What happens when you don't know what you want to do with your life?
For Austin Cairns, the answer began to emerge during one of the most uncertain periods imaginable.
In Episode 530 of Fishing Without Bait, Jim Ellermeyer begins a conversation with Austin about growing up in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, navigating high school during the COVID-19 pandemic, and gradually discovering an interest in broadcasting.
Austin describes himself during those years as the shy kid and the quiet kid. He didn't have a clear career path. When the pandemic sent students home, that uncertainty became even more difficult.
Remote learning didn't fit the way Austin learned best. He wanted interaction. He wanted to be present with teachers and classmates. Instead, he found himself spending most of his time at home, playing video games and becoming increasingly complacent.
Then came a conversation with his father.
The two were watching ESPN when Austin's father suggested that he could picture Austin working in television someday.
Austin's initial reaction wasn't exactly confidence.
He couldn't imagine himself speaking comfortably in front of a camera. He joked that he could barely hold a conversation with relatives at Thanksgiving. How was he supposed to become a broadcaster?
But instead of waiting for confidence to magically arrive, Austin started getting repetitions.
When he returned to school, he looked for opportunities. The existing sports announcing positions were already filled, so Austin found another opening: announcing the marching band's halftime performance.
It wasn't ESPN.
It didn't need to be.
That first opportunity introduced Austin to an experienced public address announcer who began showing him the mechanics of calling games. Over time, Austin was allowed to handle portions of football broadcasts, followed by basketball and baseball.
Austin practiced away from the stadium too. He would mute the television and create his own commentary. As a professional wrestling fan, he practiced calling wrestling matches and cutting promos.
Then came another uncomfortable step: listening to himself.
Austin remembers cringing at his early recordings. He didn't like his cadence, his tone or the way he sounded.
But instead of treating discomfort as proof that he should quit, he used it as information.
“How can I improve this? How can I make this better?”
That mindset appears throughout the conversation.
Jim and Austin discuss comfort zones, self-doubt and the reality that meaningful growth rarely follows a perfectly straight path. Austin admits that he repeatedly wondered whether broadcasting was really for him.
He kept practicing anyway.
Mentorship also became an important part of Austin's development. Through a scholarship program, he met longtime Pittsburgh broadcaster Alby Oxenreiter, who took an interest in Austin's ambitions and offered advice. Years later, the relationship reached a full-circle moment when Austin was given the opportunity to take the lead on a speech that he had previously watched his mentor deliver.
Austin also repeatedly returns to the foundation provided by his family. They supported him, encouraged him and, importantly, didn't simply tell him what he wanted to hear.
Sometimes they gave him the hard truth.
Looking back, Austin recognizes that those were often exactly the things he needed to hear.
It's an important lesson for anyone trying to create a new direction in life. You don't necessarily begin with confidence. You don't necessarily begin with expertise.
You begin somewhere.
Then you put action and effort behind it.
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