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[lprkn]

Fewer DJs and shows, man. Separate the wheat from the chaff. Too much variety can maybe be a bad thing, too.

...those two guys with the late night metal show who will someday realize that they are fated to have a lot of sex with each other.

Hot mic! Hot mic!

[Carlos del Vaca]

Fewer DJs and shows, man. Separate the wheat from the chaff. Too much variety can maybe be a bad thing, too.

That may not be unreasonable.  Our shows were all two hours.

[Turbo Ninja]

I was involved with my college station in the way that people with kidney failure are involved with dialysis machines.  I was literally kicked out of school (I was reinstated on appeal after I promised to retake some of the classes I failed) because my grades suffered so much as a result of spending so much time in the air studio, at music meetings, producing promos no one would ever hear, or just goofing off in the jock lounge.  It was my social hub (I met my wife there) and really my whole reason for being at Ohio University in the first place.  For two years I was a jock and then Assistant Program Director and then finally Program Director in '99-'00. 

For the first part of my reign, our MD was none other than a certain Achewood shouter-outer who now writes and edits for the Village Voice.  Our administration basically hinged on the idea of playing The Roots and Handsome Boy Modeling School as part of our 30-song rotation.  We actually had to hold a special meeting to address concerns among the staff that we were taking the station's sound too far from "college rock," no matter what CMJ's charts said or how awesome the songs were on their own merit.

We tried our best to schedule 24/7 with students, using 2am-7am as one long training shift for n00bs.  It was more likely that we'd get one guy who was really gung-ho about having the morning show five days a week, then a patchwork of two or three-hour shifts through the rest of the day until we got to Specialty Shows at 10pm and Midnight.  We made an effort at news and sports shows as well, but those tend to work best when you have listener participation.  As with most college stations, we struggled with the "listener" part of that equation.

I mentioned a 30-song rotation: Jocks were expected to play pre-selected songs according to a schedule I decided.  Our Heavies got played 30 times a week, tops, if every shift was filled.  Lights would get 10 spins or so, with Middle making up the rest.  Rotation songs made up about a third of an hour, with the rest chosen from our huge library.  I made suggestions on the schedule as to what types of songs should be played and when to take breaks for frontsells, backsells, sweepers, weather, station ID's, etc. but jocks were left to the honor system.  We only asked that they obey the "Two Show Rule," where you couldn't play a non-rotation artist if that artist had been played on the previous show or the show before that.  Again, honor system and I didn't raise a fuss if everyone wanted to play the latest and the greatest (I'm looking at you, Beck).

Don't worry about disappointing promoters or label reps.  The only explanation I'd give was that we get a lot of music and their songs were #31 on a 30-song depth chart.  Eventually reps got to know that we had a certain sound, and they stopped pushing nu-metal or whatever on us.    It may have helped that we were slightly more organized than a "free-form" station where you just play whatever for an hour and then turn it over to a new jock - the 10 spins we could guarantee a Light rotator were probably more than they were getting from many stations best spins. 

[theinevitable]

Again:

WE HAVE THREE RULES! THREE!
I'm not saying "you need to be a professional disc jockey"
I'm not saying "you need to do a really good job"
I'm not even saying "if you break these rules, we will fire you," as a hell of a lot of people don't follow certain of them (especially the playing new releases one).

I'm saying that you have to follow THREE fuck*ng RULES. FOR ONE HOUR A WEEK.

Quite frankly, I totally get off on amateurism. I fuck*ng LOVE amateurism to a degree that makes me friends make fun of me a lot. But amateurism only works as an aesthetic if there is some special quality to what is being produced-- whether it's that you're a shitty guitarist who is just trying really hard to write meaningful songs, an elementary school kid who is just trying real hard to kick that ball where it needs to go, or whatever. Basically, I am saying that amateurism only works if you are enthused.

But if you're going to come into the radio station and play American Woman not just once, but every show? And not say anything about it, just put the song on without comment? Fuck you. You don't need to be on the radio. If you want to come in and have a really great show where you play classic rock songs, and you're really informative and make me look at them in a new light? I will love your show. I will love your show, and I will waive whatever rules you need me to waive so that you can keep doing that. But if you're gonna be the asshole who doesn't come to all dj's meetings, plays the same damn bands every week, and doesn't seem to put any thought or effort into his show? Screw you. You need to follow the damn minimum requirements.


I mean, you're right. It IS like elementary school soccer. And I am the kid saying "wait, guys, can you like... try to kick the ball around? Do you think you could try to score a goal? Hey, you, how about you be the goalie?" I don't really understand, again, where the difference is between college radio and college newspaper, lit. journal, whatever.

I dont' know. I always want to laugh at myself when I quote my dad in this way, but what is the point of doing something if you're going to do a shitty job?

The thing my roommate/our general manager always says is... "why are you doing a radio show if you hate it so much?"

[littlefallsmets]

Well, I mean, the exact reason why I did not work on my college's newspaper... despite having been the head of my high school paper... is that the Daily Orange was a bunch of assholes basically trying to put out a professional paper that just happened to be about the SU campus and... it was a super triple drag and they were all uptight and insane and... I was in fuck*ng college for God's sake, those were not the years for "playing house" at being in a real world that was breathing down my neck to begin with.

Don't drive yourself so crazy trying to herd cats, man. Have fun with it.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Don't drive yourself so crazy trying to herd cats, man. Have fun with it.

QFT.  I went through the same sort of thing--"Why do we have classic rock shows?  Every dumbass station around here plays classic rock!"  But eventually I decided to let it go, just do the best show I possibly could, and to enjoy shows by people who had a similar aesthetic.  That worked out pretty well.

[wombat]

Apparently inev's school has a really fantastic college newspaper?

[pmcd9]

I agree with Dan.  College Radio could be the antidote to corporate radio and an amazing place if it were done right.  But hey Dan, you don't have any real authority so it's best to just let it go.

You have a jock that plays American Woman every week?  I hope it's at least the Guess Who version.

[Carlos del Vaca]

He can alternate with the Butthole Surfers version and get around your rule that way.

[CortJstr]

You have a jock that plays American Woman every week?  I hope it's at least the Guess Who version.

Guess Who covered a Lenny Kravitz song?


::ducks::

[theinevitable]

Well, I mean, the exact reason why I did not work on my college's newspaper... despite having been the head of my high school paper... is that the Daily Orange was a bunch of assholes basically trying to put out a professional paper that just happened to be about the SU campus and... it was a super triple drag and they were all uptight and insane and... I was in fuck*ng college for God's sake, those were not the years for "playing house" at being in a real world that was breathing down my neck to begin with.

Don't drive yourself so crazy trying to herd cats, man. Have fun with it.

I mean, this is what I am saying, man. I am not trying to make this a professional station. There are three rules. Three. People can do whatever they want if they follow those three rules. If they don't want to have to follow three rules, why should they have a radio show? How are they going to get an hour of music together every week if they can't follow three dang rules? It is not hard. At all. We have thousands of dang CDs. THOUSANDS.

A big part of it for me is... why am I having to go to argue with Student Union every semester about our budget if people are just going to come in and fuck around. Why should we have a radio station with all of the expensive equipment that it takes to have a radio station if it is just a place to fuck around? We shouldn't.

I am, quite frankly, incredibly upset by the whole attitude of "it doesn't matter, it isn't "real"." I do it because it matters to ME, and that is what MAKES it important. If you don't think it's important, if you aren't willing to spend even an iota of time working on it, why did you sign up to do it?

[AugustWest]

Apparently inev's school has a really fantastic college newspaper?

I wrote for it too.  (When I wasn't on the radio.  I had plenty of time because I did very little studying.)

[AugustWest]

I mean, this is what I am saying, man. I am not trying to make this a professional station. There are three rules. Three. People can do whatever they want if they follow those three rules. If they don't want to have to follow three rules, why should they have a radio show? How are they going to get an hour of music together every week if they can't follow three dang rules? It is not hard. At all. We have thousands of dang CDs. THOUSANDS.

A big part of it for me is... why am I having to go to argue with Student Union every semester about our budget if people are just going to come in and fuck around. Why should we have a radio station with all of the expensive equipment that it takes to have a radio station if it is just a place to fuck around? We shouldn't.

I am, quite frankly, incredibly upset by the whole attitude of "it doesn't matter, it isn't "real"." I do it because it matters to ME, and that is what MAKES it important. If you don't think it's important, if you aren't willing to spend even an iota of time working on it, why did you sign up to do it?

I think you're right in that if you're going to do it, then give a shit about it.  Have fun with it, have an all Barry White show or whatever, just go all out.  Break all the rules, but do it because you want to, not because you can't be arsed to give a damn.

You might consider longer shifts.  Longer shifts = bigger commitment of time for DJ's = more committed/interested DJ's.  Also means fewer slots and therefore more competition for slots.

Hell, fire a few motherfuckers to set an example.  That might get somebody's attention.  Even if you just fire 'em for the rest of the semester -- people will think you're badass (and a dick, but so what)  If they really give a shit about having a show they'll straighten up -- a little.  If they don't then screw 'em.

KWUR!  The 50,000 Milli-watt Voice of the Midwest!

[littlefallsmets]

I'm not saying "don't try"....

I'm saying "be realistic as you are dealing with a lot of nineteen year olds who have tests and getting high and sex and getting high and begging money off their folks and getting high to worry about" because you are totally doing a thing with college students. A lot of them probably have to work their way through school too, y'know.

The idea of whittling it down to people who full-on care by making shifts longer hence shrinking your jock pool to more committed folks sounds like it is rad.

Even those three simple rules are a lot to expect of hundreds of nineteen year olds.

Most kids college-age are having a hard enough time waking up on a schedule, dealing with the transition to adulthood and trying to figure out what kind of person they ultimately like having sex with.

It is a lot easier to find a few dozen people who can actually be responsible at that age than two hundred plus.

[Doc]

I've got no experience in anything like this but I think I agree with the consensus of stop caring about people's dang old feelings. You're the music director, I'm pretty sure that entitles you to be the king of music snob jerks. It sounds douche-ish but if you don't act like the station is more important than people's feelings then all your idiot kidjs are going to assume that what they want is more important. Not sure if that made sense.
Try this: You are the Music Director, you've said there is also a Personnel Director. Why don't you worry about doing what must be done to make the music as awesome as possible and let the Personnel person worry about whether you upset anyone.

Longer shows sound rad by the way, people will care more and they'll have more freedom to do interesting things. Also Radio Plays. But now I'm just living in my own little dream world. I wish my uni had a radio station.