USA Today's Ralphie Aversa, Class of 2007

Ralphie Aversa has done a little bit of everything in this business.  His voice has been on radio stations in Syracuse, Scranton, Providence, and New York.  He's warmed up the crowd at the Billboard Music Awards, and you'll now see him hosting USA Today's Entertain This.

An avid Yankees fan from Niagara Falls, Ralphie was first advised by broadcaster Michael Kay to look at Syracuse.  Fun fact: he toured the campus the day of the National Championship game against Kansas in 2003.

Before he set foot on campus, an internship at Kiss FM (WKSE) in Buffalo got this sports guy interest in music radio, and he quickly found WJPZ when he got to SU.  You'll also hear how Kevin Rich, our current Alumni Association President, is a recurring character in Ralphie's journey.

Already doing Z89 nights as a freshman, Rick Wright introduced Ralphie to Butch Charles, then-PD of Hot 107.9.   Ralphie talks about the tough decision to "go pro," and the advice he got on both sides before heading to WWHT.

After SU, Ralphie landed a gig at WBHT in Scranton-Wilkes Barre, PA.  There, he leveraged Pennsylvania's key role in the 2008 Presidential campaign to land celebrity interviews; they were part of the Obama campaign.  This got him noticed in the trades, and soon he was syndicated to Providence, Rhode Island.

When Cumulus bought Citadel, the new brass were impressed with Ralphie, and soon he was off to New York to do nights on WPLJ, where he remained for several years, working as many media jobs as he could in the Big Apple.

Following his run at PLJ, Ralphie worked for an internet startup, then leveraged his network to find what was next - including a make-up artist who worked miracles following a gnarly scooter accident just before a big interview.   He's now been with USA for 3 1/2 years.

Throughout this episodes, you'll hear lessons Ralphie learned from many of our alumni, and we close with the story of how he got the Black Eyed Peas into Chuck's.  Yes, you read that right.

The WJPZ at 50 Podcast Series is produced by Jon Gay, Class of 2002, and his podcast production agency, JAG in Detroit Podcasts.

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