I Am a Writer for WERS.org Pt.1

Coming to Emerson College in Boston after three years of sheer country life was stressful. I had gone to a high school in the middle of the Rockies with only 150 kids, so moving into a city where a  subway system existed and squirrels were fat was exciting yet very intimidating. An experimental child I am, I decided to make the adjustment process harder than ever, which made me apply to be a live mix staff for Emerson's radio station WERS 88.9FM.

If you think WERS is just one other college radio station where people come in with a handle of Jenkins to get wasted and talk about rad music, well I'm sorry, but you are wrong (although later I found out those drunk activities take places outside of the station). WERS is officially the best college radio station in US according to The Princeton Review, and the faculty advisor Jack Casey refers WERS as "the varsity sports of Emerson College." It owns two of the most-listened show in Boston, and has at least three bands come in for live performances every week. It operates like a real radio station, and it is by no means anything like a beer pong club you join to have a excuse to go out every weekend. WERS is a real deal, and a freshman from Colorado was daring to be a part of it.

Filling out the application was tricky. The questions could not be more straightforward: what is your major, tell us why you need to work for WERS, yadda yadda. But there was a question that really got me, which was "Tell us about the experience you have that might be valuable for WERS." Um, what experience? Should I tell them about a sick-ass class 9 rapid on San Juan River I crossed on my rubber kayak? Or how I broke both of my hands at the same time skiing? Will my experience in desert backpacking help them? Basically I started to feel useless, and after hours of contemplation I ended up writing down "I have no experience with live mix or radio, but I am a fast learner, and I will do my best." I know. What a tool.

I thought the application was bad; the interview was worse. I was taken into the live mix studio of WERS, and while I was fascinated yet overwhelmed by the console and expensive limiters, they asked me why I needed to work for live mix. "I'm really into genres such as jazz, blues, and bluegrass. Bands like Grateful Dead, Phish..." While I was noticing that my words were not answering the questions that they asked, the interviewers' faces grew darker and darker. I had never seen such stern expressions in my life, so I felt like I had to lighten the mood up a little bit by saying, "oh my. I don't even know what I'm talking about! I screwed up!" expecting they would at least smirk. Which did not happen.

Obviously I did not get the live mix staff position, only to find out that it is one of the hardest departments to get into. I tried out again the next semester, and the similar conversations went back and forth during the interview, only this time the interviewers straight up telling me that some kind of experience was necessary. 3 months into city life I could ride the subway, talk to the homeless people without getting kidnapped, and fight the drunk Gypsy whores on the street, but I could not get into WERS.

TBC