USI alumnae Claire Ballard worked at Hot96 throughout her college career. She did a few internships and eventually got to work part-time, all before she graduated.

Ballard said her internships helped her expand.

“As far as really growing a lot and really getting into radio, it was stepping my feet into that radio station at Hot96,” she said.

Ballard had some difficulties finding what she wanted to do for her career. She bounced around with different majors at different universities – Indiana University, USI, then Phoenix, Ariz., and back to USI.

“While looking at USI’s website and all the majors, I was completely clueless, and for some reason one day the RTV major just really stood out, I just kind of went for it,” she said.

She tried out TV a few times – in middle school and SETV12 at USI, but she found she wasn’t as passionate about the news aspect.

“What I love about radio is kind of what I thought I wanted to in TV is have my own show, I get to be on the radio and wear sweat pants to work,” Ballard said.

Not only does she work different hours in Vegas than in Evansville, but also she’s in an entirely different market.

Ballard now works in Las Vegas as an on-air personality. She hosts a country radio show called KWNR 95.5 The Bull. She works 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. instead of 6-10 p.m. as she did at Hot96.

“Since I started in radio, I knew that Evansville was a great stepping stone place for me. I definitely learned and grew a lot and the goal was always to move on,” Ballard said. “(The Bull) was a great opportunity to move to a different market. With that came a lot of new opportunities. I get to do some artist interviews, go to big events and shows, things that I wouldn’t get to do in Evansville because it’s a smaller market.”

She hopes to one day host her own morning show.

“There aren’t a lot of female morning show hosts,” she said. “I don’t have plans to leave (The Bull), but I wouldn’t ever say anything is forever. I think that for me, now, I am always looking to grow and learn, and new opportunities could come up at any time. …Things are exciting to me but I’m still pretty hungry.”

Her move to a bigger market doesn’t shock her USI professors.

“Claire (Ballard) moving into a top market like this comes as no surprise, she is just an incredible, talented individual,” said John Morris, radio and television instructor.

While being in Evansville and her days of attending USI, Ballard found she learned the basics from professors such as Morris

“The biggest strategy, that I had anything to play a part with, was just allow her to listen to herself and hear what she does, and when she started to look at what was good, it gave her the confidence to really work on those other areas well,” Morris said.

Ballard said she hopes students get out and gain experience knowledge as well as academic knowledge.

“You have to have experience. … So if you’re sitting around freshman, sophomore, junior, senior year, whatever, and you aren’t meeting people in your field and you aren’t figuring out exactly what you want to do the day that you graduate, you’re behind,” she said. “Figure out and narrow down what it is that you want to do in RTV.”

Staff writer Ashley Phillips contributed to this story.