JASON VREEKE
Hello Phillip,
Thank you once again for all your help with the "Radio Recording Film Apprentice Program." I pray that all is going well with you as it is all going well with me.
I began training with the appointed mentor that you selected at KRLA in Glendale. I received voice training as well as an internship with a talk show until it was eventually taken off the air… I also worked as the Associate Producer of Judd McIlvain: The Troubleshooter until he went off the air... This was an unpaid position that began in the summer of 2002 and lasted until the end of that year.
The relationships I formed through this mentorship proved to be invaluable.
In January of 2003 I began working at KKLA with Duffy and Company: Live from LA. I assisted with remote broadcasts. This was a paid position which lasted until January 2004 but it was rather sporadic as it was only available once a month per each remote broadcast.
During the month of February 2004 I began to feel a little melancholy over the fact that my radio career seemed to be over. Through a contact and friend I had met from KKLA, I inquired about any possible radio positions in the Orange County area. Much to my delight, I learned of a radio position opening up in the very city in which I live. KWVE in Santa Ana was suddenly a very real possibility. I was given the opportunity to speak directly with their program director, who just so happened to be an old friend of my contact at KKLA. I put in my resume and CD and all the doors just kept opening until they finally offered me a position.
I'm very, very thankful to you Phillip and the Get A Mentor Program and am excited to see what else might be in store for my new career in radio!
Jason Vreeke
Since before I was in Kindergarten I have always been fascinated by verbal communication. Along with my best friend, I created countless recordings of the two of us telling stories or acting out plays that we made up as we went along. We spent countless weekends and afternoons with an old-fashioned tape recorder and tons of tapes.
We would spend all our money on blank tapes. This was not nearly enough tapes. Soon we were covering the copy protection slots on the bottom of manufactured tapes just so we could record some more of our stories and plays. I don't remember what happened to all those tapes we made. After a few years the two of us drifted apart and I nearly forgot all about our tapes.
Years passed by and I got my first computer. This was when I discovered the sound recorder program that came with Windows. I took my mother's karaoke microphone and immediately began making recordings each day. I would augment the sound settings to either speed up, slow down, or reverse my voice. I discovered my vocal talent in those early years. After making short and meaningless recordings, I began making full shows with different character voices, all performed by myself. I even created a seven part series that has been forever lost since the computer crashed. The subjects and ideas may have been childish, but I was a child. After some time my microphone stopped recording as clearly and my attention soon drifted toward other things, but my fascination with verbal arts never ended.
I began listening to radio non-stop. I felt that I had discovered something great. I found myself more intrigued by the DJs and talk show hosts than the actual music. I'm not saying that I didn't have a love for music, quite to the contrary, but the fact remained that I felt that I belonged on radio. Here on radio were people doing what I had done as recreation so many years ago. The only difference is that these radio personalities got paid for what they did. I wanted to be one of those people.
I imagined myself introducing music on the air or giving my own commentary about songs played or about to be played. I made lists of what I would asked my favorite artists if I ever had the opportunity to interview any of them on the air. I imagined hosting a show that played a good amount of music but also allowed me to talk about music or anything else that may be of interest. I tried to keep these dreams alive, but when high school came around things changed.
I became pummeled by the educational machine telling me that I would only matter if I had a college degree. For many years I became convinced that my life would be that of a scholar. I still kept my radio and verbal dreams in the background, but these were only trampled by the constant bombardments made by teachers, counselors, parents, friends, and other faculty. I was convinced that I would go off to college and get a degree to become a lawyer, a doctor, a biochemist, a physicist, or something else I had no interest in. It was only after I actually went to college that I realized that happiness did not lie in these "important" professions that meant nothing to me.
Only after losing interest as a biology major and a college student altogether did I discover that occupational happiness could only be found by entering a profession that interested me. I drew up the old dreams of being on the radio. I remembered the tapes, sound recordings, and dreams I created so many years ago. After this I decided to pursue the only career I would enjoy. I surfed the net and found www.getamentor.com. Now I am ready to venture into a truly fulfilling career.
Jason Vreeke
JASON VREEKE hired as Production Director at KWAVE
I am truly thankful and indebted to you for your help in my radio career!
The last time I wrote to you I had just gotten an opportunity at a radio station in the city of my residence, Santa Ana. That was in February 2004 and my eventual start date was March 1, 2004.
I began as the "program loader" and I also had an overnight airshift Friday Night/Saturday Morning until 6am. I took the things I learned from my mentor and in fact I met many mentors along the way. I worked hard. I didn't really get to do what I wanted in radio but I was in radio on a part-time basis. Meanwhile, at my other job, I grew more and more dissatisfied. Eventually I got laid off the day after Memorial Day 2004 (which was actually my 3 year anniversary with the company).
I was so happy because I no longer had to work in an oppressive office environment! The only problem was that now I had to live on an 18-hour a week job at the radio station!
I talked to my boss at the station and told her of my new availability for extra hours. Slowly I began to pick up more hours. We added a satellite station that I began loading programs for and also I took over the International Radio site that our station (KWVE San Clemente 107.9) also managed. Soon I was working about 30 hours a week at the station. I had the financial stability I had wanted but I still wasn't exactly doing what I wanted to do.
I wanted to be more involved in actual "radio work" as I had thought of it. My job at the station was still simply sitting in front of a computer and loading in programs. It felt like just another office job. I did enjoy the fact that at the station I could wear jeans and a t-shirt as opposed to where I had once worked. I had been wearing a dress shirt and a tie for 3 years. It was a relief to not have to dress like that to work anymore!
So then one day I simply asked our Production Director Frank if I could voice a commercial or something. This was what I was really interested in. He said to me "ask and you shall receive." So I went into his studio and cut my first on-air commercial! I had been announcing on overnights but this was a little different. I was tired of just announcing songs and reading public service announcements. Now I felt like I was doing "radio work."
Soon thereafter I was asked if I could engineer an interview radio program that the station aired. I, of, course accepted this. It bumped me up to 40 hours a week and that was something I had been praying for. I did not know the first thing about engineering a radio program. I sat in the studio and didn't know what to do but I began exploring the equipment and found that it was rather intuitive. Before I knew it, I was a pro at engineering and eventually editing the interview program.
Then Frank, the Production Director, approached me and asked me to being putting together some short, 15-second, promos for some of the station's programming. Now we were really starting to get into what I wanted to do! My whole life I had been producing things like this for my own enjoyment! Finally I could do something that I wanted to AND get paid for it! So I did the best job I could and put together a dozen of these 15-second promos for the station. In the meantime I was still engineering and editing the interview program and I was also still loading programs for the station, our satellite, and our international site. Life was good.
After that, I was asked to change my overnight airshift to the early morning airshift on Saturday. Part of this job would also be to engineer and run the board for a live show called "The Saturday Morning Kid's Show." Once again, this was something that I didn't have a clue on how to do. To my delight and gratitude, the host of the show not only walked me through how to do it, but also allowed me to observe a few times before I did it on my own. After that I gave it a shot. It was hard at first but eventually I got really good at it. I not only got really good at it, I really enjoyed it. It was a kid's show, but it was a lot of fun.
Then I was approached by the General Manager of the station. This guy is my direct boss's boss. He said he wanted to see me in his office first thing in the morning. I don't know why, but that sort of thing always makes me scared. I always imagine that I've been doing something wrong and that I'm in trouble. I made my way into his office the next day and my direct boss, the Program Director, was also sitting in our office. She leaned over when I sat down and said "this is a good meeting." So I was immediately relieved and a bit excited. Who knows what it could be!?
The General Manager asked me if I'd consider taking over as the Production Director!!! I couldn't believe it. I guess Frank had gotten another job and had recommended me to take his position. I was shocked. I felt so green and I had not yet been with the station for even a year! They didn't know when Frank could begin at his new job so I had some time to sit with him and learn. I took the next 2 months learning all that I could from him and preparing to become the Production Director. It had all happened so fast. With the new position also came a considerable raise. That is always a good thing no matter how you look at it. With this new position I'd basically be in charge of the production of every element that the station would air. If an outside agency did the production, it was my job to scrutinize it. I look at the 2 months with Frank and how much I learned, and it is astounding to me. I learned more in 2 months about radio and production and voice-overs with Frank than I could have ever learned in school. Hands-on learning is really where it's at.
The kid's show was a little disappointed because they really liked working with me. I was a little dissapointed to have to stop doing that too, but I was really happy about the new position.
So I began as the Production Director for KWAVE 107.9 on May 23, 2005. It was after just over a year being with the station that this happened. I still am shocked. At the age of 24, I'm the youngest of all the directors here at the station. Soon after this happened I was also approached by a man who wanted me to produce his radio show. This is something I do as "side work" for another station.
Phillip, I think you so much for all your help! There were times when I never thought I'd work in radio and now I am typing this from my very own studio in a radio station.
Thanks!
Jason Vreeke
