[BC] How we got our first break in radio....

[Bowen, Jonathan]

Wow I thought I was the only guy under 30 on this list :) 

I got started wow 9 months ago now. After college I interviewed for an engineering job at a small (non radio) consulting firm. The guy brought in my future boss and he was depressing. I also didn't want to sit at a desk all day long calculating breaker panel loads. So I got another job offer from the college I just graduated from. It was a technician job that I thought was for the radio station but the learned the first day of work I was wrong. So I worked as a technician for 2 years and was ready to move on when the engineer for the radio station decided to move on. They offered me the position and I took it. Unfortunately the only mentoring I got before the previous engineer left was an intro into the automation system we where upgrading so I got little to no training on the transmitter. Good thing we have a good transmitter and Harris has good tech support. 

The funny thing is that the guy from the other job offer said radio engineering was just pushing buttons and not real engineering. 

Not sure if I have the been truly bitten by the broadcast bug yet but I might be developing symptoms. 

Jonathan Bowen
RBN/WPCS Field Engineer

-----Original Message-----

Being the tender young age of 27, I'm now into my 12th year in radio.

I grew up in Galesburg, IL where Knox College's radio station (WVKC) offered 
their station to high school students for the summer.  That was the first 
time I hit the airwaves, and I was hooked.  My high school offered a 
mentorship program that got me into a group of stations in town to get 
coffee and board op.  After a few months they hired me on.  I spent the next 
few years learning from some of the best in the business and they made me OM 
and PD of 4 stations right out of college.

I made a lot of mistakes along the way, but I've been blessed to have great 
mentors along the way with lots of patience and the willingness to teach me 
the right way to do things.  Radio is a wonderful and unique industry and I 
wouldn't trade my experiences for anything.  I look forward to one day being 
able to mentor someone the way I was...

Kevin Trueblood