When I started in radio many many moons ago, I did a little bit of everything. I was on the air, I wrote and produced commercials, I wrote and delivered the news every hour, and when I was done, I turned off the transmitter, emptied the trash, and went home.
At the time that seemed like a lot! But back then, all of those duties related to being on the radio…except for the trash thing.
After our basement flooded last month I went through a lot of old pictures, which triggered a lot of old memories, and it struck me that the bulk of my job these days is completely unrelated to the traditional notion of what radio is. For example: it’s after midnight as I write this, and the reason I’m up so late is because I’m working on the station website. From Photoshop to HTML coding to blogging, a big portion of every day is spent making sure the website looks the way it’s supposed to look.
That isn’t radio, per se, but it’s what radio has become today.
I used to joke with co-workers that a radio person’s uniform was a logoed polo shirt and jeans. We laughed at how stuffy the TV people looked in their suits and ties every day. Today, radio people worry about dressing in appropriate outfits, and lighting the studio effectively, so that a band performance will look sharp for a video, that then has to be produced, edited, and uploaded for “viral distribution.”
20 years ago I would have said, you’re crazy – that’s not radio!
Today it is most definitely radio, and I spend a lot of time editing and
producing these videos, which compete for your attention online with other videos produced by well-dressed TV folk, and your neighbor (possibly in his underwear) down the street.
I didn’t even mention yet the daily digital audio editing of a special on-air bit, or podcast, that also has to be packaged and uploaded. Yes, Star 102.5 is an on-air radio station, but it’s also an online radio station that (believe it or not) is quite different from what you hear on the radio. Did you know that we play completely different commercials online, as well as unique web-only content that radio listeners don’t hear? It’s like a baby radio station I program for online listeners only.
“On Demand” has been the buzzword for years. Back in college, there was no such thing.
I guess the point of all this navel gazing is to look at how fast things are changing. Not that long ago people used to listen to music on AM Radio, music that was performed either live in-studio or via spinning platters of wax. Today, it goes from my ears to yours thanks to an amazingly complex series of digital compression schemes, computer chips, and, if I do my job right, a little magic.
I guess that part hasn’t changed.
Excuse me now, while I empty the trash.
–Brian
Hamsters at a movie eating popcorn!
