I contacted BTN back in early 2005. I have been wanting to get into broadcasting for as long as I could remember. I was willing to take a risk and pull some money out of my savings to make a change and do something I was passionate about.
I should have known that something wasn't quite right when the first rep I had been working with, just dropped off the radar. A few weeks went by and then I received a call from Chris Gilbertson, who was a very nice gentleman who was eager to help me out and get me a mentor.
Chris came back a few days later and paired me up with someone who to this day I still talk to. I went through all the training with my mentor. My mentor was great. My mentor was a well known talk show host in my area who was working for Clear Channel with 6 stations in the building. I was introduced to a lot of people and they were all very nice to me.
Although I never was able to work in a real studio, I always had use my own mic and tape recorder for my lessons. I never learned how to work the boards or even put on a set of head phones.
I asked about leaning the boards, and I was basically told that I would need to hire a board op to teach me. Needless to say, I wasn't going lay down anymore money than the 5,000 I already paid.
After I received my diploma, I thought I was finally going to be able to do something that I wanted to do. I soon found out that this was going to be harder than I thought.
I contacted BTN several times through email and phone calls with no response. I sent out demo's to every radio station in my area and areas I would be willing to move to. I never received any call backs. Even to this day, I still send out demo's and nothing.
Although I didn't badger BTN about the piss poor quality of their business, I did try every few months to get someone to contact me. No response. I I wrote a letter to BTN about my experience and how I would have been better off throwing my $5,000 out the window of my car. I finally got a response. When they asked how they could help, I just replied, I want a radio job.
I didn't care what I was doing. I just wanted my foot in the door and I would do the rest. I never received a response from that point on. I went to the website a few weeks later and seen that it had been shut down and nobody is around to take any calls.
I am a honest hard working American trying to live a simple dream. I wasn't asking for fame or fortune. I had high hopes and now I have to get up and go to a job that just barely pays the bills.
Thanks BTN, your diploma doesn't mean anything out in the real world.
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