Many may not believe that just one conversation could change the course of their life, but it happened to one UW-Whitewater student.

Senior Andrew Zupkoff was working at Six Flags during the summer of 2007 before coming to UW-Whitewater. Six Flags has a South African exchange program where South Africans come to work at the theme park.

Zupkoff was discovered by the mother of a South African employee who worked in the radio business in Cape Town, South Africa.

“She basically told me I had a wonderful radio voice and that if I lived in South Africa, she would hire me for her station,” Zupkoff said.

It was these words that made Zupkoff change his major and ultimately, changed his college career.

When Zupkoff began classes at UW-Whitewater in the fall of 2007, he was a pre-business major who wanted to pursue a career in economics, though he wasn’t completely sure of himself.

In the spring of 2008, however, Zupkoff changed his major to electronic media.

In the fall of 2008, Zupkoff received his first internship at Clear Channel Communications in Madison.

According to ClearChannel.com, the company is one of the country’s leading radio companies, serving more than 110 million listeners.

While working at 96.3 STAR Country, he mainly performed promotional work and listener appreciation. When Zupkoff received an offer to continue his internship at Clear Channel in the spring of 2009, he began working in the basement studios and helping with production.

Zupkoff got a job working with 104.5 WSLD, Whitewater’s radio station, during the fall of 2008. In the beginning, Zupkoff worked weekends, which then progressed to having a daily show from 7 p.m. to midnight.

Zupkoff said he believes it is important for students to get an internship in their field of study as quickly as possible.

“The earlier you get real world experience it just builds,” said Zupkoff. “I mean, you can get a job in the field before you graduate and that looks great on a resume.”

It has been said that getting a job is all about who you know and the connections you have made.
In the end, Zupkoff said he was really lucky to find something he was naturally good at and wants other students to do the same.

“Just find your muse or find what you’re good at because that just makes it a lot less stressful to find a job,” Zupkoff said.