By Eric Greenberg

Charlie Troy ’12 watched the “American Idol” San Diego auditions on Jan. 22 to see if he was on TV because he had auditioned along with more than 10,000 contestants.

“I wanted to go so badly because I believed it was an experience that would help me become an overall better singer,” Troy said.

Troy went to San Diego with his mother to audition for “American Idol” on July 8 and then checked into a hotel. The next day, Troy woke up at 4 a.m. and headed to Petco Park, where the auditions where being held.

The contestants went through two cuts. The first sets of cuts were the preliminary auditions, where the contestant body was narrowed from more than 10,000 people to a few hundred.

After waiting eight hours to audition, Troy was only allowed to sing for about 20 seconds in front of random selectors and producers, choosing an R&B version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

“The reason I chose this song was because I had seen something similar before on the show, and I wanted to modify it a little and make it my own,” he said.

Although Troy did not make the cut, he said that he felt pretty good about his performance.

“I encourage everyone to do it,” Troy said. “It’s something you don’t forget. It’s a fun experience for everyone, and you could get on TV.