Damien Fahey

MTV Personality and Host on Careers
DJ/VJ/TV Personality

JOSH: You became a DJ while you were still in high school. Do you think this early start helped lead to your success as a TV personality? What do you wish you would have done differently?

DAMIEN: So much of my career can be attributed to luck. When I was 13 I was lucky enough to find my passion; being a DJ on the radio. In retrospect, I wasn’t a very popular kid in school and was extremely shy. I think part of what attracted me to radio was being able to create an entire world unto itself where I could talk into a microphone and interact with listeners; it gave me a sense of direction and importance that I wasn’t finding at school. Because I was so enveloped in radio, my studies fell behind and my grades suffered. I knew I could ace a test if I applied myself, but I didn’t see the point of studying for a math test for 3 hours when I could be down at the radio station in an off-air studio working for 3 hours on my DJ audition tape. Now, I find myself reading a lot and watching documentaries about all kinds of subjects I rolled my eyes at in high school. I can’t say I regret not taking school more seriously, but I wonder where I’d be if I respected my studies more.

JOSH: What advice would you give to young people who want to build their career in television?

DAMIEN: Now is the greatest time ever to be a passionate creative person. The Internet has leveled the playing field for up and coming creative types.  You can shoot, edit and post a video to YouTube for under $100 bucks now if you want. A lot of kids ask me, “How can I get on TV?” and I always tell them, “Set up a Flip cam and start posting Internet videos.” It’s not enough nowadays to simply graduate with a degree in journalism from a prestigious school, although that certainly can help, but you are now in the advantageous position of creating your own content for the world to see. Hollywood agents and managers are looking to YouTube and Twitter when it comes to signing actors, comedians and musicians. It’s actually very cool.

JOSH: As a kid you drained your savings account to build a radio station in your bedroom. What did that experience practically teach you?

DAMIEN: Practically, it taught me you can’t get a lot of stuff at RadioShack for 200 bucks. That said, it did allow me to buy a mixing board, a cassette player and a CD player and a cheap microphone to get me started. I knew I wanted to be on the radio more than anything and no one was going to stop me. I set up the studio and spent hours talking to myself in my bedroom. Looking back, I’m describing the behavior of a schizophrenic person, but I practiced enough hours to get “good” at DJing and all of those hours helped score my internship at 15 at a local radio station. My dad would drop me off on Tuesday and Thursday nights and I’d stay from 6-10pm in the off-air studio recording myself and making tapes and focusing on getting better. Finally, I made a tape of me talking over songs and gave it to the program director to listen to. About a week later, I got a phone call from him asking if I’d like to do midnight to six on a Saturday night-Sunday morning. Knowing I had worked hard, stayed focused and most importantly, kept a great attitude, was the most rewarding moment of my career.