Toronto's Best Music

Growing up I always listened to the radio. Whether is was to listen to music of catch the Leafs game when it wasn't airing on TV, the radio played a big part in my life. Probably my best memories of listening to the radio was in the morning when my mom drove me to school. We'd listen to her favourite station at the time which was CHUM. Every morning we tuned into Roger, Rick and Marilyn, sing along to songs but definitely our favourite part of listening to CHUM was the contests. Our favourite game is "Beat the Bank." For us it was fun to play along with the contestants and see if we'd win money if we were playing. Still to this day I listen to CHUM because I like the personalities and they play the music I like.

I'm also a huge sports fan. When I couldn't watch the Leafs game because it wasn't on TV or I was in a car, I'd tune into AM 640 and listen there. Now-a-days I don't listen to AM 640 much because technology has advanced so much since then that if I'm not home to catch the Leafs game, I can watch on the internet or on my smart phone.

Listening to these stations never really gave me the push to get into broadcasting. It was more my love and passion for sports that gave me inspiration to become a broadcaster. However, listening to the radio does give me tips on how being a broadcaster should be.

The beautiful game

I'm a very passionate person when it comes to the people and things I love. One of things I love the most is sports.I grew up in a household where sports was constantly on the television so naturally I started playing sports. I played everything from badminton to football but I the sport I really fell in love with is soccer. I played all day, everyday. I always had the ball at my feet. Every Saturday morning, I turn on my TV to catch all the English Premiere matches.When I found out that Canada had it's own women's team I was flabbergasted! I started researching them online and once I found out they played in tournaments around the world I had to find out how I could watch. They soon became my favourite team in the world. After I discovered the Canadian women's team I found out that there are leagues around the world dedicated to women's soccer. From that point on, i had one goal, one dream only -- I would become a professional soccer player.

Of course none of that worked out because I realized I'm not that great at playing soccer. "But no need to fret"  I told myself, I found a new passion that I could get a career in while incorporate my love for soccer. I discovered I love writing about women's soccer so I started a blog. Then I realized that I talk a lot and I love talking sports so hey, why not become a broadcaster. I was advised that starting off in radio would benefit my career in the long run. So here I am, studying at the best radio broadcasting school in Canada -- Humber College -- trying to gain enough knowledge about the industry and continue to learn about the sports world.

One day I'll be a soccer analyst for women's soccer. For now, it's only a dream.

How twitter has helped my life

October 16th, 2010 was the day Alyssa Ally joined twitter. Some may say it's the best day of their life. For me it was the beginning of something special. I originally signed up for twitter because I found out many of my favourite soccer players have twitter - I thought it would be a great way to stay up-to-date with their lives. I soon found out that a lot of news first breaks on twitter -- especially for sports -- and that's where the addiction began. I found myself on twitter for BlackBerry all day every day. When I woke up the first thing I would do is check my timeline. Anything I thought was tweetable, I tweeted. And don't get me started when an important soccer match is on. Let's just say it's no surprise that a year into having a twitter account I'm almost at 10,000 tweets.

Twitter has also allowed to me connect with fellow soccer lovers that I wouldn't have ever had the chance to "meet." Because of my love for soccer, a friend told me I should start a blog about the Canadian women's national team (cdnwomenssoccer.blogspot.com). I started tweeting my links on twitter and developed an audience. A few editors from major companies asked me to write for them. Some of which are canadiansoccernews.com which is the site to go to for all your Canadian soccer updates. I also write a monthly article for Our Game Magazine. The founder of Women Talk Sports asked if I would be interested in interning for them and I jumped at that opportunity. I got all of these "jobs" without a resume and none would have come as easily without twitter.

I definitely see myself continuing to use social media in the future and definitely when I become a broadcaster. You see, social media, twitter more specifically, allows you to stay connected with people around the world who share similar interests, it allows you to get your work out there to a broader audience. In my case it gave me the opportunity to get my foot in the door to start my career.

A little about me

So basically, my name is Alyssa Ally aka Big Brown. No one at Humber calls me Big Brown but my friends at high school did hence the blog title. I'm 20 years old, born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. I absolutely love everything about this city. The fast pace, the noise, all our sports teams (die hard Leafs fan) and of course the beautiful skyline. I live in Toronto with my two older brothers and mom all the way on the other side of the city in  Scarborough.

I decided to come to Humber because I heard its radio program was the best. After coming to the open house I got goosebumps when I toured the recording studios. I pictured myself being an announcer for Humber one day. I knew it was the place i needed to be.

Now we're about 10 weeks into the program and I couldn't be happier with the way it's going. Although the curriculum is very specific and there's many "rules" the work doesn't feel like work because for the most part it's so much fun. This is the stuff I want to be doing and although it may be frustrating at times, I couldn't be more content. I've got to know my classmates pretty well and made new friends. Humber - so far so good!