At a very difficult time in my life after divorce, I like many of OCB people needed a fresh start or chase a dream. The experience is looked back on fondly, for being the year I got myself together, However that is where the praise ends. If I had not been in such a need of attention and an activity, I would have seen more clearly through what turned out to be a money gimic.
The school is run by a class act gentleman named Bruce Ryan, who genuinly cares about the students, but he could not make up for an extremely flawed program. The School itself is covered in flat white paint, which as you know doesn't clean well, ensuring the look of shoes being dragged across the walls. The equipment is extremely outdated or broken in the studios, if they can be called that. There is no real curriculum, with most time spent goofing off in the studios or listening to local celebrities talk about the do's and dont's of radio's bygone era. I remember our Television instructor was a recent graduate of OCB, with no real skills. I received a diploma with transcript, that had a 4.0 perfection of solid A's as well as other students I talked with.
The problem with the results of this report are many. First, half of the reported classes I never took or received instruction in. Secondly the ones I did, never gave instuction as claimed as well as them not being transferable credits to a real 4 yrs broadcasting program. I never ran the control board in the TV studio, I never used the editing bay or cameras, I did however broadcast live from the Rock Hall and was the first to do so, if you want to call being added as a live unannounced addtion to there Web loop, and then dumped after the broadcast, live. I logged in 1,082 internship hours, so participation was definetly not my weak area. The internships are basically what they sound like, getting coffee, running errands, downloading feeds and most importantly being used for studio comedy fodder.
Don't get me wrong I almost enjoyed being used on WMMS as Matt Harris's fuel for laughter, as about as much as I enjoyed watching a former graduate run his board and being referred to as IGOR (the former abused intern) who was what would be defined as a nerd with low self asteem making minimum wage. I was of course reprimanded for almost beating the studio idiots to death and being told that hazing is part of the game. As reported there is a constant loop running in the lobby for new idiots to watch and pray on their dreams, telling them about job placement and the plentiful opportunities that await them. The best part is when you have to complete a sound check to see if you have the voice skills neccesary to attend OCB, as if they would turn down a payday.
After you imerge from the broken down studio room, you are told that no one has a voice like you and you will excel in this business. Your ego is boosted and you will sign up for that kind of daily encouragement, who wouldn't? The problem is we all had the same story to tell and the let down is inevitable. There was a student in our classroom that was mentally challenged! He went by the name Mark " The Shark" and was definetly a distraction to be in a quote " Higher Learning" setting. That alone destroyed any credibility this school could ever have.
After graduation I was given a very small plaque for having the most internship hours and my class was congratulated for being the first cast on the new Beonair radio station. I was never contacted by a placement person and I used my contacts that I met talking around to do Voice over work and jump into the club circuit, where I became a local celebrity in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. The problem is, it doesn't pay the bills well and spending $10,000 at the time ($15,000 now) at 8% interest to get a so called education, where everyone tells you it's not what you know it's who you know in this business, is better suited in a University degree. To spend money to live at or below the poverty level should be labeled a crime.
I am not disgruntled or trying to pay back the school that took my money, as I have stated earlier I am grateful for having something fun to do in order to get my life back on track, but an education ah, no. Everything that has been posted about this school is true and not over exagerated, which is horrible.
Save your money and apply to internships on your own, radio is a dinosaur that dies more slowly everyday, it still has opportunity, but it can be had on your own. I make almost 100k a year now as a government licensed Investment banker and will be completing my BBA. Radio was a fun hobby and I am reminded, everytime I talk with my friends from class, who work at gas stations chasing the dream and even better, the one that runs a morning show in North Carolina, who's a very popular guy, just not with the bill collectors.
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