Sunday, June 22, 2014
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Being in media, and what I have learned about it. UPDATED on 6-11-14
Being in media, and
what I have learned about it. UPDATED on 6-11-14
I always wanted to get
into The Media game as I grew up in the 1990’s, watching a lot of TV, and
imagining myself on the big and small screen. I wanted Oprah to interview me about my
family, and discuss my dreams of being famous in media. In my dreams, I would say: “Oprah, I love your show, and am grateful to
be a guest here in the famous harpo studios.” She would say: “thanks Chris, I am glad to have as a guest.”
I also wanted on Live with Regis and
Kathie Lee, Sally, Jenny Jones, and Ricki Lake. The only times I was ever on TV as a little
kid was when I went to a St Patrick’s
Day Parade dressed all in green, and the
local TV networks filmed me, I have seen pictures of myself but I don’t
remember that time of my life.
As a kid I also wanted to be a writer and I
would write little movies and plays, family members would be my freelance
actors. The stories I would create would just be silly stuff that came out of
warped mind. Family members would play actors who they looked like, and I would
write a fake script for them to read.
God It was fun! People would tell
my family: “that boy is going to b famous doing something he loves, comedy.” Or my grandma would say: “that boy is going to get rich, and I am going
to move in with him”.
When I
was a preteen I made my TV debut with my cousin Brittany we did
a TV bowling Commercial for a local TV station, which was an ABC affricate in
Columbus, Ohio. We taped it one night at a bowling alley called fiesta lanes,
as my mother and grandmother were bowling with their all female bowling
leagues. It was so much fun to learn behind the scenes
secrets. Some of the information I was
told was: “stand still, look at the cameras, and say your line with a smile”.
They also said “don’t change anything you say”. The
30 sec or so TV commercial aired the next week early in the morning, and my mom
woke me up so I could watch myself. I hated how I looked; I was skinny and
boney and stayed that way for years after. Ugh!
I had a video tape of
it before my house fire in 1999. I
hope people saw it, it only aired once.
I wish I could remember the date so I
could add it to YouTube. Maybe one day the date will come to me in a dream,
like everything else does sometimes. After
that show I was never invited back on the TV again like I hoped I would in my
mind. NO such luck!
in 2008 my dreams came true and I did not even
have to relocate to New York or California. I was watching TV one night in my bedroom, and
I saw a TV Commercial that there was going to be a new school
opening up in Columbus called The Ohio Center for Broadcasting, for people who
wanted to be broadcasters. The Ohio Center for Broadcasting had locations in
only 3 states around the world, but this would b the first broadcasting campus
in Columbus. I told my mother about the school and the next day I scheduled an
appointment. I was told by the school that
classes were set to start on March 17t. That night I thought to myself, “I am not
going to pass up doing something that’s going to make rich and famous”.
I got enrolled at the school after the
meeting. The very first person I met was this woman who
claimed she discovered Jerry Springer, and she is also the woman who
interviewed me for enrollment. My classes were weekday mornings; we met 3
days a week, the classes were 4 hours long. We had breaks between classes and
there was a break room, with a vending machine and a soda machine. I was let
out of class at lunch time, so my mother would pick me up for lunch. My first
instructor was a former local DJ named Jack, he taught all of us students so
much about his own broadcasting life lessons.
I was shy and kept to myself a lot, but I met a lot of people as well. Looking
back I should have spoken up more, and should got more passionate about being a
future broadcaster. I also should have not have used the printer for things
that were not school related. I interned at 3 media networks 2 radio channels
and 1 TV. That was a learning experience
in itself. Only 2 of those companies r still up and running like they did when
I interned for them. I graduated on
January 2009. I did not graduate with my classmates because I did not have
enough intern hours, so I graduated one month later.
Since graduating in 2009 I have been a caller guest on a few internet
shows, and I enjoyed doing all of those
shows when I did them. One of the shows is no longer on the air, but the rest
are. When I first did a show called The
Rob and Trav Show which is a Howard Stern like show. They first asked me to come
on after me and marc did our YouTube show, and I used to get mad at their
questions and I attacked them. This is something I regret. The
men always asked me about my sex life with Marc, and the producer Rob always
made fun of my teeth and even did a parody acct on them on twitter for about a
year.
I am still friends
with these men, and I now let them say whatever they want. I mostly ignore them
if I think they go too far, But I have learned to just slam them back. It’s all
fun and games I think. In 2010 My Life
and business partner Marc Robinson and I created our company Robinson Ward New
Media, and we did a short lived YouTube show that was geared as a news and
cooking show. You can still watch old shows on YouTube. The studio was a duplex that marc and I used
to live in.
We stopped doing it
for 3 years, because one of marc’s granddaughters flooded
our kitchen by overflowing the toilet. Then
after marc and I moved to our new home, we posted my grandma making homemade
lasagna. U can watch those shows on Marc’s YouTube channel. I took
a break from radio shows, and just focused on writings for awhile. After that I
was a caller on a few radio shows. Now I have my own show on YouTube, which is
a talk show where I discuss hot topics and more.
In July I am taking my
show on the road in New York City. What
I have learned about media? You may be asking I have learned that nothing ever
stays the same; it can change at any time. I have learned that being an asshole
gets you blacklisted. I have learned to just ignore haters, because they want
you to block them so they can accuse you of being a diva. I have
had a very lucky life in media, and I have done things I have always dreamed. I
work hard to live a good life.
Talk soon.
Love to All
Christopher Michael Ward
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
In NYC july 9th at this book signing, and reading.
I will be at a book signing and reading on July 9th, Join author Deborah Halber and her guest Joe Giacalone at The Corner Bookstore. Details Here
http://cornerbookstorenyc.com/event/deborah-halber-reads-from-her-debut-the-skeleton-crew/
http://cornerbookstorenyc.com/event/deborah-halber-reads-from-her-debut-the-skeleton-crew/
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