Lisa Tyler, morning co-host of 102.3FM, WXLC Radio is a 2003 O’Hare ICB graduate who recently visited her alma mater on 7-23-13 to talk about her career as a talent.

Lisa shared with the students that she had grocery bags worth of audio demo tapes that she shared with her friends. Ms. Tyler confessed that her love for radio started a long time ago. She was fascinated with the Loop announcers that then consisted of Kevin Matthews and Steve Dahl, who were inspirations for Lisa to become a morning news talent.

Lisa encouraged the students to make the most of their time at ICB and unlike a four year university where you can skip a class or two, every day at ICB counts. In her time at ICB, Lisa won the award for perfect attendance. Lisa made it a point to network with other students and the professionals she made while doing her internship. To Lisa’s delight one of those connections lead to her very first job in the business at a Decatur small market radio station that offered her a starting salary of $23,000 with full-time benefits….Lisa was ecstatic when she got the news.

Since Lisa was still new to the game her program director gave her the overnight shift, where she was the lone employee at the station which was actually in a warehouse. Ms. Tyler was on from Midnight to 5 a.m. And learned as she went. Her air-checks proved good enough to garner her the mid-day shift.

Not long after that, a VP of Programming from a sister-station called to ask her Decatur – PD if he knew of any girl jocks that could possibly serve as a morning co-host. The PD recommended Lisa and she was off to a station in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Her career eventually took her to Will Rock and WXLC.

Lisa assured the students that they were at a terrific institution which provided them with hands-on experience to hone their craft.

ICB students each week of their curriculum get a chance to meet professionals like Lisa Tyler. If you want to see more guest speakers or you want to start your own career in broadcasting, contact us or call 630-916-1700.