The Passion Of Being A D.J.!

Before I studied broadcasting and had the opportunity to know many great D.J.’s I used to think that ego was the D.J’s prime motivator. As I got to know more of them, and talked to them and really listened to what they said “off-the-Air,” I could tell they were so much more.

In television you are part of a team and you are only as strong as the weakest link that supports you behind the cameras. In radio, you really are a one-man band. Sitting mostly alone in a studio unless you have duo or more like the Breakfast Club on Classy or the Morning Show on Froggy. It is you and the listener. The real art of a D.J. is not spinning a certain play list that consultants tell you to do, but envisioning the invisible faces inside that microphone; knowing that you are having a conversation with just that one person. That takes art, imagination and tremendous skill.

The D.J.’s that I have known have a passion about their craft and an appreciation for their brothers who also share in this unique industry. I can see all this in the comments that come down the pike on EMGR from you D.J.’s. (Anyone guess the classic D.J. pictured here)

The format doesn’t matter. It is the sense of timing that comes with practice in years of hard work. I worry that the industry has become so mechanized that we no longer have a true training ground for the next generation. Jack…Bob… ETC formats as well as satellite are taking away the opportunities for young people to have that opportunity to make mistakes and learn from their older piers.

The D.J. is fast becoming the unsung and maybe disappearing hero of broadcasting. So many D.J.’s give more than music to the audience they serve. They are also great public motivators to get an audience behind a worthy cause. Most of them do it, not because management tells them to, but because they want to make a difference. That’s where the personal satisfaction comes from. They do this with many more hours than they get paid. They do it from the heart.

When Captain Dan and others say they “love radio with a passion,” they mean it. Sitting in that studio, they are the masters of their domain. (Not to be confused with a certain Seinfeld episode of the same name.)

The great D.J.’s I have known often have a shy side to their personality that changes the moment they hit the on-air button. The studio is their real home and the audience their real sustenance.

For any students in communications who read EMGR, take the opportunity to find, meet and learn from the vintage masters of the platter at WOLD.

"Congress passed a law on February 1, 2006, setting a final deadline for the DTV transition of February 17, 2009. Most television stations will continue broadcasting both analog and digital programming until February 17, 2009, when all analog broadcasting will stop.." FCC http://www.dtv.gov/

A day without the Breakfast Club, Captain Dan and Alan or the other Erie radio personalities, is like a day without an enema.