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10 Questions with ... Matt Bailey
June 20, 2017
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
DEMO:
I began my career right before college. I started my now-celebrity focused talk show as a ventriloquism podcast for my fellow "vents" to learn about each other. In the summer of 2015, I decided it was time to branch out to other areas in entertainment, and Talk For Two was born. Since then, I have interviewed guests who have won every major entertainment award, from Grammys to Oscars. Notable guests include Garth Brooks, Stewart Copeland, Gilbert Gottfried, Larry the Cable Guy, and even Bob Barker. The latter broadcasting icon gave my show his only interview of 2016.
I solely produce every aspect of Talk For Two, from guest booking and interviewing to production of the final episodes. I also coordinate and conduct exclusive interviews for The Music Universe and work as a field reporter for WBAI in Brooklyn, covering politics. WBAI is a Pacifica station, and TMU has the largest circulation of any independent music news website. I have focused on experience rather than profit for the last four years. Now graduating school, I would love to take my unique experience home to terrestrial radio.
1) What do you do to maintain a positive mental attitude and stay motivated?
I always look for the next opportunity to make for myself. Money was never a motivator in college. I was lucky in that I didn't need a job, I could focus on my education and explore my passion for talk radio by self-producing. I make the interview approaches. I write every cover letter I send out. I am always e-mailing people and asking. Asking is the most important thing. Sometimes that's all you have to do. Heck, I even reached out to All Access and asked to do this interview!
2) How are you occupying your time, besides looking for a job?
I just finished up school. As I type this, all of my work is done; I just have to go in for some presentations and officially turn stuff in. But the hard part is over. Keeping my school and professional lives separate was always difficult. I never wanted to be taken less seriously by a publicist or interviewee because I was in college. But now that I am looking for a job, I sort of have to break from that mentality and share both experiences. It's new to me.
3) Do you plan on sticking with radio?
I want to get into radio in the first place! Podcasting is a double-edged sword. Anyone with a microphone and a computer can do it. And I am grateful for that because it's how I started. But somewhere along the line I started taking the craft of "broadcasting" (voicing, writing, etc.) very seriously. It could be in my head, but I feel like podcasting gets a bad rap ... almost like it's illegitimate. But I just want radio employers to see that I am using podcasting only as a format to deliver a quality radio program. If they have hang-ups about it, I hope they can look past the medium to see the broadcasting skills I have developed.
4) What's the best way to get your foot in the door?
Make your own way. Just start creating. Establish relationships. I don't have a lot of "foots in doors" at radio, but I have very important relationships with publicists, talent and managers. These reps and talents trust my work, and that's the highest compliment to me. Find people who will trust your work and value their relationship with you.
5) What has been your best resource for finding out about job openings?
All Access! And I am not just giving the site a shameless plug. This site is the only place I have been able to find smaller-market stations and reach out to them for openings. Most radio opportunities on larger job boards are those at larger corporations like iHeart and SiriusXM. It is very hard to get their attention. I would love to work for them one day. But I want to start somewhere local, where I can e-mail in my package and make an immediate connection with my future bosses.
6) What's the craziest thing you've ever done to get a job?
I came to WBAI as an intern. Interns chose our show assignments. Wanting to build up my news portfolio, I chose their evening news program. But, when we weren't on assignment, the development director had us doing work completely unrelated to the broadcast-centered learning we were promised (as happens at internships). But, as soon as News Director Linda Perry knew I had a lot of professional equipment, she sent me on assignment. After I turned in that first fully produced package, she trusted the quality of my work. I never had to do intern grunt work again. Soon after, their internship program shuttered, but I continue to work directly with Linda as a field reporter. Not a crazy thing I did to get a job, but a crazy way a title came about!
7) With consolidation there are definitely fewer jobs. How do you separate yourself from the pack?
For the last four years, my focus has been on building a portfolio of guests and interviews that no other 22-year-old college student would have. I hope this will make me stand out as a true young professional entering the broadcasting workforce. My advice, because I am proof that it is doable, is to just go for it. When I started a ventriloquism talk show, I had absolutely no clue I would end up interviewing some of my entertainment heroes just a few short years later. Start building your portfolio, cut your demos, and just create material. Now, working at WBAI, I have also built up a hard news portfolio that is very professional. I have the skills and equipment to produce those packages in-house because I invested in the quality of my portfolio.
8) Are you able to slow down and enjoy free time doing things with your family and friends?
This is going to sound like the most yuppie thing I'll say, but work-life balance has always been important to me. I know so many college students who burn themselves out. College creates this culture that if you're not staying up till four in the morning crying your eyes out over the mid-term exam, you're doing it wrong. During finals week, our on-campus Starbucks is open 24 hours a day. What kind of message does that send? If I can manage to produce a weekly talk show, get 'A' grades in my classes, have a social life, and still get eight hours of sleep each night, everyone else should, too. I am certain that balance between work and life is going to be the key to my generation's happiness. We just have to figure it out.
9) How are you finding the "courtesy level" at places you've applied? (Callbacks, e-mails, rejection letters, etc.)
My answer for this goes back to what I was saying earlier about being able to directly email my package to smaller markets. I got responses the very first week I started pitching myself to All Access job postings. Obviously, nothing has come of that quite yet. But it feels great to finally be establishing radio relationships. Even if it doesn't work out or they are not interested, everyone is still very polite and respectful.
10) What has been your biggest career accomplishment?
My biggest career accomplishment was getting to interview Garth Brooks. After seeing Garth as a child, I knew I wanted to be in entertainment in some form. It was at his press conference in Albany, before his run of shows. It consisted of a press pool and then broke off for one-on-ones. I was always reaching out for press availability whenever the tour stopped in my region. The Albany shows occurred in March of this year, my senior year. That day was the culmination of 10 months of developing a relationship with his PR team.
I did not get to major in Journalism in college. So, this experience is a perfect full-circle example of how my growth as a talk producer and journalist paralleled my college experience. Talk For Two started in ventriloquism just before college. Right before graduating, I received this opportunity to do an interview that was inconceivable to me four years ago. I graduated recently, but stepping up and shaking Garth's hand felt like my commencement. It is proof that anything can happen if you work hard enough.
Bonus Questions
Any books you can recommend to people who need something inspirational to read?
Kate Coyne's book, "I'm Your Biggest Fan," taught me what I am. Until I read it, for three years producing, I had no clue what to call myself. Was I a journalist? Was I simply a talking head broadcaster with a billion questions? How could I be a journalist if all I do is ask famous people about their lives? I saw a lot of myself in Ms. Coyne. I reached out to her to thank her for showing me that entertainment journalism is a very legitimate field. It is responsible for my jobs in other journalism fields, like my experience at WBAI.
I also enjoyed Dick Guttman's Starflacker. Guttman is a legend in entertainment publicity. Communicating with PR reps daily piqued my interest in publicity. I read Dick's book and interviewed him on the show. He really enjoyed being a guest and books his clients with me. I think anyone who regularly works with publicists should read this to broaden their perspective of that industry.
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