Breaking into your first radio job: Steve Ahern on Airheads podcast

“Right place, right time, right skills.”


This week’s guest on Leroy Brown’s Airheads podcast is the former AFTRS Director of Radio Steve Ahern.

The podcast talks to people about their journey through the radio industry, aiming to get training and career advice for those seeking a job in radio.

Ahern talked about the old saying that you need to be in the right place at the right time to get a job. “I always add one more thing to that saying, right place, right time, right skills. It’s no use being in the right place if you have not done the work before that to build your skills to be ready to take whatever opportunity comes your way.”

Training courses are one way to get those skills, but Ahern says that you can also build your skills by asking advice, learning on the job and volunteering at your local community radio station.

Once you have won that first job in radio, Ahern’s advice is, “look for every chance for advancement, if someone offers you an opportunity, say yes… then find out how to do it if you don’t know. Ask for advice, listen to it carefully, experiment, practice, accept every challenge… you will always learn something from it.”

Brown asked Ahern about the power of radio. “The pictures are better in radio, they are personal, they are your own images in your own head,” he said illustrating the point with an audio exercise during the twenty minute podcast.

Ahern told Brown about his interest in radio from an early age and about why human beings will always need to consume audio, even in this multimedia era. Listen to Ahern below, or scroll down to choose episodes from the whole series.

 
The Airheads Podcast is a treasure trove of training hints and tips to help you get a job in radio and progress your career. You can listen to all of the Airheads podcast series below.

 
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Disclosure: Steve Ahern is also the publisher and founding editor of radioinfo.
 

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