The summer of my Sophomore year at Medaille I decided to pursue an internship in media promotions. A friend of mine worked at Citadel Broadcasting, which owns and operates 103.3 The Edge, Mix 104.1 and 97 Rock. I applied for an internship but I ended up getting hired on the spot, for a part time job. Working at Citadel was one of the best part time jobs that I could ever imagine.

As a promotions employee at Citadel, I was required to work station events, concerts, and DJ Appearances. Working an event required set up of prizes and a prize wheel or contest. During the event, I was required to get people to come spin the prize wheel to win  a prize, sign up to win cool items, or just to come talk to me, to see just how cool Citadel really is!

During my time at Citadel, I learned a lot. I learned how to come out of my shell a bit. To be a promotions employee you have to be very outgoing and you have to be able to talk to complete strangers. That was something I was good at. I also learned how to think on my feet. Often times, things don’t go as planned, that with anything. While working at Citadel, sometimes things got crazy, and I had to improvise and remain calm in order to keep things running smoothly.

Along with meeting the personalities of each station, I also got to meet some really cool people. I worked the Edge Fest and got to meet Amy Lee, Korn, and Hell Yeah!! I worked numerous events with Bills players and Sabres players present as well.

Another cool thing about working at Citadel, was watching everyday people actually win cool prizes. Two of the best prizes that I witnessed being won were  a brand new car and tickets to The Ice Bowl. It’s not everyday where you get to work at a cool job and make others happy too.

The only down side to working at Citadel is that in order to drive the station vehicle, employees have to be 21 years old. A lot of events require only 1 employee who can drive, so if you arent 21, you really dont get to work too much. During the summer, I had a packed schedual working everything from bison’s game, the Erie County Fair and even the Taste of Buffalo. Once summer ended, there really wasn’t much work for me, other than on weekends, since I wasn’t 21 years old.

All in all, my time at Citadel was a lot of fun and very worthwile for me. I learned a lot about promotions and radio in general and I had fun doing so. Not many part time jobs can actually be that cool!!