Jim Ryan

Jim Ryan is a 2002 graduate from the Radio Department at Columbia College Chicago. While attending Columbia College, Jim was involved with the Department as both a student worker and Teacher Assistant. In addition to working for the Department, Jim developed and honed his skills at the school radio station, WCRX 88.1FM. At WCRX, Jim hosted and produced both a morning show and a specialty rock show. Jim spent two semesters at WXRT as an intern in their Programming Department. While at WXRT, Jim became a regular contributor for Terri Hemmert's "Breakfast With The Beatles" and also assisted in events relating to the program. Jim currently can be heard on CLTV delivering Traffic Reports as well as many commercial radio stations via The Traffic Pulse Network. A big "thanks" to Jim for his time.

1. When choosing to attend Columbia, was there a factor that swayed your decision?

I came to Columbia as a transfer student. I attended Eastern Illinois University for two years and Morraine Valley Community College for one year. When I was finally sure radio was the career path that I wanted to follow, I chose Columbia for several reasons. I certainly could've pursued radio at Eastern, but the opportunity to be taught by and develop relationships with working professionals in Chicago radio made Columbia the obvious choice. My dream was/is to work in Chicago radio. I knew Columbia would allow me to utilize internship opportunities in the country's third largest market and I felt that was a very important step toward reaching my dream.

2. As a student, you were someone who always gave it your all. Where did your passion for radio come from?

As a child, I remember riding to grammar school and trying to make the rest of the car pool shut up so I could hear Johnny B! That was like 1988ish, I think. So I was only 8 or 9 years old. I loved making people laugh and nobody did that better on the radio than Johnathon Brandmeier. So, that was probably when I first realized that I HAD to be on the radio someday. I remember him doing concerts to 30,000 people and vowed to someday be in that same position. Now... I'm doing traffic reports. But I digress! My passion for radio, while at Columbia, came from the fact that I had so much ground to cover in a very short period of time. I came to Columbia after three years of college. I knew I would have to go an extra year (I changed my major) but vowed not to take any longer than that. I had already finished just about all of my gen-eds by the time I got to Columbia. Most Columbia students have four years to make the contacts and get the internships that I was about to try and do in only two years. So, I knew that if I was going to make the most of my experience at Columbia, and work in Chicago radio when I was done, I had to work as hard as I could.

3.Working in the industry for a couple of years now, is there anything that has come as a total surprise to you?

I feel that Columbia adequately prepared me for most facets of the broadcasting industry (lousy pay, long hours, middle of nowhere, etc.)

4. You were an intern at WXRT for two semesters. When looking back at WXRT, what stands out for you?

WXRT was the greatest experience that I've had in radio thus far. When I got to Columbia, I would've described working at XRT as one of my dream jobs. And then, within months of starting at Columbia, I was interning there. It's not easy to figure out what comes next when your first foray into your career is essentially one of your dream jobs. What stands out for me about WXRT is the fact that it is so different and so unique in comparison to the rest of the radio industry. Unfortunately, most radio gigs have a pretty high turnover rate these days. Then you look at XRT where everybody has been there for twenty years, or in some cases even more! Creativity seems to be getting sucked out of radio more so on a daily basis. Then you have a station like XRT where the jocks still pick what they play and where you're liable to hear blues, reggae, rock and alternative within a ten minute span. I'm also still amazed by how inclusive XRT is. I began as an intern in 2000. I stayed on interning longer than I probably should've (but I was broke... and suddenly CD's and concert tickets were free!) and I just sort of refused to go away. Now here I am, almost seven years later, still working with Terri Hemmert on her annual "Rampant Beatlemania" show. I really couldn't have asked for more out of my internship!

5. Your working in traffic and to many students this is an area that isn't thought of as a possible career. Can you give a description of your everyday duties?

I never pictured myself doing traffic while I was at Columbia either. I think everyone at Columbia assumes it's only a matter of time until they're hosting their own morning show. It just doesn't work that way though! You have to keep your options open. I work for Traffic Pulse Networks and through them I deliver afternoon drive traffic reports on CLTV. My shift starts at 2:30pm and my on-air reports begin at 3pm. I use an SGI computer system to create the maps that appear on TV during my reports and I deliver the live voiceover while the maps are on screen (so you don't actually see me on TV!). Between 3pm and 7pm each weekday, every ten minutes on the 1's following weather, I deliver my reports. My traffic reports are automated and run 40 seconds in length. Three times per hour, my hits also feature a live commercial read. I pride myself on delivering the most accurate travel information in a timely manner. I also assist CLTV in their coverage of breaking news if a major story starts to break while I'm on air. A good example of that would be the La Salle Bank building fire downtown last year. I was on the air until about midnight giving street closures, bus reroutes, etc. in an effort to give the anchors (who had been going non-stop without commercials since about 7 or 8pm) a breather. I also covered the incident at Midway Airport last year where the plane slid off of the runway and onto Central Avenue. On those rare occasions, my 40 second time limit gets thrown out the window and I can adlib and banter with the anchors as much as I want. When my airshift ends at 7pm, I produce traffic for our 24 hour clients like XM satellite radio. Through Traffic Pulse, I've also had opportunities to do on-air reports for The Loop (WLUP), The Drive (WDRV), WCCQ, and breaking news on NBC-5. I also produced traffic at Fox TV for about a year for Sheila White, who was in the chopper on Fox during the "Fox News in the Morning" broadcast at the time. So even though it's "just traffic," it can still be exciting and free of a boring routine.

6. Many former students tend to lose their determination when they don't find a gig right out of school. If I am not mistaken, your job came about through networking and bad weather! For all the former and current students out there, could you please paint a picture of the process of getting hired in your current position?

I'll try to recap briefly. This took place about a year and a half or so after I graduated from Columbia. So to say I was frustrated at the job finding process is an understatement. A friend of mine (who doesn't even work in radio) had an extra ticket to a Blackhawks game. I didn't want to go because the weather was lousy... and frankly so were the Blackhawks. He finally convinced me to go. As it turned out, my friend's boss's niece jocked at the Loop and did traffic on the Loop and the Drive. We networked, and she encouraged me to send a resume to her boss because Traffic Pulse was looking for part-time producers. I got home from the game and immediately emailed Ric Federighi (who's no longer with Traffic Pulse) my resume. He was stuck at the airport because his flight was delayed with the weather and happened to be checking his email. He called me, literally five minutes after I emailed the resume, and asked if he could conduct a shotgun interview over the phone. This was a Friday night. He told me I could start Monday morning! After nearly a year and a half of searching for a job since graduation and working full-time at a hardware store... I had a great new job in radio simply because I couldn't keep my big mouth shut at a hockey game and the weather was bad. Go figure. I was scared that I was never going to find a job in radio. I thought that maybe I picked the wrong industry to enter. I had all of the horrible feelings that accompany trying to find that elusive first radio job. But I guess it just goes to show that you can never stop trying! Just when things might seem their worst, it can all turnaround within five minutes during a snowstorm!

7. This interview would not be complete without mention of WCRX. Having Cheryl Morton Langston(General manager) and Tony K.(Station Manager) at WCRX allows the students to present the best possible product. How influential were both of them to your success at WCRX and in the industry?

Tony K. taught the first class that I ever took at Columbia; Intro to Radio Tech. At the time, I think he was also producing for Robert Murphy (remember the commercials of him wearing the straight jacket in the 80's? Good times.) So, immediately I felt like I had to pick Tony's brain because Murphy in the Morning was one of my favorite radio shows growing up. The class that Tony taught was meant to teach the absolute basics of working at a radio station (running the board, segueing between songs, etc.). But Tony really taught so me so much more. Most importantly, Tony taught me right away that radio could/should be fun... and honestly I couldn't have asked for a better intro to Columbia. Cheryl Morton Langston is probably one of the people at Columbia most responsible for my growth as an on-air talent. I co-hosted a morning show on Tuesdays and Cheryl met with us every Tuesday to critique the show and give us pointers on how to help it grow. Cheryl went beyond merely critiquing our on-air work. She actually met with us and helped us develop show ideas. At times she even booked us guests! Cheryl was practically our second producer! Cheryl's expertise proved invaluable and with her help we developed one of our most popular segments; a bizarre running joke that involved Tom Jones (yes, that Tom Jones) and his strange techno/dance hit, "Sexbomb." That segment eventually landed us a positive review in the Chicago Tribune! i'm still amazed by the fact that even though I graduated from Columbia several years ago, I still feel just as welcome as I did when I was a student.

8. Do you have any advice for students entering the field of radio?

My advice is very simple. Work as hard as you can and treat everybody you meet in the industry with respect. Make as many contacts as you can both inside Columbia and out, through networking, because you never know when you'll need to find a new job or who will help you find it! Keep your options open and develop a good work ethic. Everybody in radio works several jobs. I do my traffic reports. I do on-air reports about the Chicago Fire MLS soccer team for a syndicated network based out of Dallas, Texas. Along with that, I do an online column about the Fire for the Chi-Town Daily News. I also write local band reviews for Wassup Local! magazine in Chicago. I also do the freelance work at WXRT that I talked about earlier. The more you learn, the more jobs you make yourself qualified for. I also think students should work on developing good writing skills. At every job I've had, I hear my bosses complain that nobody writes well. Finally, and most importantly, have fun! Radio IS supposed to be fun after all. Too many of us forget that at times.