Lauren Hicks
Graduation Year
May 2017
Major
Broadcast Journalism
Hometown
Addison, Illinois
Campus Activities
-Kappa Delta Sorority
-Her Campus Illinois social media & PR intern
-Medavail Brand Ambassador
-SeeYou Weekly anchor
-JAMS member
-Phi Eta Sigma Honors Fraternity
Hobbies
watching greys anatomy, traveling, eating mac n cheese pizza.
LinkedIn
Employer
CBS US99.5 Chicago Country Radio
Internship Title
Promotions Intern
What were your duties?
Shadowed various departments including social media, programming, sales, digital media, and integrated marketing. Assisted employees through everyday activities such as sales calls, completing media kits, and handling listeners. Interacted with radio listeners and represented US99.5 at multiple on-site events.
What did you most enjoy about your internship?
That's hard! I definitely thought shadowing the radio hosts and sitting in on live audience calls was the best part. The hosts were hilarious and always messed around with the listeners. They brought life to radio and gave me many opportunities to help with concert ticket giveaways and also let me chime in while they were interacting with callers. The hosts were so genuine and treated me as a friend rather than an intern which made me feel a lot more comfortable. Shila (an afternoon host) was of those people that anything she said would make you laugh uncontrollably. The staff and other interns were great to work with and I still keep in touch with them!
What was the most difficult aspect of the internship?
I would say dealing with a stubborn and impatient listener. When I was taking incoming calls or calling people to tell them they won tickets to a concert, some people were just so rude and crabby. About 95% of the time, listeners were so pumped that they won tickets to their favorite country artist and super grateful, but we always had a handful of people that were not satisfied with what seats they got even though they were FREE tickets! Other than that, the internship was not difficult at all and was very laid-back.
How did your experience at ILLINOIS and in the College of Media prepare you for your internship?
My Illinois experience allowed me to have more opportunities at the station to understand broadcast language and terms that were used between my superiors. My journalism classes gave me an advantage coming into the intern program in preparing me to be personable, thoughtful and always saying yes to any favor asked. My journalism professor Nancy Benson always pushed me to go that extra mile and always be the best version of myself.
How has your internship prepared you for a career?
This was such an amazing internship! My dream job is to be a news anchor on TV, but I wanted to try out the radio side of broadcasting so this was the perfect fit! Working at US99.5 through CBS Corporation gave me so much insight on what happens behind radio and all the work that goes into it.
What recommendations do you have for other students about doing an internship?
Apply as early as possible and don't stop applying. There is no limit of how many internships you can apply to so take advantage of all the opportunities out there and don't doubt yourself! I recently applied to 12 internships for summer of 2016 and I am still searching for more because the options are endless.
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