After being diagnosed with bipolar disease at the age of 11, Shaun Barnes has learned to overcome many obstacles in his life in order to get to where he is now.
As a radio host of the Cerritos College’s WPMD show, “Afternoon Block Party” on Tuesdays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., he feels this disease has made him grow up too fast but also broaden his horizons.
“There were a lot of things I was forced to deal with and overcome,” he said. “Most of the time, I was just confused.”
Barnes confessed that as soon as he hit puberty, he began to gain a lot of weight and grew to be very unhealthy.
There were days where he woke up in an extremely happy mood and then there were days where he woke up sad and did not know what to do with himself.
He states, “It was obvious that I was different, that I was changing. The old Shaun was gone.”
However that did not stop him from pursuing his goals. After being released from the group home he lived in at the age of 14, he aspired to become a social worker.
His career interest completely changed when he moved to Texas and began listening to “a new and fresh style of radio.”
“Growing up, Big Boy from Power 106 was my idol,” he said. “But then in Texas, I started listening to all these different DJs that had such a different style of radio that was so new and fresh. I got inspired and compelled to see what I could do with music.”
Barnes believes he has a lot to offer to listeners and could bring a fresh new sound that has not been heard on the radio for a long time.
Because many of the radio stations now are corporate-owned and force the radio hosts to be too proper and are not allowed to say what is on their minds, he believes listeners deserve someone who is not afraid to speak about politics and controversial issues.
“I love politics and watching channels such as CNN and MSNBC. When controversial issues like Prop. 8 present themselves, I’m always the one that is more than willing to talk about them and allow listeners to tune in and express their opinions as well instead of just avoiding the issue,” he claims.
After receiving his Associate’s Degree in Radio Broadcasting, he hopes to become a host at a larger and more well-known radio station or better yet host a satellite radio show where he can “keep it as real as possible.”
Although he tries to incorporate everything he has learned throughout his life into his show, he believes he still has a lot more to learn.
“I am a really humble guy. There are a lot of people out there with worse diseases that are doing much more than I am,” he said. “A lot of people have helped me get to where I am and I just hope to one day be able to give listeners a new and fresh sound they will enjoy.”
