Brian Matos

 Brian Matos is a senior Broadcast Journalism Major at Columbia College Chicago. Since his freshman year he has been actively involved in student government, serving as President for two terms, as well as being on the school radio station, WCRX 88.1 FM. In his final semester at Columbia College Chicago, he has been able to land one of the premo internships in radio at WGN-AM. Brian took time out of his busy schedule to reflect on his time at Columbia.

1. When deciding on a school, what made Columbia College Chicago standout for you?

Being in the middle of the city was a big plus in my view, especially considering Chicago is the third largest media market. I could tell that Columbia students were very passionate about all their work and the list of successful radio alums was extensive. After a tour of the department, the college, the dorms, and the classrooms, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. During the summer before my senior year of high school, I enrolled in the High School Summer Institute to see how radio courses were taught. By the end of the summer, I knew a lot about radio and I felt a connection to the college. After meeting the faculty and students, I was hooked.

2. How did you get involved in student government at Columbia College? Did high school prepare you for some of your duties with Student Government?

In high school I served on the student council for three years spending my senior year as president. When I came to Columbia my focus was on radio and classes, but by my second semester, I was itching to get involved again. I heard a few complaints from students and thought it would be wise to go to a Student Government meeting and get a feel for it. Before long, I was making new friends, speaking up at meetings, and would eventually become a voting senator. After serving for two years as a senator and the student affairs committee chairman, I was elected to two terms as president. My high school experience in student council taught me how to work in a team and compromise. Those lessons were built on at Columbia where student government gave me a true challenge. I learned a great deal about what it means to lead and now I can apply that to my professional career.

3. At WCRX you started out as a news anchor. Can you describe your first time hearing yourself on-air?

The first time I heard myself on air I said, "That doesn't sound like me!" Then I said, "I don't really sound like that do I?" Eventually, you get comfortable with your own voice and learn to adjust it to your radio format of choice.

4. You moved up rather quickly at WCRX and by the time of your sophomore year you were hosting news programs. How much preparation went into the weekly show you were hosting?

At least two to three hours of preparation goes into a show. If I was anchoring the morning news, I would take at least an hour to gather the news of the day from various sources. If I was hosting a four hour shift with the music format, I would take at least two hours for pulling stories to talk about, researching bands playing in town and putting together bits. For news talk shows, I may have spent about an hour with my co-host tearing stories out of the newspapers and discussing how we wanted to approach each segment.

5. Your time at WCRX also resulted in anchoring election coverage. To backtrack, I know how much Cheryl Morton Langston the General Manager of WCRX has meant to your academic career. How much preparation did she give you beforehand, to ready you to anchor election coverage?

Cheryl is the most prolific producer of election materials on Earth. Before I went on the air, I had a huge binder full of material on every candidate running, on all the issues in each race, on the scandals, accusations, even the opinions of local columnists. This preparation is beyond valuable. Five hours is a long time to be on air, especially on an election night where local contests were decided in the first 30 minutes of the broadcast. Without that material to fall back on and discuss, the show would die and the on-air talent would panic.

6. Your first internship was with WBBM-AM. How would you describe the experience?

WBBM-AM taught me that there is a business side to radio. I spent most of my time with the promotions department. Promotions personnel work with the sales department and the upper management to make money for the station and its owners. This is a world apart from the newsroom and on-air talent. The on-air side of the station is focused on the listeners and the news. The business side could care less. They simply want to know the ratings and how much commission they made this month. Working in the business side of the station will help me understand how personnel decisions are made throughout the radio industry. It also inspired me to keep my options open in regards to the business side. I have a lot to learn about business but my conviction that radio should always be focused on listeners is one that people may respond too and one I may not have considered without my experiences at WBBM-AM.

7. Currently you are interning at WGN-AM. What do you hope to learn from this internship?

The WGN news staff has already been instrumental in helping me improve my writing and editing skills. With more time at the station and increasing opportunities to write and edit the news of the day, I feel I will have real skills to offer any station that is willing to bring aboard young talent.


8. What words of advice would you impart to an incoming student who is interested in radio?

Listen to everything your radio faculty tells you. They have been where you want to be and they can give you the secrets to success. They are not teaching because the pay is good, they are teaching because they want the next generation of radio talent to be the best one. You will be criticized and no matter how good you are, you could be a lot better. If you come to Columbia with a willingness to learn, grow, and improve, you will succeed. If you think you already have everything it takes to be successful in radio, Columbia won't do you any good and there is no additional advice I can give you.

9. After you graduate in May 2008, what are your future plans?

One of the beautiful things about being young is that you don't have to think about tomorrow that much. I am focused on learning and maturing right now. When the semester nears a conclusion, I will begin conversations with my local radio contacts to see if anything is available in Chicago. If the prospects don't look good in Chicago, I intend to scour the Midwest, with a focus on Illinois, for open positions. My audition tape and resume will be in the hands of as many news directors as there are stations with news. I will follow up with phone calls and see what's there. Once that is settled, I can consider others things I'd like to do. I enjoy public service work and so once I solidify a radio job, I intend to spend time in contributing to whatever community I am working in as best I can. I have been blessed with a college education and a healthy life. It is therefore my responsibility to give back to those who have not been as fortunate. I will always look for a way to help others no matter where the radio industry takes me.