Composing His Career

Rock and roll and electronic music are Sean Eich’s favorites, but with few exceptions he enjoys
most music types. And that is a happy thing, considering his dream of a career in the world of
broadcasting. Eich, who graduates this May with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies,
says he knows he wants to stay in radio but which part of those airwaves isn’t set in stone just
yet. The field offers much, including music programming, editing, program director, even sound
editing for movies or television – a part of the career path for which people win Oscars.
Technically, Eich entered the broadcasting field two years ago, after he transferred to ESU from
a community college in Florida and began working at the University’s radio station, 90.3 WESS.
He is still a disc jockey at WESS, and will be until graduation (Eich’s show, “Power Hour” airs
Tuesdays from 4 to 5 p.m.). But it is perhaps more important, with his graduation so close, to
talk about Eich in his position as music programming intern with SiriusXM.

If you are out of the 21st century loop, SiriusXM is a major radio broadcaster; the largest,
according to its website, as measured by revenue. The company has a following of some 24
million subscribers and 140-plus channels to subscribe to. Eich is interning as a music
programmer at SiriusXM’s 80s on 8 channel, which is dedicated to – no surprise – music from
the decade of the 1980s.

While Eich acknowledges the importance of his communication classes and his experience at
ESU’s radio station, locking into his internship was no small feat. “I applied once and didn’t hear
back,” the budding programmer explains. “So, the following spring I applied again. I think that
persistence showed them I was serious. Plus, I have experience with Adobe Audition, the soundediting
program, one of the top software programs available, which I learned here at our station
(WESS), and happens to be the same software Sirius uses.”

Nothing has been promised, of course, but given that Eich has been asked back for a second
internship this summer, a permanent position with SiriusXM looks hopeful. In the meantime he’s
just loving what he does. “The job is so fun,” he says. “Other internships, you’re doing menial
work, like getting coffee for people. But this is nothing like the stereotypical internship. I’ve
done so much and so much of my stuff is actually aired on Sirius – it’s amazing. When you’re
sitting there and hear something that you did go on air, and know there are millions of
subscribers [on 80s on 8] who hear it. That’s just so cool.”

Search

Recent Posts