Chelsea News Wire! - Meet Netwavz Radio Media Correspondent

Working as a stagehand seemed like an unlikely route to a journalists career path, but to hear music media agent Chelsea Schmid tell it, there could have been no better introduction; it was a choice she could trace back to one fateful day. It all started in December 2006 when a friend (who was working as a hand on concerts in the region) needed a ride to a Buckcherry show. Realizing that Chelsea was probably the only person random enough to embark on said journey (which mandated a two hour drive on relatively no notice), he called her up and they agreed to the terms of his paying for her gas and food in exchange for transport. Once they arrived early the next morning (after adding another hour to the trip to drive on every road in the small town but the right one), Chelsea decided that perhaps she’d rather help out and build the show than sit and read the John Grisham novel she’d brought along to keep herself occupied. After a wide-eyed examination of the day’s load in, Chelsea spent the afternoon conversing with BC guitar player Keith Nelson, who, rather than have a tech fix his ax, had pulled out the guitar guts himself. He fixed the problem with a toothpick from Chelsea’s glove compartment.

After the show, Chelsea got the number of the boss and started doing shows on weekends with increasing regularity. About two months later, Chelsea and Keith would meet again, and when their paths crossed backstage at X-Fest, she asked if he remembered her. As she had been expecting, he didn’t—he had been on tour in Europe and met thousands of people undoubtedly—and he excused himself to speak with Jacoby of Papa Roach. A few minutes later the rockstar reappeared with a look of recognition on his face. ‘I do remember you…,’ he said, ‘You’re majoring in Journalism or something…’ ‘Creative writing,’ she corrected, but the recollection had struck a chord. Within a month Chelsea had switched her major, from the field in English to the journalism prophecy; she was going to conquer Rolling Stone. From that point onward, the career path snowballed. She started working for a sound and lighting company and quit her job at Best Buy (it was interfering with her concert-going schedule) and took off to work shows all over the state, including a few in Mexico.

A couple of months down the line, Chelsea got a friend request from Rock On Request Magazine on myspace. After poking around a bit, she began to take notice that many of the bands the publisher had interviewed were ones that she knew personally. Several harassment emails later, Chelsea was hired on a contributing basis. Within months she had picked up a gig as a staff writer for San Angelo LIVE! Magazine, and became a contributor to Good Times of West Texas. Chelsea currently writes for all three publications and freelances to others that will publish her work. At 22 years old, she attends Angelo State University where she is a junior, and works as a stagehand, lighting tech, stage manager, merch girl, radio personality, photographer, interviewer, reviewer and any other miscellaneous media or music related job title you could attach to add to the repetoire. Chelsea has worked with innumerable bands of all genres, has interviewed over 50, and has established personal relationships, contacts and networks within the industry in numbers that impress those who had been in the scene for years before she emerged.

Visit Chelsea’s Rock Block on the left of the Netwavz Radio homepage and drop her a line, check out some fine concert photography and receive her welcome to the music community.