Broadcaster lands two radio jobs while juggling family and school

In a time when budget cuts at MHCC are putting academic programs under increased scrutiny, a broadcasting student shows just how successful a student can be in the right program.

Brandon Christensen is a second-year broadcasting student who has already landed not one, but two jobs in his field before he has even graduated.
Christensen started working for 750AM The Game in March as a news anchor doing sports updates and as a sound engineer. Christensen scored the job after interning there for a year. He will join fellow MHCC alum Brian Perkins, a 2011 graduate from the broadcasting program, at The Game.

He has also accepted a job offer from the Lars Larson show on KXL 101.1 FM in Portland as an assistant producer, where he will be the number two behind another MHCC broadcasting alum, Executive Producer Tony Kastelnik.

Christensen hails from Eugene, where, while attending Churchill High School, he had his first contact with radio when he took a class in broadcasting allowing him to work on the KRVM station, broadcast from Sheldon High School. From there, after attempting rock stardom by playing guitar in his band Neverfall, he ended up in the Portland area.

“We were playing in Eugene, and we decided the Eugene market wasn’t ready for us, so we decided to try our hand in Portland. But, bands dissolve; I got tired of babysitting my band members and we ended up not playing together,” said 26-year-old Christensen of his move to Portland seven years ago.

After the band broke up, Christensen remembered the good times he had working at KVRM in Eugene and saw that MHCC offered a radio degree through Integrated Media. He applied for fall term of 2010 and was accepted.

He has a show on the college station, KMHD2, on Wednesdays, where he plays a mixture of classic and contemporary rock intermixed with talk breaks that are about, according to Christensen, “whatever catches my fancy,” and vary from current events and technology news to upcoming concerts. He tried to highlight local bands during his show, but fazed that segment out after running into complications with the amount and quality of the bands interested.

In addition to his work and schoolwork, Christensen spends time with his wife of two and a half years, Sarah, and their eight-month-old baby Owen. He also enjoys watching T.V. shows such as South Park, Family Guy and Scrubs.
Fellow broadcasting student Sean Bailey said of Christensen, “I look up to Brandon more than anybody else in my program. At one time, he was juggling two jobs, a wife with some minor health issues, a newborn child, a radio show and a full school schedule.”

Bailey added that Christensen has immense natural talent and an unbelievable work ethic as well as an ability to banter for long periods of time.
When asked what music he listens to, Christensen said his iPod features artists from KISS to Frank Sinatra to Boyz II Men.

Christensen is also an avid concertgoer, he rates his top three shows as KISS, who he has seen five times, Scorpions and Alter Bridge, though he said one opening band for KISS, Bad City, was one of the worst shows he’s seen. He also enjoys musicals.

“I have this weird love of musicals and I’m not sure why,” said Christensen, adding that his favorite is “Lion King” and that he is excited to see “The Book of Mormon” and “Rock of Ages” when they come to town.

Bailey said of Christensen’s love of KISS, “I always break his balls for his love of KISS, but when it comes down to it, I can’t fault him for it. He claims that back in the day he was a big hip hop fan but he credits KISS as being the band that turned his head to other music. He definitely has the most eclectic taste in music,” adding that if he and Christensen go to a KISS concert together, they would have to “paint down” as members of the band.

In addition to music, Christensen enjoys both comedy and action movies. He is a fan of the Harry Potter movies, but has never read any books in the series.
“I’ve been meaning to read the Harry Potter series of books because I love the movies… which is apparently the wrong way to do it according to most fans,” said Christensen adding that he’ll try to read the series after he’s done with school. He does like to read about sports news online as well as technology blogs, especially on Apple products as he says he is a Mac enthusiast and currently works at the Pioneer Place Mac Store.

Working for a sports talk radio station, Christensen is a self-proclaimed huge sports fan, especially of University of Oregon Ducks football, Chicago Bulls and the San Francisco 49ers.

“Ducks football is number one in my heart and always will be and for basketball, I’m a Chicago Bulls fan, have been since the days of Michael Jordan,” said Christensen, adding that he is not a big fan of hockey, soccer or baseball.

When asked is he sees himself staying with The Game and the Lars Larson show, Christensen said, “I’m open to anything at this point. I don’t anticipate leaving anytime soon, but I would hope that at some point, maybe a better opportunity would come around just based on the work I’ve done with the stations. Radio is an interesting animal. You can be a hero one day and out with the trash the next day.”

He added that he hopes he will perform well enough that The Game and the Lars Larson show will want to keep him on.