College radio and the fear of your own voice

In all my years involved in college radio, I avoided any forays into radio journalism or public-affairs programming.  I certainly had opportunities to try if I was so inclined, but those kinds of shows were usually dominated by journalism students and required so much extra time I never had.

Besides, my brain tells me, I'm shy and awkward as it is.  Job interviews and blind dates are equally terrifying.  I never felt comfortable enough behind the microphone to have an extemporaneous conversation on-air, even conversations with no one in particular, i.e., "listeners out there in radio land."  I was a mere disk jockey.  I tended to get the speaking parts over with as quickly as possible and stuck to the music.

Oddly enough, I've become completely comfortable with public speaking.  There's something so intimate about being along in a room with a microphone that still makes me nervous.

When I think about the things I really love in life, of course they include music, humor, science, writing, public radio, and podcasts.  When I think about dream jobs, of course they include combinations of my interests and working for NPR or Radiolab.  But gee, I say to myself, if only I had any experience in journalism, or gee, if only I had any experience producing my own radio segments.  Obviously I could try to get started on my own, but is that a road I even want to go down?  I wouldn't even know where to begin. It just seems so hard.

What on earth would I talk about?

I really enjoyed reading this post Behind The Goat by Lulu Miller on the Radiolab Blog, which talks about the struggles to produce a great Radiolab segment.  Turns out it actually IS hard.