With no experience in radio but a love to share the news, Jessica Domel started her radio career on AM 1580 KWED (Seguin, Texas) in 2007. Initially, Jessica was a print production intern for the radio station’s newspaper, the Seguin Daily News, but a willingness to try radio and serve in different roles landed her a full-time job two days after her graduation from Texas Lutheran University. Her first experience on-air was memorable, to say the least. While co-hosting the station’s most popular weekly program, The Trading Post, the bracket holding the microphone broke, crashed onto the sound board, and scattered papers everywhere. Her boss was laughing so hard in the other studio, which left Domel to pick up the pieces and make a joke about the situation for the confused listeners. Since that day, Domel has joked that she no longer has stage fright as nothing worse can happen than breaking equipment while on-air.
Domel’s foray into ag radio came a little over five years after the fateful mic bracket incident. Her uncle found an ad for a job of writing stories for Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) and encouraged her to combine her love of farming and reporting. From 2012 to 2017, she traveled the state, taking photos and telling the stories of Texas farmers and ranchers for TFB publications. When a position in the TFB Radio Network opened in 2017, Domel dove at the chance to return to radio. She now produces four daily programs and a single weekly program focused on beef production for the 69 TFB Radio Network affiliates. “I’m working in the radio department, but also I’m still a print and web writer. So, I have been busy,” Domel adds. She continues to write stories for TFB publications, take photos at the family farm, and spends time with her dad, older brother, and two nieces. Her youngest niece has the gift of gab and a foam microphone. “We hope her first time on-air goes more smoothly for her than it did for her aunt,” Jessica notes.
