Knock, Knock - Who Cares?
| Knock, Knock Who Cares?
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| Who cares I'm on the air? Not too many listeners. Some do, sure but the majority are channel surfers. "So WHAT you're DJ". When I heard that I immediately thought to myself. "So WHAT I'm a DJ?" Everybody loves me, I have great ratings, the bosses think I'm great, the clients love the way I do their spots for them, I'm out taking pictures with listeners, signing autographs, I'm shaking hands and kissing babies.. "Don't you know who I think I am?" ahh, life is G-R- E-A-T!!! .......right?
Then I come out of the fantasy world of (me) and off my pedestal and the imagination of who I thought I was, was only that - imaginary. The truth is, no-one really cares that I'm on the radio. I consider myself background noise for the most part, and what I try to aim for, is something in the same way to when a big storm is coming to our area and the local news is tracking it. What's the first thing I do in the house? I tell everyone to be quiet..so we can all hear what's gonna happen. When I open the mike, I want to get that same reaction. I want people to stay tuned and wonder what I'm going to say next. In radio, executing a great break takes a lot of time and practice before the curtain call. Every time we open the mike, it's a curtain call and the station is our stage. The truth is, some people think a Chimp could do our job. I'll share one of my personal journal entries with you. (May 05) IS THIS LOVE ON THE ROCKS OR STRAIGHT UP? Called David this morning and it was a great conversation, until he asked about my show. He asked me "how do you know when the song ends when you're on the air?" I told him the computer counts it down, and when we talk going into a song the computer lets us know how much time we have until the vocals start in the song....so he starts laughing. And says "So a Monkey could do your job?" and laughs hysterically. I thought maybe he was tired, but I was hurt and I told him that it hurt my feelings and he said he was sorry, and said you're right honey "a Chimp" could do your job, not a monkey." Then laughs again. So, I got quiet and pissed and said I had to go and he was okay with that. And we hung up. Is this Love on the rocks or is he telling me how he REALLY feels straight up? David and I are no longer together. It's amazing how some people perceive us in the radio business. They think we're just there pushing buttons. I remember a while ago, I was getting ready to do an interview with Toby Keith to co-host my lunch hour. Twenty minutes before the interview listeners were outside the studio thinking Toby was going to be physically in the studio (when in fact it was a phone interview), the studio computer went down, no way to upload the music intro audio I did the night before (staying up until 1am to make sure it was perfect) I had Craig Morgan calling on my hot line, a tour coming through, and the engineer was nowhere to be found. All this and its 20 minutes before show time? I don't think a "Chimp" could have pulled this off.but I did, and it was a huge success. Thanks to our engineers for fixing the computer so I could upload the audio into the system on time! Truth be told, if I never ran that interview no-one would have really cared, honestly. I believe how we entertain our listeners is a courtesy to them. It's always good practice to be courteous to our listeners. We all know, for every great jock on the air there are 10 more behind you who are 10 times better and would do the same job for a lot cheaper. I look at it this way, if they can replace Howard Stern "King of all Media" (and they have) than anyone is replaceable. What sets apart the good talent from the great talent, are the ones' who understand the "Knock, Knock Who Cares" philosophy. The knock, knock who cares philosophy? They don't care you're on the air. Remember it's our job as on-air personalities to give the listeners something to care about. Make your breaks short, interesting, real and intriguing. When you're on the air, you are inviting them into "your home". Make your "home" warm, inviting, friendly, and always have the coffee on for them. The next time you execute a break ask yourself "Did I give them enough to want to come back and stay awhile?"
If you just knocked on your own door with your last break..would you have answered the door? |