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I am responsible for all the music aired on our network. It's a three-phased responsibility, which includes the production, administrative and creative side of it. The creative side is being able to ascertain what sound fits a specific piece of program along with the administration side that is associated with that program. The production side is making certain the music is in a format that's compatible with the end user.

I oversee everything, and the rest of the department has specific responsibilities. They're either responsible for a specific group of channels or programs or they're responsible for a certain genre, for example, urban or rock. And then we have people who are responsible for the administration.

Being that I work for a sports network, the busiest times of the year are consistent with the high profile sports events of the year. In general, the most high profile sporting events of the year take place between October and February. Those sporting events are the MLB World Series, the Superbowl, the NFL playoffs, the Daytona 500, and college football bowl games: the Sugar Bowl, the National bowl game, the Fiesta Bowl, the Orange Bowl and the Cotton Bowl. And while all those high profile events are taking place, I'm still responsible for the first half of the NBA season, the college basketball season and the NHL season. All those things are happening concurrently. And it's also during the major holidays—Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.

A lot of early mornings, late nights and weekends. If I had to pick a number, I would say around 55 to 60 hours, but that's just me. I want to make sure things go right, and it is also necessary for me to work longer hours because my workload has increased—more paperwork, more phone calls, more negotiations, more music to listen to, more of everything.

I spend most of my time in the office, but I also spend time out meeting people, going to clubs to listen to bands and meeting members of the music community.

Communication is not really a problem. There are some challenges, but overall it's good. We're a close-knit group. We consider ourselves a family. We constantly share information. We have more meetings during the busy season to make certain everyone's on the same page. But, in general, the passing along of information is fluid.

The dress code is whatever makes you comfortable. We do work for a corporation, so it's advisable to not wear anything that might offend others. But, some wear suits and others wear casual clothing. Since this is a sports network, you will see a fair share of jerseys.

When I was in high school, I wanted to go into politics so I could serve the people and the community. I wanted to get my bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, which I did. I planned on going into the Army ROTC to serve as an officer in the United States Military. I would then get my law degree from Stanford University, return to the Bay Area and work in local government with the hopes of making it to Washington, D.C. as a congressman or senator.

From the very beginning when I started taking political science courses, I became disenchanted with the political machine and politics in general. I didn't know about lobbying, cutting deals and voting for things you don't care about just to get people to vote for you prior to studying politics in college. I was heartbroken, and halfway through college I asked myself, "If I had to pick a career, what would make me happy?" My follow-up question was, "What is it that I love outside of my family, God and the things that really matter?" And the things that didn't really matter were music and sports, so I pursued a career in music and sports.

I still got my bachelor's degree in Political Science and Economics. But, while I was pursuing my degree, I did any and everything extracurricular that had to deal with music. I worked at the campus radio station, for campus concert promotions and at the Berkeley Jazz Festival. I also interned with a booking agency in San Francisco and I managed heavy metal bands. So, by the time I did finish college, I had stacked my last two and a half years with nothing but experience in music.

Besides the booking agency, I interned at a major radio network in San Francisco, and I did two internships in Los Angeles after college.

I worked the two internships in Los Angeles, and I was in a position where I could work the maximum hours of 40 hours per week for free. I did that for 15 months and I went out and aggressively networked. I was able to demonstrate to people what I was capable of doing. After those 15 months, the interviews started to come and my reputation started to grow.

My first job was at a music label, and then I was an assistant for one of the executives. After a few weeks, I got a new job at a massive record label, in the marketing department. But, because of all the work I did previously, I had a bit of reputation in the songwriting community and a job opened up with an organization dedicated to composers, authors and publishers. They knew of me through my background in songwriting and business. And they were able to convince me to leave the record label. This ended up being the job that made the difference in my career.

Record labels became interested in me because of my contacts with the hip-hop community and West Coast artists including NWA, Cypress Hill, and Digital Underground. The labels wanted to hire me in a creative capacity or to work with publishing. I wasn't interested in either because I liked my job with the artistic organization because I got to teach. I recruited by teaching people the economics of the industry. When you can teach people and they can learn, they'll gravitate toward you. And that's how I recruited people into the organization. Another label approached me and offered to help me start my own label. I said yes, and ventured into that job in 1990. For three years, I organized and put together records with a new label. The label was unsuccessful, so I did freelance work as an A & R and manager. Around 1997, an opportunity opened up with this network, and I have been here for the last 10 years.

My hours are usually from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., maybe a little later on some days.

I'm in a high profile position where people get their music aired on our programs, and in return they receive royalties for it. People are seeking me out; therefore, I spend a lot of time responding to emails of various natures, making and returning phone calls, attending meetings and reviewing music. Then, I spend the other half of the day servicing the people with whom I work with who are in need of music. Each person who needs music is different. Some people know exactly what they want like the artist or genre while other people don't. That's when I have to become the music supervisor and ask questions like what's the program about, what's the emotional appeal, what is the program trying to accomplish and what does that person want the audience to feel? Based on their response, everyone in the department is pretty well trained in knowing what type of music will work best with certain programs.

That was a unique day, because it reflected the emergence of new technology. We had two high profile college football games on that day—the Cotton Bowl and Sugar Bowl. Over the years, a trend has begun where people want to capture a bowl game in some digital format immediately. And we now make the football games available on iTunes, and the music aired throughout the games is made available by the following morning after the game. However, the music had to be stripped out, and in some cases replaced. My job was to oversee that process and make sure the right music was taken out, referring to music we do not own. We don't have the rights to make certain music available because of ownership issues and the arrangement we originally made with the songwriters.

Everyday is pretty much the same, but the good thing is I get to listen to a wide variety of music. For me, I have an eclectic taste in music like high-energy music, West Coast hip-hop, heavy metal, Classic Rock, Southern Rock, show tunes and so forth. I have always been open to a wide form of music; my mom listed to rock and pop and my father listened to Motown. And you have to be open to all music in this industry. It's necessary and it makes it easier to find the right music for a program.

I am the only person with this specific position; therefore, I have nothing to compare my salary with. But, music supervisors that work in film will get anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000 per film. So, if a film music supervisor does four films that's easily $600,000 in one year. So, to be responsible for the production, creative and administration of music in film, the salary is similar to what I do as a music supervisor for television.

I would definitely say experience played a big role along with having a degree. I think that a degree simply demonstrates to an employee that you can stick to a plan through its completion, excluding the more scientific majors that people need degrees for. I think a lot of the non-scientific degrees just show a person's ability to stay committed. But, the internships and outside experiences are, at minimum, as important as or even more important than a degree.

I think they should major in Communications or Business. One of the skills that it took me a long time to acquire is closing the deal. Closing the deal is critical, so business is good. But, I don't think anyone should be discouraged if they don't or didn't get a Communications or Business degree and they still want to pursue music and/or sports. I don't believe an English, Rhetoric or Physics major can't achieve or excel in music and sports. It just comes down to experience in the individual.

No, but that's by choice. I did a lot of traveling in the past with the record industry. I used to go wherever the music and the conventions were. And I ended up traveling to every major city in the United States—Houston, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Phoenix, Atlanta, St. Louis and so forth. So, now, I'm happy to be sedentary. I like staying in Los Angeles, going home and having my routine.

It affected my family in a very positive way from security to the things we've done and the people they get to meet. Most young people are into sports and/or music, and my family has had the opportunity to do a lot of things the average family has not been able to do. Some family members have gotten to go to the Grammy's, the Olympics, backstage at major concerts or to the World Series or MLB All-Star game. It has created great memories for us. The same goes for my social life. My friends have some of the same opportunities as my family. I can go to a concert with a friend then go backstage with them and do a little business all at the same time. It becomes a very all-inclusive time—having fun, spending time with a friend, and handling business.

It provides a lot of stability. When I was growing up in the '60s and '70s, there were three major networks and one local cable channel. When I got to college, cable and movie channels emerged, and television options reached 60 channels. Then in the '90s, satellite television emerged and television channels are now well in the hundreds. I think the trend is going to continue and every single one of those channels whether you're dealing with sports networks, news networks or education networks, will need a music supervisor. That simple fact makes music supervision in television a very stable job.

Yes I do. I don't because I like my work so much, but the option is there.

The most satisfying part of my job is finding a really, really cool piece of music and using it before anyone else does, and it working really well with something we're doing. The thing that's frustrating is that in music, meaning record companies, the only thing that matters is the song. Music is always first, but in television music is oftentimes last. Television people have to worry about programming, scheduling, talent, make-up, wardrobe and so much more and, oftentimes, music is an afterthought. The biggest frustration is that everyone's a fan of music, including people in television. But, just because someone is a fan of music doesn't mean they are qualified to make music decisions. And oftentimes I'm forced to do something I don't agree with. I can try and convince them to use something else; sometimes I'm effective, but most of the time I'm not.

The biggest sacrifice is probably the hours I spend working outside of business hours. Even though I have a '9-to-6' job, it revolves around music and sports, and a lot of events take place in the evening and on weekends. A lot of these times, I go to shows and/or games, and I will be doing music and sports work from 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. the next day. So, my family sometimes has to suffer.

My responsibilities have increased because the network has grown. When I got hired 10 years ago, I was only responsible for music on the cable side, and we only had about seven or eight regions. Now we have 18 regions, and we have since launched four more sports channels. My job has also grown into the non-cable sports programming area.

I think my job will get harder and harder as I try to stay on top of the music. I get flooded with music. It's just so easy to get music to me now that it's just going to be impossible for me to listen to all the music I get, even if other people in the department help me listen to it.

I think they definitely need to have an open mind and an eclectic ear. They must absolutely be creative and be able to make deals. They must have tenacity, ambition, drive, leadership skills, the ability to manage employees and a willingness to network and meet people.

It all goes back to being consumed with you passion and being focused on getting where you want to be, whether it be a music supervisor, recording artist, becoming a doctor or any other career. I think that we're all capable of getting what we want, no matter what, as long as it's reasonable and you focus. My first year in Los Angeles, I was determined to make it in the music industry and I went to 220 shows. Every time I went to a show I did my best to try to meet somebody. And when I met somebody and I got a business card, I would always send him or her a note in the mail. It wasn't a long dissertation or resume, but just a note that gave them a little bit of my personality. Eventually, I started seeing these people over and over, and those little notes made a difference. It's all about drive, ambition and tenacity.

It goes back to the art of business and being able to "close the deal." That didn't come naturally to me, and it's something I had to work hard at and develop over a long period of time. So, in hindsight if I could go back and do it all over again I would probably spend a little more time, in some capacity, in the "business world," studying and practicing business.

The thing that I have learned the most is if you follow your heart and if you are passionate, you can do whatever you want to do. But, the key word to me is passion. You have to be passionate and love what you do. If you love what you do, it will all fall into place. And when I think about some of the things I want to do in the future, one of the first questions I ask myself is how passionate am I? And if I'm not happy with the answer, that's probably why I haven't made any moves yet.