AMR Bids a Fond Farewell to Morning Host, Sage Tanguay

I sat down with our morning DJ Sage Tanguay during her last week here at AMR where we discussed her experience working here for the past two and a half years, along with some advice for those wanting to pursue radio and what this job has taught her about radio. How has your experience being here the past two and a half years changed how you view radio?

“I think before I started working here a lot of my radio experience, I did host a music show in college but a lot of my experience was in more kind of podcast format, like long form interviews and stuff like that- very highly edited, with lots of music and sound effects and stuff like that at the final product. It’s really just been like an exploration of live radio for me here. It’s good to see that you can still make things function even when there’s like a bare-bones situation.”

What would you tell someone or what advice would you give to someone interested in starting a job or career in Radio?

“Oh my gosh, listen to radio is the first thing. Listen to what you like but also listen to all other things. There are so many podcasts and different public radio, national public radio shows that that are syndicated- and you can download them and stream them and whatever, and it’s great. There’s a lot of things out there. But also, just start recording and start doing it because it is really a craft, not just something to study. It’s a very active format. Most people who have cell phones have recorders on them. That’s a great way to start doing it or writing you know, if you have experience in other types of journalism that can that can transfer a little bit. I personally find radio to be more approachable than other journalism because it’s always based around how you speak because it’s heard, so writing for radio is a little bit different and I personally find it more natural than writing for print.”

What’s the best part of being a morning DJ?

“I think the truly best part and not joking, but I know this isn’t necessarily the answer you’re looking for, but the best thing is that when you finish your show, it’s just 10am. So there’s a lot of the day ahead of you and you can really do so much with the rest of your time at work, and then the rest of the time in the actual day. It’s also nice to set people’s day up. When people enjoy the music, it usually has a positive impact on their day because they’re headed to work or something, and it’s nice to hear back from people who that’s been their experience.”

Do you have a favorite story or interview you’ve done?

“This was like the first couple of months that I was here. I did a story on West Virginia University’s music program. They have a student run record label over at WVU, and we did some stories on that and that was nice. I just enjoyed going and making those connections and talking to people but really anytime I had musical performers on the show was really fun. This has been like a really great job. I mean, it is very fun to DJ and to be part of a community that is very focused on what’s happening in their local area. Being involved with Allegheny Mountain Radio has made me a more active citizen and participant in my community, and that’s awesome. I really, always want to impress upon people like how unique I believe this network is because it really is pretty unheard of to have such a locally-based station that has such a wide geographic coverage like that, that is really cool and doesn’t happen everywhere you go. So I think that’s awesome. I think this is a great resource, and I hope to see it grow and hopefully one day I’ll be back on the airwaves.”

Thanks for being here today, Sage!

“Thank you for having me!”

 

For AMR News, I’m Abby Dufour