Started from the bottom now we're here...

A Year 12 student recently asked me for advice on how to ‘make it’ in the media game, and to be honest I didn't really know what to say.

I mean, have I really ‘made it’? Am I really in a position to hand out advice?

I thought about my own aspirations when I was the same age, where a career in media was just a dream and a severely farfetched one at that.

I was an average student, with average grades, who was excelling in the few I enjoyed and squeaking by in the ones I didn't.

I was a kid with ADHD that everyone was worried about, so much that they had wanted me to repeat a grade in primary school. It’s ironic that I sit here now having just about completed my second university degree.

At the time my future plans weren't exactly settled upon. I’d spent most of my years trying to make it as a professional sports star, but now 17 years old, I knew that wasn't going to happen.

I needed to think of something else.

What I did know was that ‘something else’ would involve sport.

It was always what I knew and what I was good at.

I used to commentate as I played out my sporting dreams in the backyard as a kid, thinking no one could hear me.

I’d stop if anyone came outside. But everyone could hear, neighbours and family.

Once I was caught by a guy I went to school with who lived up the street. I was pretending to be Australian Motorcycle champ Mick Doohan on my bicycle, *commentating a fake 500cc grand prix, even making the sound of a motorbike engine with my mouth in the process.

Yes, I was a weird kid.

*That skill now pays my bills.

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do and sports journalism became my new dream.

One day my Biology teacher asked me what I was going to do when I left school, following another poor result on a test.

“I want to be a journalist”, I replied.

Without haste he laughed, then asked if I knew how hard that was going to be, telling me I was no chance of the marks needed for university, before offering a sarcastic ‘good luck’.

That moment has been burnt it my brain ever since. In fact it has fueled me over the years.

To be fair, he wasn't the last to tell me I was kidding myself, wasn't good enough or was wasting my time.

Thinking back on this helped me settle on my advice for our dreamy Year 12 student.

I wanted to tell him about all the doubts, the lonely times, the let downs and the people that just wont get what you’re trying to achieve. I wanted to shake him and scream ‘Get out whilst you still can’.

But instead I offered the only advice I felt I could.

“Don't let anyone tell you it cant happen. Because if you believe you can make it, that is all that matters,” I said.

The student looked at me, as if to say – That’s it?

But it's a piece of advice he’ll come to understand more with time, depending on how far down the line he goes.

These days its a motto I live by.

I’ve found my journey in media to be a lonely one, in that, sometimes I think I’m the only one that truly believes I can reach my goals.

I’ve had friends and family question my ambition, particularly in the first five years where I earned the grand total of $0 for my efforts.

I was working hard, hosting community radio shows on weekends, commentating on sport, writing articles and trying to land a break somewhere. All the while working full-time as a Bank Teller Monday-Friday.

‘The Dream’ would actually cost me in the early years. Either through money in trains fares, lost friendships, girlfriends, you name it.

It's hard explaining to your partner that you can’t go out on a Saturday night because you have to call a football game for free, or telling your mates you cant attend a 21^st because you have to host a radio show that roughly eight people regularly listen too.

But I knew that one day the hard work would pay off.

One day someone would look at my resume and see that it was no match for the next best candidate.

Today, that ambition has truly become my life, in that, it is all I have. Some might consider it unhealthy, but my work in the media is everything.

Its my job, my hobby, it consumes every minute of my day in some aspect.

I work in three roles – as a journalist with the Newcastle Herald, Commentator for Football NSW and Gameday Presenter with the Wests Tigers, with some freelance stuff thrown in for good measure.

It's taxing and I regularly work between 6-7 days a week. There’s times when I’ve worked at all three roles in a 24-hour period, madly racing between Newcastle-Sydney-Newcastle.

Did I mention I'm about to finish another university degree also!

I’m 28 and single, and for now I’m married to my dream of one day making it to the very top.

It’s a frustrating journey sometimes, particularly when you see people given opportunities for things other than their sporting knowledge. But I remain hopeful that one day this rough head will be given a fair crack.

I’ve sought meetings with all the major names in the industry and whilst some have scoffed at my goals, others have patted me on the back, wished me well and tried to steer me in the right direction.

 ‘JUST KEEP GETTING EXPERIENCE’ is the most commonly heard phrase for any ambitious media player and over the past few years that's what I’ve been trying to do.

Koori Radio, 2SSRFM, Blue Pie Productions, Digital Sports, The Roar, SecondsOut, MMA Kanvas, ABC Grandstand, Adidas Man in the Ball, ONE HD,  Network Ten, GWS GIANTS, ESPN, Gold Coast Titans, Wests Tigers and Newcastle Herald – are just a few of the places I’ve plied my trade.

I’ve worked in Radio, TV, Print and Online. I can write, present, announce, panel, shoot, edit, produce, blog, podcast, MC and script.   

I feel I’m ready to go to the next level and that my break is coming. I don't know where or when, but I will not stop until I get it. In a way, I cannot afford to stop. It is all I have.

It takes me back to our Year 12 student who came seeking advice. His final question – ‘What was your goal going in?’

The goal I made as a 17-year-old is the same goal that stands today at 28.

I want to be able to look myself in the eye when it’s all said and done and know that I could not have done anything more.

Whether I reach the top of the pile or have reached as far as I’ll ever climb, I want to have given everything I possibly could have.

As I watched the Year 12 student walk away, with my words still ringing in his ears, I hoped I’d given him some belief in a time when I’m still hoping someone will believe in me.

But more importantly I hope my words give our student the courage to take those first uneasy steps that I took 11 years ago, and I hope he has as much fun as I’ve had along the way.

ADAM SANTAROSSA