Shawn is with HBO’s ENTOURAGE. Check out Shawn with the ENTOURAGE stars on location in Hollywood. Shawn has worked very hard taking both radio and TV courses at THE MONTREAL RADIOTV SCHOOL. He’s been relentless in pursuit of a Hollywood career. And he’s done it! Shawn writes

“Glad to see the school is continuing to release prepared broadcasters into the world. I know what it did for me and I am still grateful. Hope all is well Robert and next time I’m in mtl I’d love to come pay the school a visit! Be well-Shawn”

Virgin Radio’s * Cousin Vinny came to the school the other day to tell students how exciting his life has been since graduating from The Montreal Radio TV School.

He told the students to “think local” and spend time on “show prep” when doing their radio music show, to “practice a lot and make use of the school’s generous off class studio time”. Thanks Vince.

Sir Patrick is at Virgin too. Another one of our graduates and another Radio natural. We think he should also be doing TV. Not long ago Sir Patrick was part of the morning show with Aaron and Tasso at ‘The Q’.

We are so proud of Vinny and ‘Sir’.

Two great success stories from THE MONTREAL RADIO TV SCHOOL.

Congratulations to Gabrielle Keilich and Graeme McDonald . The latest radio graduates of the Montreal Radio TV School. We wish Gabrielle and Graeme good luck in their new radio careers.

Registration has begun for the September Radio and TV courses. Remember our 3 month intensive radio course and 6 months part time.

The TV course is a 4 month term.

Be prepared to work hard and have a lot of  fun at The Montreal Radio and TV School.

Facebook or email us for details or a visit.

Just the other day, the school received an email from CTV’s Nicole Jones. It read in part “After all, your school is where everything good in my life started. Here’s wishing you continued success and please let me know if there’s anything I can ever do to help out the school.”

Best regards
Nicole Jones

From Christopher Zanti, Promotions Director at  KX 96 in Ajax Ontario  “You and the school put me on the right path to where I am today” Thanks Chris!

“I just wanted to drop a little hello and give you an update on my career in Radio. I’ll be starting an internship at K103 Monday morning. I’ll be interning on the morning show with Paul Graif, Ted Bird, and Java.
I’m super excited.
Thanks for all the help!
Hope all the classes are going well.
James Foster”

Did you catch our own Lydia Patel, a recent TV graduate on New York city’s  former super model Tyra Banks, Tyra Show? Lydia was super hit!

Here’s part of an email sent to the school from Jesse.

“I’ve been screening all the callers along with getting the On Air guys sound bytes and stories at THE TEAM990. I also stayed for an hour after my scheduled shift to do street interviews. I’ve had a blast.

Thanks for everything.
Jesse”

Lydia Patel’s reactions at a strange party won her a spot on Banks’s show

By KATHRYN GREENAWAY, The Gazette October 28, 2009

Not long after she showed up for the mixer, Montrealer Lydia Patel (a TV graduate of The Montreal Radio TV School ) knew something was wacky.

“The guy talking to me kept telling me how hot I was,”Patel said yesterday during an interview from New York City. “He must have said it six different ways in about five minutes. He said he was from Bowling Green, Ky.”

Yes, there is a Bowling Green, Ky., but the young man wasn’t really trying to pick her up. He was playing a role.

Patel was sent to the social mixer by her New York agent. She knew it was some sort of audition, but didn’t have all the details. Producers for the Tyra Show were videotaping the event, monitoring the guests’ reactions to cruising techniques.

Patel’s reaction to the man’s advances, plus her style and looks, won her a spot on the show. The episode featuring her segment airs on Citytv today at 10 a.m.

The Tyra Show targets young women with its mix of health, fashion, relationship and fitness segments and celebrity interviews. Host Tyra Banks is a former super-model, the creator and host of America’s Next Top Model and head of her own production company.

The 24-year-old, who grew up in N.D.G. and LaSalle and graduated from Royal West Academy and Marianopolis College, went on to study at The Montreal Radio TV School . She began to co-host In the Zone, a locally produced reggae and soca entertainment show, before she finished the one-year radio and TV program.

Patel – whose father was born in Trinidad and mother in Barbados – also worked with the Caribbean-themed channel MTV Tempo (now called Tempo TV).

She has no idea what impact her Tyra Show appearance might have on her hosting and producing career.
“It was a lot of fun,” she said. “I’ve never experienced working in front of a live television audience before. It was definitely intense. When it was over, I didn’t remember anything I said.”

She is currently working for SPR Productions, a media and public relations firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles that helps organize exclusive parties for stars including Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Rihanna, among other events.

“In this business, it’s not so much how you are certified or where you studied, but how hard you work and how persistent you are,” Patel said.

The Tyra Show, featuring Lydia Patel’s appearance, airs today at 10 a.m. on Citytv.
kgreenaway@thegazette.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

For many years people have jokingly told me that I needed to “get a life”. They told me I needed to stop sitting around watching TV, and just do something constructive. However what these people don’t understand is that what they see as “couch potato” behaviour is really my lifelong passion for sports. Whether I am listening to it on the radio, watching it on TV, Googling, or even reading about it in the newspaper, my life revolves around it. I religiously watch/listen to every Canadiens, Alouettes and Boston Red Sox game, every year without missing a single one. Although I love these teams in particular, I follow all sports and don’t believe in basing my knowledge on what is told by other analysts or shown in highlights. Though I greatly respect professionals like Mitch Melnick of The Team 990 and Bob McCown of The Fan 590, I have always dreamed of having the opportunity to get on the air in the studio and give my opinion about current events in the sports world. I realize it takes a lot of training to get where these gentlemen are today, but with great confidence I also believe that they don’t know any more than I do. I am proud to believe that the greatest analysts are the biggest fans, and feel privileged and humbled that through determination and hard work,  this broadcast school, (The Montreal Radio TV School),  will help give me the chance to prove that.

“Get a life” they say? This is my life. Stay tuned.

-Jesse Feret

How do I feel about radio you ask?

Did I really start out caring about the radio? As every young kid growing up in the 90’s I really didn’t care all that much. Why listen to this? I don’t care about the news or weather reports. That stuff is for those grownups who have problems, I am just going to go and listen to my disc man and play on my Playstation without a care in the world.

So then what turned you to radio, surely it can’t have just been old age?

In all honesty, I couldn’t stand waking up to the beeping of an alarm clock and preferred to hear music in the morning to wake up to. The first day of doing this I realized that they don’t play music at the top of the hour. Therefore I was forced to wake up hearing about the weather and news while lying in bed waiting for a song. Boy that weather in the morning is helpful. Being sent to your room wasn’t so bad, all you had to do was turn the radio on.

Next came homework in high school. Boy is that stuff boring when you don’t have anything to listen to. Time to turn on the radio News at the top of the hour followed by sports updates and then into 20 minutes of commercial free classic rock, just like my parents would listen to. Wow did I feel grown up, there is no better feeling than feeling grown up without a responsibility in the world, and that’s what the radio would do.

How did you keep listening to the radio during the computer age?

Then a funny thing happened. I found myself on the computer so much that that my TV had turned into a giant radio with a picture that I was never watching.

Then came podcasts, radio programs being televised and even televised radio programs on the internet. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I had to do this, or in some way be a part of this magnificent industry.

And that brings me to today. Enrolled in The Montreal Radio and Television School

Learning my craft to someday be ‘live’ at sporting events calling the action as I see it.

Jeremy Graham

Jeremy Szafron is a recent graduate and a CTV personality

Robert, Robert, Robert…..

What can I say, I will start with- Wow what a year…
As soon as I graduated from The Montreal Radio & Television School in June, I was blessed with the amazing opportunity to pursue my career dreams as

a local television personality on CTV’s Entertainment Spotlight… The job has taught me a lot, and I think the most valuable lesson is this,

’’Never forget where you started…”

I learnt about this great school while I was in Tokyo, and it became very clear that I must make a move to Montreal to further my goals in this crazy crazy business…
The school was great in that- It is hands on, and the on air TV professionals who teach you, not only teach you but groom you…
Thank you for the constructive criticism, AND the positive reinforcements…
I can’t wait to come in and say hi, maybe give the students a campfire story about my positive experience at the school….

I hear the school and program have some great things in store for the new semester! I can’t wait to hear more about the great times and great talent to come!

Warm Regards,
Jeremy Szafron