Most of Atlanta has listened to him play “all the hits” on Q100 on their drive home from work. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in the music industry. He also brushed shoulders with several UWG students this past Media Day on March 4. He has also worked with radio stations from Pittsburg to Dallas, but has called Atlanta his home station since 2006.
Before he became Adam Bomb, the popular radio DJ that Atlanta knows him to be, he was known as Adam Baum. Bomb and was once a college student at California University of Pennsylvania, and like any other college student, was debating on his career choice and networking to establish his name in the world.
“My freshman year of college I went to a career fair in college,” says Bomb. “I was originally a marketing major and I always listened to the DJ’s on the radio, but I never really realized that it was something that I wanted to do. During the second semester of my freshman year, I started working with the college radio station. I put together a demo and then took it up to the top 40 stations in Pittsburg and later got a full time job at Nights at WBZZ- B94 in Pittsburgh.”
During his attendance at California University of Pennsylvania, Bomb was heavily involved in campus activities, all while he continued his position at the radio station.
“I did radio, track and cross country, I was in Alpha Chi Rho fraternity and also worked on the college newspaper,” says Bomb. “I enjoyed doing track and cross country as well as radio, but by the time I got to my senior year, I had to stop doing track and cross country because I was working so much with the radio station.”
Currently, Bomb can be heard on “The Adam Bomb Show”, weeknights from 7:00 p.m. until midnight. The show airs in Atlanta and Dallas through Q100, which is syndicated through Cumulus Media based out of Atlanta. Bomb took the show to a nationally syndicated level in 2013 when he became affiliated with Westwood One.
“There is no typical day!” says Bomb. “It’s weird because I do the show at Q100, and then I do a national show for Westwood One at the same time. Basically, the only consistent thing is that everyday around noon we record for the for the national show with the two producers that are on the show they look up tracks and then we record it, and then anything we want to add in like ‘phoners’ or topics we do the night before.
“We do all of the recording during the day and then the producers upload it to a (File Transfer Protocol) FTP site,” continues Bomb. “A normal day I get in around 3:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., and then we prepare for the show, which is really active on the streets as well as on the phones here in Atlanta. We finish that up around 6:00 p.m. to then prepare to go on air from 7:00p.m. until midnight.”
As part of his position as a radio DJ, Bomb’s daily routine is anything but the typical day at the office. From interviewing big name celebrities to every day Atlanta natives, Bomb has established himself as quite the social magnate.
“The best part of my job is the fact that it’s never the same –there is something different that is going on each day,” says Bomb. “I think it’s great to be able to get to talk and interact with different types of people, whether you’re on or off the air. There is no boring part of this job.”
UWG mass communications majors, Scotty Avery and Amber Dees are currently interning for “The Adam Bomb Show”. Bomb has commended their efforts, and anticipates their success in the radio industry.
“Scotty Avery and Amber Dees are a really big part of the show,” explains Bomb. “Scotty does a lot of street assignments, for instance when we do the “5 at Nine Countdown” street bits. Like when something exciting goes on in the entertainment world or if there is just a big national story happening that day, Scotty will be on the streets and will phone in.”
“Amber does a lot of behind the scenes work,” Bomb continues. “She is really good with prep work, video editing and audio editing. They both turn around their work really quickly. I honestly think they are both going to get jobs as soon as they graduate.”
Bomb has been a professional participant at many of the UWG Media Days. He began collaborating with UWG mass communications professor, Dr. Brad Yates in 2008, and has made every effort to attend the event each year. Bomb has recruited several of his past and current interns from UWG’s Media Day, and hopes to continue his professional relationship with the students of UWG.
“I got started working with UWG back in 2008,” explains Bomb. “Dr. Yates invited me to come to Media Day, and I’ve been involved ever since. I attended Media Day in 2008, 2009, 2014 and I was there this year. I wasn’t able to attend for a few years because I was in Dallas, TX, doing the national show that I am doing now, and I was also the same show that I am doing now with Q100.
“As soon as I came back to Atlanta, Dr. Yates asked if I would ;ike to come back,” Bomb continues. “It’s a great way to meet new potential interns, we have about 20 new interns that are going to be working with us this summer and the majority of them are from UWG.”
As someone that has climbed the professional ladder from typical college student to a popular household name, Bomb advises students to not only pay close attention to the lesson inside of the classroom, but to pay attention to the lesson that can be learned on the outside as well.
“The best advice that I can give is to obviously get your degree, go to class, but to most importantly take every opportunity to get real world experience with internships and to really go the extra mile. Try and do as much as possible while you have those internships because that is what is really going to build your portfolio.”
