What do you have to do to be noticed to audition for american idol?

I was going to audition for this past season, but I decided against it because I wouldnt have made it to college on time lol, but I read an article from a Jacksonville, Florida newspaper and it said that you must go through 2 other sets of judges before you can get through to sing in front of the main judges we see on TV. They also said that the only reason that the horrible people make it through to them is because it is "good TV", reason being why alot of people watch the auditions because they're just funny lol. But I hope this clears stuff up for you. I may reconsider auditioning in the future, but I'm not sure. If you want to tell me what you think, there is a video of me singing on my MySpace. www.myspace.com/d_stoll08. Hope this helps!