Big Daddy Graham, host of the number one sports talk radio show on WIP, spoke to students on April 11 about how to make money by entertaining people, along with helpful hints for life.Graham told students to follow their passions even when people turn them down.
“If there’s something you want to do just go ahead and do it,” he said.
Graham has had multiple careers in his life, including ones in standup comedy, acting and writing. However, all of these jobs have allowed him to be an entertainer, which was his one passion in life.
Everyone always puts up these self-made walls that stop them from going for things. “The worst someone can say is ‘No,'” said Graham. A person has to keep going because someone else might love the idea he said.
“If you want to make money be versatile,” he said.
He explained this with an example of his own. When he started in the radio business, the station he was working for changed from a regular music format to sports radio. He had no experience in sports, but his response was, “Yeah sure, I can do sports.”
This can-do attitude has served him well. When he was involved in stand-up comedy, he was visiting a lot of radio shows during the day to advertise for his act that night and that turned into his first job as a DJ. Even now that he has a solid career, he still tries to take every opportunity that comes his way.
A book he wrote entitled “The Great Book of Philadelphia Sports Lists” turned into three different opportunities. It started from an idea he had for his radio show. He would come up with a top ten list to read on the air that night. He then went over to a television studio to read it there, and then he sold it to Philly Weekly for a printed version. That one idea turned into three times as much money because he was innovative.
Graham’s path has varied from the average college student’s career but has nonetheless been successful. He dropped out of three local colleges: Temple University, La Salle University and West Chester University, where he attended one class before deciding to leave.
“It was a big, huge mistake,” he told the students, “You’re here, stay here.”
However that path led him into his first real job, which was acting for a company in Germantown.
He became a part of a traveling acting group where he visited prisons, libraries and playgrounds performing skits. “It was a tremendous training ground,” he said of the experience. “It was a real confidence booster.”
From there his career wound its way to his current position as a sports radio host. However, even though his career changes ended that did not mean his ambition to achieve more ended.
Big Daddy Graham will be visiting campus again this semester as a follow-up to this visit, so look for information to be released for time and date soon.