Columbia, Missouri - When you know that you know that you know what you want to do with your life, you life becomes an example of passion, singleness of purpose and a driven quest to reach that goal.  Thus is the case with Joe Northern of Bloomfield.

Some struggle and search for years to find their calling in life while others have a date with destiny from birth for a specific direction in their journey.  Joe is one of those lucky few who seems to have known his passion from the toddler stage on into his college years. 

Meeting him in his early years, Joe was a little different from others toddlers as exhibited by his very early reading abilities and his uncanny talents for reciting movie credits to anyone who would listen. 

"As long as I can remember I had a passion for the sports and the entertainment industries from a journalistic perspective," noted Northern.

At home as a young child he only had three TV channels, and can remember at 8 years old being glued to the MLB game of the week and honing his broadcasting skills.

Joe's first chance to display his skills was afforded by Brad Aycock.  Brad had started an annual BA Sports All-Star Extravaganza in March of 2003 to honor area athletes.  Joe was 10 years old at this time, and was given an opportunity to MC portions of the event with duties such as announcing lineups and commercial sponsors.

"Joe is a great example of following your dreams or your calling.  He was already skilled and developing a following at the age of 9 when he had a segment on our weekly radio show "Diving In with BA Sports," commented Brad Aycock, former businessowner. 

"His segment was called "Joe's High Fives." added Aycock.  "People from across the area would tune in to hear this kid share his vast knowledge about the top sports stories."

"I knew then that he had "it." confirmed Brad.  "He's destined for greatness in the world of media."

Joe's second big break came in August 2003 by happen-chance at a NBA game in Memphis involving the Memphis Grizzlies. 

"We had court side seats and I was pretending to announce the game from my seat," remembered Joe.

Joe was spotted by the Grizzlies Media Relations Director, Mr. Eric Hasseltine.  Mr. Hasseltine gave Joe his business card and asked him to later contact him.  Joe did just this, and received an invitation back to Memphis to go on air for the first time on a local sports talk radio show where he had an opportunity to interact with callers and "talk sports." 

"That January day in 2004 is when I knew that I was hooked on broadcasting," recalled Northern.

Throughout Middle School and High School at Bloomfield, Joe had several more chances to live out his dream.  He was given his first DJ gig for a benefit dance for Hurricane Katrina.  That later led to being the DJ at many dances in 7th and 8th grade. 

In high school, Joe became heavily involved in the Speech and Debate Club.  This gave Joe an opportunity to further develop his speaking talents with an emphasis on humorous interpretation, radio speaking, and poetry reading.  He made the district finals all 4 years and was a state qualifier his last three years of high school.

Northern states," Speech and debate helped me deal with critiques of my speaking style both by others and myself.  Speech and debate helped tremendously to build my confidence." 

Joe had other opportunities in high school to polish his broadcasting performance with various live webcasts through a joint venture between the local newspaper and Bloomfield High School.  He provided coverage of both high school volleyball and basketball through this endeavor.

Joe began branching out of the local scene in August of 2010 when he accepted an internship at WKIB FM 96.5 in Cape Girardeau.  Initially,  he earned valuable experience behind the scene, but soon branched out to include a pre-recorded Sunday show he produced on his own. 

He left the internship in January 2011, and one week later received a phone call from the program director to offer him a night-time host position from 7-11.

"I was worried about the stress load of handling high school classwork in addition to traveling nightly to Cape to work," remembered Northern.  "However after consulting with his parents and praying it over, I accepted my first regular paid job in the media industry."

His night-time show had great success, and the station allowed Joe to implement his own creativity into the production.  "JoJo's at Night", and "JoJo's Juice" were two of the shows he was able to create and produce. 

Joe graduated from Bloomfield High in May of 2011 and began SEMO-Sikeston in the fall as he continued to work with the Cape radio station.  However, he soon ventured in his own business in the fall as he created Northern Sound Service and began providing DJ services to private parties, weddings, and school dances. 

Joe said, "The money was much better in the private business and the work was less demanding, so I quit the radio station in December of 2011." 

Joe's next step in his dream came true in the fall of 2012 when he entered the pre-journalism program at the University of Missouri-Columbia.  Opportunities abound at Mizzou to be involved in the journalism industry, and Joe immediately became involved in the student run TV and radio stations - MUTV and  KCOU. 

His television job is primarily news and entertainment based where he reports, creates his own stories, and hosts a panel show for the listening audience.  The radio responsibilities are more sports related as he was able to produce the Syracuse-Mizzou radio broadcast, along with hosting the pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows. 

Joe added that with this job comes the opportunity to attend post-game news conferences and interview players and coaches.  Now that basketball season has begun, Joe has been given the challenge of taping a broadcast to the Mizzou games and using it in later news shows.

When not on the air, producing or promoting a show for MU-TV, Joe is also a dedicated fan of the Missouri Tigers as well.  The game day photos with friends and other students allow you to immediately understand just how deep the sports vein runs in his life. 

He has recently had the honor of being promoted to an Executive position at MU-TV as of mid-November, and is now in charge of producing content for the entertainment division of the station.  Joe feels that all of this experience he is gaining will help him to gain acceptance into the prestigious Missouri School of Journalism in the Spring of 2014. 

Joe Northern certainly seems on his way to achieving his dreams he has envisioned since a very young age.  When asked about his dream job he was hesitant, but stated that calling basketball games at a major college or professional level would certainly be one his dreams.  As for now, he is intent on learning as much as he can about all aspect of the media industry as possible.  He is a very focused, driven young man who continues to work very hard to someday live out his dreams.

Photos provided by Greg Mathis.

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