Found his voice

When a passion becomes an opportunity, Georgia State senior Jason Halliburton knew exactly what do with it.

It all started in one of his communication classes when guest speaker Vince Bailey heard his voice.

“When he heard my voice he said ‘have you ever done radio before?’” Halliburton said. “I go ‘no’ and he says ‘well that’s something you should think about.’”

Halliburton kept in contact with Bailey, and as time went on they decided to give radio a try.

“He pretty much showed me the way to go,” He said.

Today, Halliburton is the CEO of “The Sports Menu,” hav- ing two main shows called the “J. Halliburton Show” and “The Jets Report.”

Launching his show and web- site in September 2012, this fairly new radio broadcast has already reached over 60,000 listeners.

Interested in why people were so interested in his show, Halliburton asked one of his listeners.

“You keep it interesting, your voice is entertaining, you make us want to listen,” Halliburton said the listener’s response was.

Instead of mostly working in a recording studio, like most radio shows do, he does remote broadcasting. Halliburton travels around to different places in the Atlanta area, mostly sports bars and broadcasts.

“If you’re in the studio, yeah people still listen, but there’s nothing like being in the middle of raging Falcons fans. It’s a beautiful thing,” Halliburton said.

For Halliburton, fans play a major role and he wants to include them as much as possible.

“We allow fans to have direct access to the athletes,” he said.

This means whenever an athlete is on his show fans can call in and talk to the athlete when the show is on-air; sometimes they are even allowed to talk to them in person.

The same goes for when Halliburton is at a sports event, if a fan wants to have a word on-air he lets them.

Interested in radio, most people would think Halliburton was a communications major. However, politics is what he is truly passionate about.

Halliburton, who did not finish his degree at West Georgia University, became a police officer for DeKalb County. After that he worked for the Federal Government Department of Defense. Then decided that he wanted to go back to school to study political science and now he is completing his degree at Georgia State.

“Being able to run for office one day, I do want to do that. Even if it’s the superintendent it doesn’t matter, if I can impact one person’s life that’s all that matters,” Halliburton said.

He is also a member of the Atlanta Young Republicans, The Conservative Alliance and the Georgia Black Republican Council.

After explaining his roles in politics and his role on a sports radio show, Halliburton mocks at the way people respond to his circumstance.

“Wow he’s a Republican and he watches football? It’s the craziest thing.”

Putting aside The Sports Menu and politics on Halliburton’s down time he likes to watch sci-fi movies and play video games.

“I’m a nerd at heart, I’m 31, but I’m still playing video games,” Halliburton said.

Five years from now, Halliburton plans to have several goals achieved. One being that The Sports Menu has taken off and another would be holding office on the state level for his district. He would also like to be involved in Georgia State’s communication program.

“One thing I would like is to go into the Communications Department and actually offering students internships, giving back to Georgia State, working well with Georgia State students and giving them an opportunity,” he said.

For Halliburton his vision has now become a reality. He said he believes if he gives his listeners 50 percent, then in return he will only get 50 percent, so he makes sure he gives 110 percent.

“Why not turn a passion for one thing and combine another passion for another thing?” Halliburton said.

***Correction: In the original posting of this article Vince Bailey was incorrectly refereed to as Valley on a second reference. The Signal apologizes for this error.***