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V-103 DJ Ryan Cameron
JOB: Afternoon drive personality, radio station V-103, Atlanta
WHAT I DO: Cameron's job title is personality, and that's what he brings to his job on the radio - interviewing celebrities, answering listeners' calls, and discussing politics, health and the day's news. He also co-hosts "Atlanta and Company" on Channel 11, WXIA, is the public address announcer for the Atlanta Hawks, makes countless personal appearances and serves as host for awards ceremonies and civic events. "People think I can host events," he said. "When they want some levity, they invite me over." Whether it's a senior citizens event, the Hero awards or Big Brothers/Big Sisters, "humor is universal. I say what people think. I know how to walk the line and not cross it." He also established the Ryan Cameron Foundation, which lists its purpose as providing "Atlanta's youth with the tools needed to empower them for their future leadership roles." But Cameron's most important job, he said, is "husband and father."
WHAT GOT ME INTERESTED IN THIS: In elementary school, "I had a speech impediment," he said. He reversed his W's and R's. Through a pilot program with Clark Atlanta University, he received help with pronunciation, including making a before-and-after tape. When that tape was played on the radio, he was listening with his grandfather. "When I heard my voice on the radio, I knew that's what I wanted to do."
BEST PART OF MY JOB: "I'm doing what I want to do," Cameron, 40, said. "I don't get tired of it. This is the same thing I was getting detentions for in grade school." He said he worked for a while as an intern in the Fulton County tax assessor's office, where he had to wear a tie. "I wanted to do something else," he said.
MOST CHALLENGING PART: "You have to be 'on' all the time," he said. "Radio is entertainment. If I'm having a bad day, people don't want to hear that. It can make their day worse."
WHAT PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT MY JOB: The amount of preparation it takes. "People think we come on the radio and talk for four hours." He said he reads four newspapers and searches the Internet to find discussion topics.
WHAT KEEPS ME GOING: "This is not a boring job. I have total creative freedom to be a personality. That's what people want."
PREPARATION NEEDED FOR THIS JOB: Get an internship - "that's the biggest thing," Cameron said. He hires his own interns to expose them to real-life radio work. Cameron also said prospective on-air personalities need to get experience and have talent. "My father has a great voice," he said. "I got my voice from my dad." He shared a tip: "Talk to someone. I had a picture of my grandmother [where he could see it at the microphone]. It was like I was talking to her." He said he pictures himself as the fourth person in a four-passenger car - just a guy telling a story, not shouting. "If I run out of stories, we got a problem." Cameron was on the radio at West Georgia College in Carrollton and began his career at V-103 in Atlanta in 1991. After working in Washington, D.C., he returned to Atlanta to join Radio One and rejoined V-103 a year ago.
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