Grad Spotlight: Eric Nichols

Eric Nichols started his audio career training at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in October of 2010. Since then he has been constantly working in various fields, and has recently landed a pretty sweet gig! While he spent a lot of his time doing radio and live sound, he recently got accepted as Associate Producer with Learfield Sports in Missouri.

I have accepted an Associate Producer position with Learfield Sports, in Jefferson City Missouri.  My job will consist of radio imaging/commercial production and floor director during major broadcast events.

Learfield provides 1000s of radio and television stations with college sports, mainly football, basketball, hockey and baseball. Using an ISDN line with satellite linkup we provide the mothership signal for all major university partners.

Here is a link to our partners. LearfieldSports.com

My job is to insure that the product of each broadcast gets delivered properly to all our board operators and engineers through the ISDN lines. The production studios use SM7B’s with Adobe Audition, professional grade radio control boards and Tannoy monitors.

They are in the process of bringing up the audio quality to a much higher level due to the inexpensive access to hard drive space! This is a family company that really invests in people and my wife and I are very excited for this opportunity.

I asked Eric about the path he took once he finished his classes at CRAS in 2011.

After I left CRAS, due to financial reasons I finished my internship and went back to Illinois. I continued to do radio production from home, just like I did while I was at CRAS. In Bloomington, where I lived, there weren’t a lot of opportunities, so my wife and I really put our energy into trying to find opportunity in bigger markets.

We were close to moving to Cleveland and Memphis, but both of those opportunities did not come through. The one thing that is been the hardest is staying positive when no doors are opening.

It really took its toll on my confidence. What I can say is when the right opportunity comes it is worth it, although it might not be the thing you thought you wanted. When I went to CRAS, EVERY instructor  knew “Eric wants to to Post Production,”  which would be awesome if that eventually happened!  You never know what will come your way.  The thrill of live broadcasting is something I have been a part of for a while, and to do it on a much higher level for almost every state in the country on “Saturday Gameday” in a fun environment will be very gratifying!

Everyone here at CRAS says congrats, Eric! Keep up the good work!