Interview with Reggae Ellis, March 7th, 2011

John 'Reggae' Ellis has been referred to as a surfing aficionado, he is a commentator on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, a seasoned snow reporter for Telstra, Thredbo Ski Resort and mountainwatch.com, and is also the co-publisher and managing editor of Surfing World and Chillfactor Magazines.

Wayne 'Rabbit' Bartholomew and Reggae.

 

I met Reggae up at Thredbo during the filming of snow reports for the 2008 season. Reggae's variety of work in sports media, his friendly and fun personality and his stoke on life intrigue and motivate me to follow my aspirations of working in sports media and I always look forward to chatting with him at surf events or in the mountains.

Reggae's roles in sports media have utmost appeal to me, as he is often travelling, meeting and speaking with exciting people and he seems to have so much fun. I spoke with Reggae recently about how and why he got into surf media, advice he has for entertaining and informing audiences, advice for women hoping to break into a male dominated sport and industry, and the changes that new media are bringing to the sport.

Click here to listen to my interview with Reggae.

 

 I had fun interviewing Reggae from the studio at 94.7 The Pulse. I had practiced what I was hoping to ask him so I would be familiar with what we were going to talk about, and so I could let the interview progress naturally, like a conversation. We had a few laughs and it was interesting finding out more of Reggae's path into the various roles in surf and snow media, his opinions on new media, and his advice of being yourself, being natural and maintaining humour when you are on the mic. Although I know Reggae well, and was not nervous during the interview, I feel as though I sounded a bit too polite, slow and monotone. I think I need to incorporate more excitement, energy and expression whilst taking interviews, and try to remain really natural and fun.