By Jon Holiday ~ Managing Partner Radio Consulting Services
Lately, I’ve been following with great interest, stories Charlie Van Dyke is writing at charlievandyke.com about his life and career in radio. For those not familiar, Charlie is a former on- air personality and programmer best known for the voice work he has done for radio and television stations.
No matter what business, it’s important to have role models (heroes and idols) and mentors to look up to and learn from. Early in my career, Charlie Van Dyke was one such person. When I was hired for my first “big time” position in Providence, RI; Van Dyke was up the road as Program Director and morning host at WRKO in Boston. A few years later he moved into voice work and became the image voice of our station. One of my duties was to write and produce material he voiced (sample) https://soundcloud.com/radio-consulting-services/wpjb-playback-84-promo.
During a phone call, Van Dyke asked me to give him some direction so that he could give me what I wanted him to sound like on the station. Wow! I was floored that one of my idols asked me for that. From that day forward I realized that asking for feedback, input and direction was the mark of a real professional.
So, whether it’s Casey Kasem, Charlie Van Dyke, Scott Shannon, Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, or one of today’s personalities such as Ryan Seacrest or Bobby Bones; on air personalities should have idols, heroes and most importantly mentors in order to grow.
An idol can be a person who people admire. A hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. At its core, being a mentor is being a trusted advisor. Being a mentor involves making yourself available to support and advise someone when they need it, delivering that support in a way that makes sense to them, and always keeping that person’s best interests in mind.
About Radio Consulting Services
For nearly a decade, Radio Consulting Services has provided programming, music, marketing and promotional direction to stations all over the United Stations and Canada.
Radio Consulting Services is a multi-format consulting and programming services company advising stations in various formats on growing audience.
For more information on how Radio Consulting Services can help your company gain more listeners, achieve higher ratings and grow revenue, contact us.