2008 Woodie Awards
'Men in the media' offer helpful tips to Webster students
By: Tiffany Johnson
Issue date: 4/6/06 Section: News
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Bill Bowen, director of operations at Metro Networks, Andy Strickland, reporter and producer for 1380 ESPN radio in St. Louis, Bill Raack, news director at 90.7 KWMU, and Dave Greene, regional general manager for Simmons Group Media and program director of 1380 ESPN radio came together to answer questions posed by Webster professor Bill Davis.
The men started the panel discussion by sharing the stories about where they began in the radio business. A group of people listened, and waited to ask their own questions.
Strickland said he went to Parkway North High School before attending college at North Arizona University, but he said his love of radio started long before high school or college.
"I started at six years old in the Strickland family home, where my microphone was a pencil," Strickland said.
Even though Strickland said he didn't have what was considered a good radio voice, he loved the job and worked hard to get where he is today. Today he gives reports of hockey.
"I talk about hockey everyday," Strickland said. "A lot of people don't want to hear it, but I talk about it anyway," Strickland said.
Strickland said you have to be patient and pay your dues. He started as a country music dj, before moving up the ladder to ESPN radio.
"If you can do something you love and enjoy doing, it's like getting paid twice," Strickland said.
Raack said he started out in commercial radio in a small town with a small radio station.
"It was a great ego boost, because everywhere I went everyone knew who I was," Raack said.
Raack went from a small town commercial radio station to a public radio station in St. Louis. In 1995 he started as the morning addition host in St. Louis and is now the director of KWMU.
At the small commercial radio there was one part-time reporter, Raack said. When he started at KWMU they had four full-time reporters on staff. The hardest part of a bigger market, for Raack, is staying on top of everything that goes on in the St. Louis market.