Today we’d like to introduce you to Cameron Tilbury
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Originally from Ancaster, Ontario, Canada, I started my “career” as a pedal steel guitarist–at age seven. The music bug had bitten me. Like many frustrated musicians, I enrolled in the Radio Broadcasting programme at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. By this time, I had given up a musician’s career. I started on the radio at 820 CHAM in Hamilton–as afternoon drive traffic reporter and weekend overnights. I then moved to CHOO radio in Ajax, Ontario, Canada where I worked the evening shift on air. Before long, the station’s copywriter left, and I moved into that role–later becoming the station’s Creative Director. After eleven years there, I moved to the Corus group in Oshawa and was their Copywriter. Not long after that, I moved to the Corus Toronto cluster, as a copywriter, writing for their four radio stations: Q107, AM640, CFNY, and Energy FM. I was there for a while, before moving to England to become Copywriter and Creative Director at Airforce–a radio-only ad agency in Kent. We produced commercials for radio stations all over the UK.
I returned to Canada after a year, and started working at the Rogers Toronto cluster: CHFI, JackFM, 680News, and the FAN590. I spent about a year there before moving back to England and working as a copywriter at ad agencies in Nottingham and Peterborough (I was also Assistant Creative Director there). Finally, a move to London, where I was Copywriter and Copy Director at Betfair. It was at Betfair that I fell in love with working with international markets.
After ten years in the UK, I moved to Nashville, where I found it quite difficult to get work as a Copywriter, despite my qualifications. It was then that I tried my hand at being an entrepreneur. I had started a company doing international radio promotion which had been doing well while I lived in the UK, but at the time, Nashville wasn’t interested. So I started Copywriting freelance. I then started MapleStar Music & Media–a digital ad agency. That failed. I turned out that I’m really creative and excellent at what I do, but fail miserably at the business side of things. After a year of fumbling around with that, supplementing my income with acting and modeling,
A chance meeting with a music “business” person lead to me forming a company with three others, called Nashville Access. It was an internationally syndicated, weekly country radio show. I co-hosted, wrote the show, was one of four Executive Producers. Later, that included blogging about the show, and hosting the web-based TV show. It was a great success! At our peak, we were on sixty-six radio stations in eighteen countries around the world. The show took me to Argentina to host a country music festival. Artists and audiences loved it! But…we couldn’t make any money at it. After four years, we folded the show. But I kept up the tv end of things, and hosted Nashville Meets World, and Camo’s Rising Star Road Trip. I was Executive Producer, Writer, Director, Host, Social Media Director–everything. When I moved to England in 2020, I kept the show going. During COVID, the show became “take-overs” by artists around the world, since in=person interviews were out. But I couldn’t keep the show going. COVID had killed it.
I now work in retail and as a Substitute Teacher in Hendersonville.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No. Not smooth. Turns out that I’m great at writing and the whole “creative” end of things, but I’m not a very good business person. Every business I started, failed.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I can write anything–and write well. I started as a radio copywriter. Then a copywriter across all media platforms. I spent a short while working for newspapers in south Texas as a Reporter and Feature Writer, as well.
But I’m also very good at doing other things, like being an on-air announcer, interviewer, etc. What am I most proud of? My understanding of international markets. I’ve had success with that, from working on the agency side of things to working on the entertainment side.
As an interviewer, I think what sets me apart from others is my style. I don’t see myself as a “star” of a show…my guests are the stars. I want them to tell their story…I just help them unpack it.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
As someone with ADHD, reading and staying focused on a book is difficult. That being said, I love the classics: Shakespeare, Dickens, Nabokov, and lots more. I don’t find a lot of joy in reading contemporary literature, with the exception of John Irving. I’ve read everything of his.
Also, I’m a total music nerd. My playlist includes metal, rock, jazz, blues, opera, classical, punk, and some rap and hip hop. I love my music LOUD.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://camerontilbury.crevado.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameroniaintilbury
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camerontilbury/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/risingstarroadtrip
