By Samuel Huist
Department of Communication Intern
Before she was busy conducting interviews with celebrities like Rihanna, Robert Downey Jr. and Cody Simpson, Mix 107.7 radio personality Gina Ferraro studied Mass Communication at Wright State University.
"I went to a really small high school (New Knoxville) and graduated with 40 people so Wright State was perfect for me," said the 34-year-old Ferraro. "It was big enough that I felt like I was in college, but it wasn't big enough to get lost in."
Ferraro got her first look at WSU during her senior year of high school while performing in the play "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at Normandy United Methodist Church in Centerville. Many of her cast mates were theater majors at WSU who offered to give her a campus tour.
"I applied to Wright State and that was the only school I applied to," she said. "They wrote back and said I got in, so I was like, 'Yes, I know where I'm going!' "
After getting her acceptance letter, Ferraro said her parents made her search for a job on Wright State's website. That's where she noticed a job posting from the athletic department.
"I played basketball and ran track my entire life, but I wasn't going to pursue that at the college level so when I saw they were hiring, I was like that's right up my alley."
For three years she worked in promotions, handling the front desk duties, and working events in way of basketball and baseball games.
Ferraro also utilized her athletic connections to dominate basketball intramurals.
"One year I had two of our WSU men's basketball players on my team, so we won the whole thing. We were boss balling, it was hilarious and a lot of fun."
Besides destroying the intramural competition, Ferraro also took a hockey class.
"Because of the hockey class, not only did I learn how to ice skate, it got me a job with the Dayton Bombers. I had to skate in between each period and throw t-shirts and stuff while on ice skates."
It was her time with the Bombers when Ferraro met a radio host from 103.9 The X, which she parlayed into an internship that opened the door for her broadcasting career.
"I'm a big advocate for internships," she said. "Do as many internships as you can do in college, it's great experience, even if you learn it's something you may not be interested in, you're still learning."
Ferraro graduated WSU in 2003, from her internship she earned a job at Mix 107.7. Since she has gone onto a number of projects including WHIO radio, hosting three seasons of the Fox show 'Tattoo Factory TV' on WPWR based in Chicago, and now can be heard again on Mix 107.7 as co-host of 'Jeff, Gina, and Dave’ 5:30-10 a.m. weekdays.
Looking back at her time at WSU, Ferraro points to one specific class that helped prepare her most for the professional broadcast world.
"I learned a lot in Dr. Gaines' Performance for the Media class. We got to literally form a news team and it was the most hands on and most similar to what it's like really being a broadcaster."
When asked if there was any advice she could give to students looking to enter her field, Ferraro offered a few words.
"The biggest advice I could give is persistence and those who don't give up will always get what they want," she said. "It's the humans that give up too quickly that will always complain they could never accomplish anything."
