Sara Birse ’20 traded Seahawk Radio for SiriusXM

Sara Birse ’20, who earned her degree in communications with minors in French and marketing, knew Salve Regina was the school for her once she stepped onto the gravel at Ochre Court. Birse now works as the music programming coordinator for SiriusXM in Nashville, Tennessee.

From the garden floor of Gerety Hall to the broadcasting studio at SiriusXM, Birse attributes her dream career to the time and experiences she had at Salve Regina.

Discovering a passion for radio

Birse was heavily involved with Seahawk Radio, Salve Regina’s student-run radio station. She became vice president her sophomore year and held that title until graduation. With Seahawk Radio, Birse dove into a passion she didn’t know she had.

“It was like a playground for me to discover all the different aspects of radio and how to program a channel,” Birse said. “I realized that I loved it.”

She was initially nervous working on Seahawk Radio. During her first night on air, Birse recalls not turning the microphone on for two hours. But Seahawk Radio provided her with a platform to break out of her comfort zone.

“I was so scared to even turn on the mic, but I got more and more comfortable. After that, I knew I wanted to work in radio,” she said.

From Seahawk Radio to SiriusXM

Graduating at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Birse decided to pursue an MBA in music business at Southern New Hampshire University. During the program, she worked with SiriusXM as a music programming intern.

After the internship, Birse landed a job as the music programming coordinator at their office in Nashville, Tennessee. She finds working for SiriusXM to be an outlet for creativity.

“You always have to be very innovative and creative in how you want to program your channels,” she said. “Keeping up to date on new music, or if there’s a song that you think is going to be a good fit for the channel – they want to hear it.”

At the studio, Birse works on the country channels, the Jimmy Buffett Channel and the Disney Channel. She especially enjoys working for the Disney Channel, where she gets to share her passion for radio with children.

Birse currently works on the Disney Channel segment “Be Our Guest,” where children pick their four favorite Disney songs and get to be DJs on the show. “I email them, and these kids get to hear themselves on air, and they’re so excited,” she said. “It is very rewarding. I get to do that every week, and I just love it.”

Crediting Salve Regina’s English department

Birse looks back on her time at Salve Regina fondly, but she holds a special place in her heart for the Department of English, Communications and Media. She recalled the faculty that aided in her journey to SiriusXM: Dr. D. Matthew Ramsey, Dr. Donna Harrington-Lueker and Dr. Madeleine Esch.

She took Multimedia Storytelling with Harrington-Lueker, a course that teaches a variety of tools to gather and edit audio and video as part of skillful storytelling and reporting. “It taught all of these skills that I now use every day – like how to find a narrative and tell a story,” she said.

Salve Regina also taught Birse the importance of research and how to think critically and analytically, which are tools needed in her line of work. “They really value those skills at SiriusXM when it comes to researching new music and new artists,” she said. “It’s hard to acquire those skills, but Salve Regina really prepares you for that.”

Article written by student writer Catherine Dolan ’23