Tell us a little about yourself and your experience.
Hey everyone, I'm Patrick Walford. I'm 25 years old. I am the Host & Producer of Rock The Walls on idobi Howl & idobi Radio Thursdays and Saturdays. I'm also On-Air Monday to Friday 11am to 1pmET for the Howl Mid Day on idobiHowl. During the past two Summers I have also done some hosting on Warped idobi Radio, the official radio show on the Vans Warped Tour. I started Rock The Walls in February 2009 while attending Niagara College. After doing my show for a year and 10months on our College Station & as well for a local internet Radio Station, I brought the show over to idobi in January 2011. I've been doing my show on the station ever since.
When I look back on the past 7 years and my experience both as a radio host and interviewer, it has really felt surreal. In the span of 6months, I went from having 15 to 50 listeners a show to over 15,000 in a hour in the span of a few months. I grew up in a town of 10,000 people. If you told me ten years ago when I was 15 that i'd be doing what I was now, i'd laugh and say there is no way any of it would've happened. I am super thankful for the opportunity to get to do what I do every day, and every week. idobi Radio is an incredible team of dedicated people and I couldn't be more proud to along for the ride and call all the great Hosts, Writers, and behind the scenes people my co-workers.
What drove you to choose your career path?
Initially, when I was about 16 years old, i had the realization most Canadian kids who played Competitive Hockey had growing up: You aren't going to make the NHL. I was a Sports Fanatic since I was a little kid. So naturally I wanted to pursue the broadcasting side of Sports.
A big life changing event for me though was my first concert. I was 17 years old. It was August 2007 and my favourite band at the time (and still currently), Motion City Soundtrack were in town. I was mesmerized the second they stepped on stage until the second they got off after encoring with The Future Freaks Me Out. It made me want to go and see as many shows as possible.
In Grade 12 when I applied to Colleges/Universities, I got accepted into Private Sports Broadcasting School but decided to instead go to Niagara College to get a more general and rounded learning experience in broadcasting and not just the Sports specific side of things.
The more and more I found new bands and went to more shows, I gave a thought to possibly interviewing bands. I sent a email out to Epitaph Records to interview Motion City Soundtrack when they came back in November 2007 for the High School Newspaper. To my surprise, their publicist got back to me almost immediately and set it up. When it came time to interview and I was standing in the now torn down Kool Haus waiting for the band to finish up another interview, I became super nervous. I ended up interviewing Justin Pierre (Vocals/Guitar) and it went pretty well.
After this i'd interview a couple more bands throughout the school year including The Matches and bands on the 2008 Vans Warped Tour.
When I got to school in September, I pretty quickly leaned into wanting to pursue the radio side of things. We got the opportunity in January to start our own specialty shows. We could play whatever kind of music we wanted, we just had to make sure there was no swearing, and that we were playing 35% CanCon(Canadian Content) in our hour. As they say, the rest is history.
How did you go about getting your job? What kind of education and experience did you need?
I created Rock The Walls while at Niagara College. This was obviously unpaid at this point. It first aired on February 3rd, 2009. In order to get a show on the College Station, I submitted an application/proposal basically outlining what I wanted to do with my show and what kind of musicI would play. We were pitching to our teachers, and the 2nd year radio students who ran the station. My show got picked and through studying Broadcasting: Radio, TV, & Film at Niagara College, it became more fleshed out and better presented while trail and error of what worked, and what didn't.
I will be straight up honest when I say that the night the first Rock The Walls ever aired, it was pretty much a disaster (laughs). It was a lot of stumbling while on the mic for being so nervous. As we were only in year 1, I didn't have much on-air experience at that point. My willingness to constantly practice and prep the show until it was perfect is what helped the most. It also gave me the experience and opportunity to begin interviewing more bands, as publicists and labels were more accommodating to a College kid doing a show on College Radio as opposed to a kid doing interviews for his High School Newspaper.
What do you actually spend the majority of your time doing?
Either prepping to go on-air, sending out emails for upcoming interviews, doing various audio production components for the show, listening to new music sent to me, and of course being on-air
What misconceptions do people often have about your job?
That it's a total cakewalk and nothing but "Backstage Passes" and "standing sidestage at the show while hanging out with the band". If you have the expectation and aspirations of getting into Interviewing bands or doing a radio show only for those purposes, you are doing it all wrong.
What are your average work hours?
Right now, on top of another full-time job at an Airport in Toronto in the Parking/Ferry Control Tower (airport is on an island just off the mainland) working about 50-60hours a week, I am on-air 18-20hours a week. Add in prep time and doing interviews as well. At the end of it all, i'd say it's consistently something I spend 30hours a week working on.
What personal tips and shortcuts have made your job easier?
Don't take any shortcuts! Always be over prepped as opposed to under prepped. It's easy to get into a routine and become lazy over time, but always pushing yourself to put out the best content possible should always be the goal.
What do you do differently from your coworkers or peers in the same profession?
I always go into interviews with the goal of having a conversation, not just asking or remembering a list of set questions. As one of my teachers told me in college, your next question should lead from your last answer.
What's the worst part of the job and how do you deal with it?
The worst part is the odd times you have to wait over an hour to do an in-person interview that was scheduled. I'm very understanding though as I know bands generally have a ton of other stuff going on before the show such as load-in, soundcheck, etc. Honestly when you think about it, if that is the worst part of the job, it's pretty sweet.
What's the most enjoyable part of the job?
Getting to interview new bands every week and being able to introduce new bands to listeners that have never heard them before. It's super cool when you get a message from someone saying that they discovered a new favourite band from listening to your show.
What kind of money can one expect to make at your job?
It all depends what size of a market you are working in, what exactly your job is, if you are full or part time etc. Yes, there are the upper echelon of Radio Personalities who make a lot of money (i.e Howard Stern) but most can expect something within the range of 1000-1500 a week at a smaller to mid size station in a Monday to Friday slot.
The biggest thing I stress to people looking to break into the radio business, is that it is a journey. You have to volunteer and intern. Something everyone should want to do to gain experience. I was fortunate enough to intern at some amazing Radio/TV Stations and Shows. I did promotion interning at CFNY 102.1 The Edge in Toronto for a few years while in College. When I was done 2.5years of my Broadcasting program, I moved to Toronto in January 2011, the same time RTW premiered on idobi Radio to intern for my last semester of School. I ended up landing internships at MTV News Canada (RIP) & TSN (Canada's ESPN) talkshow Off The Record with Michael Landsberg. I was between both stations pretty well 8am-6:30pm every day. This went on for about 5months before I started Interning at TSN 1050 on the Mike Richards In The Morning Show. Then it went from roughly 4am-6:30pm some days.
All were great experiences and I feel incredibly fortunate for that. As someone who interviews Bands on an almost daily basis, I rarely get nervous. However Athletes is completely different for some reason. At TSN I had the chance to talk Hockey with a few current NHL players & Legends in the green room prior to the shows happening every day which was really cool.
When I did get hired for TSN 1050, it was a production job. In the Summer of 2011 & into 2012, I was as a Technical Producer and Board Operator. I also used to set up and board op the Toronto Argonauts CFL Games at Rogers Centre (also the home of the Toronto Blue Jays) as well as working Weekend Overnights at the Station. I'd also get to do the live syndicated NFL Sunday Night Broadcasts where I would have to time our commercial breaks down to the exact second to get back to the games live feed from Westwood One. I also did audio content (cutting clips from NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL/MLS Games, Press Conferences, any other audio needed for the show) social media, and posting of podcasts/interviews to the website for the Morning Show which was a lot of fun.
At the end of the day, I was taking home just enough to make rent, pay my student loan, transit pass, phone bill and groceries.
How do you move up in your field?
By working your hardest to become the best Host/Personality you can be. You have to be consistent and always be proving yourself over and over. I see people all the time complaining that they aren't moving up after doing something for a few months or a year. It takes time. It will be different for everyone.
What advice would you give to those aspiring to join your profession?
Give it 110%. Research your interviews and don't ask the same Mickey Mouse questions every band hates. I can't tell you how many times bands have told me that most of the interviews they do consist of questions such as what their band name means and how they came up with it, whats their favourite color, etc.
Always be on your toes and ready to go at a moments notice. Especially in Radio you need to be ready at all times. Whether it's a interview getting switched around last minute or dealing with a technical issue when you are supposed to be on-air in 5minutes, have the ability to be able to think fast and make quick decisions.
The biggest advice I can give though: Don't be a dick. It's a small industry and community of bloggers/writers/interviewers in the music world and everyone knows everyone. Just because you interview bands does not make you smarter or better than anyone else. Be humble around your peers and willing to make new friends with.