The first time someone told me that I might be a good fit for radio was in high school. She told me that I have a good, unique sounding voice that would be good on the radio. I had never considered that before. I mentioned it to my mom one day and she said that I shouldn't pursue that kind of career because it's unstable (recently her two favorite DJs had been fired). Little did I know that virtually any job is unstable!
In elementary school, I wanted to be a newscaster, but forgot about it after several years. I had done acting throughout jr. high and high school but never wanted to pursue that as a career. In college, a couple of students mentioned that it might make for an interesting show to just have someone follow me with a camera for a while. That never happened, but it was either flattering or alarming, depending on how you take the comment. Regardless, radio remained in the back of my mind for years to come. Then I came across The Adam Carolla Show podcast in 2012 and proceeded to listen to it frequently for the next four years, while also getting into different radio shows at the same time.
I wanted to break into radio, but I had already graduated college and never did the radio station there. In other words, I had no experience. But, you don't necessarily need experience in order to break into show business. Just look at the stars of the Harry Potter movies, or look at the girl who played opposite John Travolta in "Hairspray". So it occurred to me that YouTube is a platform where I can post virtually anything and hope for an audience. Now we have dtube, and that's another outlet for content. So I guess I need a topic and just go for it.
I'm fortunate to have a gift for presentation and speech. I'm fortunate to have whatever the opposite of stage fright is. In my undergrad, I took second place for the oral presentation division of the Undergraduate Research Conference at my university. In graduate school, I was frequently recruited by groups specifically to do the presentation aspect of a given project. This way, I know that my skill for presentation isn't just some delusion. It's real. But the new challenge is in getting people to listen to me.
I was asked to be a leader for a local scout troop a couple of years ago, and as one of our activities we visited out local ABC affiliate TV station. I got to sit behind a news desk and read from a teleprompter and also meet the local meteorologist. I expressed while I was there that this is something I wanted to do with my life. The teleprompter operator asked "so why don't you?"
Where to start?
Literally, where do I start? Other than not knowing and fear of failure, the only good reason is that I need to provide an income for my family. That, and the hours may be crazy enough to make me hate it.
I guess doubt really does kill more dreams than failure ever has. But if I'm truly passionate about it, then I can at the very least post stuff online. I mean, here I am doing it right now!
If I'm going to take a first step, then I need to do it. You can achieve your dreams at any age, but the sooner, the better. I see guys like Clint from LGR or Johnny from Rules For Rebels and I essentially see them living what I want. But at the same time, I can't spread myself too thin. I also don't want to end up like this guy, who I very much appreciate for his flat-out honesty.
I guess I need to figure it out. I want to.