I'm the DJ
For some reason, while I was in the shower I got to thinking about the current state of commercial radio. I like what's happened to AM radio in the last twenty years, but I really hate what's happened to FM radio in the last fifteen or so years.
Basically, the way commercial stations are set up these days, you could train a monkey to operate them. And not a higher order of monkey, either; you could train one of those little rhesus monkeys to do it. You don't even have to load a CD anymore on commercial stations; it's all looped and preprogrammed. A lot of DJs don't even speak live on the air; a lot of it is prerecorded, so that even some multi-person shows can consist of nothing more than a couple of hours of banter, broken up and stuck between songs.
Me? I'm a real DJ. On my show, I play real CDs and records. I read real grants (read: what we call "adverts" on public radio) and public service announcements, I speak live on the air, and I have real talent. As opposed to most FM radio disc jockeys, I am a real on-air personality. It makes me absolutely livid to know that a guy could put "DJ" on his resume for having worked at a modern automated commercial radio station, and I could put the same for my experience over the last two years, and he'd win out in spite of having no real talent, save for sticking a microphone in someone's face on a remote every weekend and asking them to say "I listen every day at work!"
I'm the DJ; those other guys are hacks, like Alexander the Greek. That's right, folks: commercial radio disc jockeys are the Alexander of radio.
Basically, the way commercial stations are set up these days, you could train a monkey to operate them. And not a higher order of monkey, either; you could train one of those little rhesus monkeys to do it. You don't even have to load a CD anymore on commercial stations; it's all looped and preprogrammed. A lot of DJs don't even speak live on the air; a lot of it is prerecorded, so that even some multi-person shows can consist of nothing more than a couple of hours of banter, broken up and stuck between songs.
Me? I'm a real DJ. On my show, I play real CDs and records. I read real grants (read: what we call "adverts" on public radio) and public service announcements, I speak live on the air, and I have real talent. As opposed to most FM radio disc jockeys, I am a real on-air personality. It makes me absolutely livid to know that a guy could put "DJ" on his resume for having worked at a modern automated commercial radio station, and I could put the same for my experience over the last two years, and he'd win out in spite of having no real talent, save for sticking a microphone in someone's face on a remote every weekend and asking them to say "I listen every day at work!"
I'm the DJ; those other guys are hacks, like Alexander the Greek. That's right, folks: commercial radio disc jockeys are the Alexander of radio.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home