Defining Moment Of How You Got Involved
“It was definitely a good selling point in me wanting to go to Rider, because I always loved the idea of me having my own radio show. I listened to Seth Rudetsky on Sirius XM for years and was like “I could be Rider University’s little Seth Rudetsky playing Broadway music,” not realizing the fact that not everybody in Daly Dining Hall or Cranberry’s – The fact that none of them wanted to hear Broadway music ever, but I was like “I don’t care, I’m gonna do it anyway.” I kind of just fell down the rabbit hole that is107.7 The Bronc.”
What Did You Do At 107.7?
“I think the better question is what didn’t I do? I didn’t select music, because no one wanted to listen to show tunes 24/7. I started off just as an on-air host, or at least just having my own student radio show. I did Broadway music and film soundtracks and stuff like that. I think John took an interest – an immediate like to me just because I put in hard work, I asked a lot of questions and I always tried to make sure I did everything by the book. He pulled me into doing one or two initial remote broadcasts. Then slowly, but surely, I became the most frequent remote broadcast host for my four years. If there was a remote broadcast, I was usually on it. Then that slowly turned into me running Promotions. From there, I became News Director, and I created the 107.7 The Bronc News Flash and Bronc Roundup. In my senior year, I became a Student General Manager. While doing all of that, I think I wrote over 150-200 spots for 107.7 The Bronc and then also produced the majority of those spots.”
“John taught me that a leader is there not just to make sure that the work is done, but to make sure that everybody felt heard and seen and supported…”
Justin Giachetti’17
Major: Theater
Minor: Radio & TV and Film Communications with an emphasis in Radio
What Do You Do Now?
“I’m working on Relapse, a brand new original musical about mental health. It takes place in a group therapy session in a behavioral ward, and it is based on experiences I’ve had with my own mental health and in therapy and in circumstances. It’s based on some of my closest and dearest loved ones and friends in my life, whether they were patients or whether they are just people struggling with things or whether they’re behavioral specialists or professionals working as psychiatrists or therapists. I kind of took all of their stories and interviews and created I think something that’s really resonated with an audience, and that’s so important to me. I got work the September right after I graduated, as a teaching and touring artist, for llluminArt Productions. They’re an incredible non-profit theater and arts company that does educational arts programs!”
Biggest Takeaway
“You got to work hard. Sometimes it’s not easy, but when it all comes together it’s all worth it. Just to work hard, John taught me a lot, and I use the skills he taught me pretty much every day.”