When Lionel Martin arrived at his radio internship this past summer, he said he knew that he would come in contact with some celebrities, but not to the extent that he would bump elbows with some of the biggest names in hip-hop and rap.

Martin, a senior in radio-television from Chicago, interned at WJBT, The Beat, in Jacksonville, Fla., the biggest radio station in Jacksonville, and the third biggest in Florida.

While interning, Martin said he kicked it with the likes of Shaba Ranks, Immature, Fabu, Notorious BIG, Brandy, Da Brat, and MC Hammer.

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The most amazing thing about meeting these people was that no one acted like big stars or no one was big headed, Martin said. They acted just like average people.

Martin worked in the promotions department, in which his responsibilities included booking and catering to musical and comedic performers from around the country.

From eating lunch with Keith Murry to driving around with MC Hammer, Martin said he made some fabulous connections.

Keith Murry gave me his home address, his number, and his pager number, Martin said. And Fabu told me to come to Detroit and hang out.

WJBT is divided into four sections; country, top 40, urban, and the oldies, the section he was involved in at first.

They saw that I wasn’t having too much fun in the oldies department, and they moved me to the urban department, Martin said.

Though Martin’s main duty was promotions, he said he also had other responsibilities, such as a radio show every Thursday called Joke Off where listeners called in and told their best jokes. Martin would then judge them as good or bad. On Sundays, Martin would do live broadcasts from the beach.

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Martin said from the moment he arrived he was treated very well, not like an intern at all, which he said was a big surprise.

see INTERNSHIP, page 7

It was called the Beat Family, he said. It was really like one big family.

The road toward this internship was a long journey Martin said. After sending 25 resumes, making 50 phone calls, and bugging the station’s general manager, he said he landed the internship.

Persistence is why I got the intern, he said. The people at the station said I was the most persistent intern they ever had.

But WJBT was not the only opportunity Martin had for an internship. Both Majic 108 in St. Louis and Def Jam Recordings in New York offered Martin internships, he said.

I haven’t seen my mother in about two years, he said. Since she is in Florida, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to visit her.

Martin said he would love to return to WJBT, but as of now he is still keeping his options open.

It was worth every minute of my time.