As someone who received detention in College for talking too much during lectures, it comes as no surprise that Chris Palliser decided to set his sights on a career in radio.
Palliser grew up in Victoria and studied radio and television at Camosun College. He is currently a morning host on Virgin radio station. He is passionate about Vancouver Island and bringing the feeling of community to radio. He’s also not averse to enjoying his occupation.
“I started having fun and enjoying what radio really is which is community, local and it’s just having fun. I’m trying not to work, that’s my goal in life.” He says.
Just like anything, Pallister started off his career in radio small. He first got a job in Fort McMurray then worked his way up to The Beat 94.5 in Vancouver.
“I threw my name in the hat for The Beat and got evenings and weekends there.” He explains. “I was twenty-five or twenty-six, so I was living the dream being on this big radio station in Vancouver and having a great time.”
After spending ten years in Vancouver, he found it difficult to make connections with listeners in such a large community. Palliser realised moving back to Victoria was the best option for him and his family.
“It’s harder to please everyone in Vancouver because there’s so many people, whereas over here if you have one common goal and one common message and that’s community, I think you can win.” He says.
He eventually landed the gig on Virgin Radio with Brittany King for the morning show. Having to converse with someone else provided a whole new work environment for him.
“It’s interesting to do it with a co-host now because I was a solo on air presenter for the last 15 years, so having two personalities in a room adds a whole other element to it.” He explains.
Palliser goes on to say lots of planning goes into radio to keep the listeners entertained. It involves lots of writing and planning what is going to be discussed.
“Every morning we’re prepping the show and writing out how we’re going to talk about things.” He says. “Every break has to have a message. A beginning, a middle and an end. Just like writing.”
Even though people are getting more digitalized, Palliser has hope for radio and television in the future. He mentions even though the environment has changed, with podcasts becoming the main attraction, he thinks it will continue to thrive.
“Radio has changed big time and unfortunately there’s a lot more layoffs it seems in both tv and radio, but it’s kind of like newspapers, where they’re fading but I don’t think it will ever die.” Says Palliser.
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