The foundation of Mark O’Brien’s radio sales career is Ohio University and WOUB

When Mark O’Brien graduated from high school, he thought he wanted to be a radio broadcaster, and knew Ohio University was the place that could put him on that path.

“I grew up in Louisville, Ohio and I knew I wanted to go to college in Ohio,” said O’Brien. “So, my parents and I drove a square around the state looking at colleges. Our first stop was in Athens. We parked right in front of the Radio and TV Building. I looked around. We went inside the RTV Building and some people who were there took us on an impromptu tour. I got a feel for the town and a feel for where I’d be spending a lot of my time within the first hour I was there. I thought Ohio University was the place for me.”

O’Brien started working at WOUB and ACRN as soon as he got on campus. He started to do some on-air work and quickly realized that it wasn’t his thing and became a radio and TV management administration major.

“I gravitated toward the business and administrative side of media,” said O’Brien. “I ended up working with the administrative professionals at WOUB. I got paid to do things like schedule other students for their work study hours. I worked with underwriting and with the radio team reaching out to record labels to get music product.”

After graduation, O’Brien got jobs in radio advertising sales and eventually became a sales manager. He is currently the sales manager at WDJQ FM based in Alliance, Ohio. It’s a 50,000-watt station that serves the Canton, Ohio market.

“I appreciated my time at WOUB so much,” said O’Brien. “It exposed me to all the areas that you could work in radio. I learned that radio is a business and that there were a lot of different jobs that go into it from sales to news to promotions to administration. I got all kinds of training across many different areas, and it allowed me to work with a lot of good professional people. It was a real, professional radio station with a large service area and that was so important.”