentences. In-between web staff meetings and staff meetings, Conor and I would talk about music and wrestling, only building our relationship more. He was a down to earth person and could spend hours talking about anything that came up.
I knew with him becoming GM that BSR needed a new Web Director, and I felt I was ready. Attending the staff meetings over the last year showed me what truly went down at BSR. I always viewed myself as a leader, and I knew it was my time to lead a group of writers to the next level.
My interview with Conor in May went as perfectly as I could have imagined. I talked about the passion I had for helping writers take their writing to the same level, the same way he helped me. I expressed my interest in helping to redesign the website, including putting our social media links on the website, and making it easier to search for articles on our site.
Conor agreed with my ideas throughout the interview. I had a good feeling we were on the same page, and I had a sneaking suspicion I was going to get the job.
My intuition was correct. Conor offered me the position a day later.
It was that moment when I realized I had grown up. I was no longer a tiny, little freshman just trying to fit in. I was now a leader at the station, and it was my job to act as a leader.
In September, while I was prepping web staff’s first meeting of the semester, I realized how different being a director was compared to a coordinator.
I had to send emails to the staff each week. I had to make the PowerPoint for each meeting. I had to send notes and talk about station happenings at weekly staff meetings. I had to make sure me, my coordinators and the writers were on the same page. It was a lot of work, but I didn’t mind. I felt at home, leading a great group of people and encouraging them to take their writing up a notch.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8wVj4Jpe3Z/?utm_source=ig_embed
In February of 2020, Conor confirmed to us in a staff meeting that he was graduating in the spring, and that BSR needed a new GM in the fall.
At first, I didn’t see myself running for the position. I thought it would be too much responsibility. However, in March when COVID swept through the nation, and BSR was suspended for the semester, a lot of staff members informed us they did not know if they were going back to college, so I took it upon myself to apply for GM because I did not want somebody from outside of BSR becoming GM.
I wasn’t necessarily opposed to somebody new becoming the new GM, but I just believed you needed to work for the station before becoming GM.
I interviewed for the position in early April. On the day of my interview, I was so nervous, and I don’t know why. I had never become nervous in my life. Maybe it was because I felt like I HAD to get the job?!
The interview consisted of me, the student media director and members of the student media board. It lasted about 20 minutes. They seemed impressed with me.
I talked about how I was going to combine some Director positions into one to save money due to the pandemic, and how I planned on collaborating with other student media organizations, something BSR hadn’t done a lot of in the past. I detailed how I wanted to try to work with TV2 and KentWired (the Kent State student newspaper) to produce more news content for BSR, and how that collaboration would expand BSR’s audience. My last big idea was to try to reach out to Kent State’s regional campuses to expand BSR’s audience even more.
After the interview, for the next hour, I waited anxiously. When the other candidate for the position, Jay — a non-BSR staffer at the time — and I were brought in for the decision, we were told the three student media board members could not make a decision. The race was too close. They were going to re-interview us next Friday.
One week later, I once again met virtually with the student media director and the student media board for my second interview. This time, there were five student media board members present. This interview lasted about the same length. I thought I did a better job at showing my passion for BSR in a professional matter and explaining my plans this time.
When the interview concluded, I once again waited an hour while the board interviewed Jay and then made their decision. I was confident I did a good job, however, when me and Jay were brought back into the virtual meeting room, the board announced they had decided to move forward with Jay with a 4–1 ruling.
I thanked the board for giving me an opportunity, but deep down I was crushed. I didn’t know where my standing with BSR was considering Jay had not worked for the station before.
In late May, Jay announced the Director applications were open for the fall. I decided I was going to run for Web Director again. Due to COVID abruptly ending BSR’s operations for the spring 2020 semester, I felt like I had unfinished business with web I wanted to complete in the fall.
My interview with Jay did not go well. Our visions for BSR did not match, and Jay did not retain me for the fall of 2020.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8MK3XTJZzD/?utm_source=ig_embed
Entering the fall of my senior year, I was not a part of BSR for the first time. It felt different. I was able to focus on classes more, but I missed being in the studio. I missed interacting with my peers, and for the first time, I realized BSR had become my home away from home, and I NEEDED to get back!
I knew I wanted to re-apply for GM in the spring because I knew I had a hook now. When I applied for GM in the fall, I didn’t do a good job at showing the board who I was outside of BSR. My mission for the spring interview was to show the board I was relatable as a leader.
On October 30, 2020, my strategy worked because I was announced as the spring 2021 BSR GM. That night, I called my parents, and I could not contain my excitement!
I immediately reached out to Jay’s staff and set up a meeting with them. I asked them, what in their opinion, did their department need for the spring. Even the people that didn’t know me felt comfortable with me. It was a terrific meeting.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLDKThWpQxn/?utm_source=ig_embed
In December, I hired my own staff, and the work began! I could not be more thankful for my staff! I brought in some old faces and some new, but everybody has gotten along, and they put in work everyday to make BSR the best station it can be!
We changed the term DJ (digital jukebox) to RJ (radio jockey) to include not only music, but talk shows as well, and all of our RJ’s — old and new — are happy, and I’ve gotten no complaints. I could not be happier with how this semester has gone.
With it being my last semester, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks reflecting on my BSR career as my time comes to a close. I went from a little sports writer, to a sports and web coordinator, to the Web Director, to being fired, to being in charge of the day-to-day operations as the GM.
It’s been an absolute pleasure being involved at BSR. BSR gave me an opportunity to showcase my talents, and I took the ball and ran with it. Getting a chance to be on air was a dream come true, and I am going to miss the studio.
I couldn’t be more thankful for all the relationships and friendships I made that will last a lifetime. BSR brought me out of my comfort zone and forced me to figure out how to communicate in a strange environment and how to make friends. I feel less of an introvert today than I did when I first zipped into the BSR lobby in the fall of 2017.
I’m proud to say I lived up to BSR’s tagline, and I succeeded in keeping the RAD in radio over these last four years.