Pittsburgh native speaks on path to success in radio

The man behind the microphone SiriusXM radio host and producer Jim Shearer breaks down his experiences and life outside the recording offices

He walks into his dream-job interview, takes a seat and smiles at the camera. As the questions start, he freezes. All he heard were his internal thoughts of “why do I suck so bad? Just say the right words. Why can’t I say the right words?” This man is the current SiriusXM Radio host and producer, Jim Shearer.

Shearer mentions that in the first interview with his goal company, he froze. He had sat in front of the camera dozens of times before, but for some reason, nothing was working. He went home, believing he blew it. He mentions he had an off day, and it is what you do with that off day that matters.

He was able to land a second chance after his home audition tapes were viewed, and audition round after audition round, he secured the position and started his MTV2 career.

This encompasses what Shearer’s entire mentality toward his job and his relationships were. If nothing works, keep going.

After attending high school in Shaler, Pennsylvania and working in the television class in the SATV program there, Shearer really wanted to become a sports broadcaster. He combined his desire for this occupation with his love for music to settle on the VJ host career route.

Working up to this dream job interview, Shearer attended Waynesburg College, graduating in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in English.

After attempting to land a job with MTV, he attended graduate school at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. He graduated with a master’s degree in television, radio and film. From there, he returned to Pittsburgh to find a job. After turning up with no luck again, his friend’s dad decided to rent a two-bedroom apartment in New York City, where Shearer worked to finally get the MTV2 job he was after since high school.

With the experience of interviewing celebrities like Lady Gaga and Ed Sheeran with his MTV2 and VH1 jobs, Shearer has encountered many different scenarios and learned from different experiences.

“The key is to just act like you belong. If you go up and act like you’ve done it before and you’ve been there before, just like ‘hey, how are you doing,’ they’re going to open up to you a lot more,” Shearer advised when talking about how to handle new and different situations.

Even with his slew of jobs from a McDonald’s worker to a city paper writer to a SiriusXM Volume host, writer and producer, he still manages life with his two kids and his hobby of music. He manages both his professional life and home life by finding balances between the two.

When his band practices, he hooks the instruments up to iPod speakers and the drummer practices on notebooks to keep from bothering the family.

As Shearer mentions, it’s small moves like this that helps everything run smoother and help in relationships with people. Shearer said one aspect of his personality that has helped him keep jobs is his ability to work with other people. He says being easy to work with is just as important as skillset.

Before interviewing one of his all-time favorite bands, the Beasty Boys, he says that he was incredibly nervous. After sensing this, one of the members lightly tapped Shearer with his

baseball cap. This helped Shearer relax. Although this was just a small moment for the band, it meant an incredible amount to him.

While Shearer is just the next average guy—a fan of sports, a pizza lover and a family man—he takes his experiences as a radio host, writer and producer to help others around him.

He urges people to act like they belong, keep working towards their goals and perform that small act of kindness, because it could go a long way in not only their life, but others’ as well.