Real Names vs. Air Names

I've made an interesting observation. Most radio talk show hosts tend to use their real name. But I've noticed that your regular run of the mill DJ who just plays music is more likely to make up some phony sounding air name. It's an odd phenomenon. Most times the phony air name isn't even a good one. It often sounds very generic and fake. As a matter of fact I've heard a lot of DJ's use the same generic sounding last names. Some seem to be more popular than others.

I'm not sure why Talk show personalities seem to be more honest with their identity than people who just play music. Perhaps someone here can enlighten me. Even most people in Television use their real name. They've got the best honesty record when it comes to using their real name "vs" an Air Name or Showbiz name.

So why on earth does some Joe Schmo playing Maroon 5 songs change their name on the radio? Is it to protect Identity? Do they actually think they are more at risk than someone who is actually popular such as Howard Stern, David Letterman or Oprah Winfrey? Are music DJ's that warped in their thinking?

for some, radio is about being an actor/actress and the name is a way to separate the real you from the person you want to portray on the air...it's also a way to protect identity. I'm glad I didn't use my real name when I had an old cab driver come by the station and follow me to the gas station while I fueled up for my ride from CT to MA every weekend.

When you go out to your car after a shift and there is something hanging from the mirror that somebody drove 20 miles out of their way to put there and you've never met the person face to face.....that would be a good reason for not using your real name (happened numerous times at the Trail not only to me; but I'm pretty sure most of my co workers at one time or another)

wkrpfm said:

for some, radio is about being an actor/actress and the name is a way to separate the real you from the person you want to portray on the air...it's also a way to protect identity. I'm glad I didn't use my real name when I had an old cab driver come by the station and follow me to the gas station while I fueled up for my ride from CT to MA every weekend.

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You had a cab driver stalk you? lol.... that's disturbing. I'll verbal jab on a website, but I would never start following people around in real life. That's a line that I just won't cross. I'll debate people day and night online, but I would never actually leave my house and start following people. I would check myself into a mental institution if I started having those tendencies. That's to weird... even for me!

wknd92 said:

When you go out to your car after a shift and there is something hanging from the mirror that somebody drove 20 miles out of their way to put there and you've never met the person face to face.....that would be a good reason for not using your real name (happened numerous times at the Trail not only to me; but I'm pretty sure most of my co workers at one time or another)

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hmmmm... interesting. I used to have phone stalkers, but I don't think anyone actually followed me around. (At least that I know of) lol. So if things like this happen on the local level then it makes you wonder why so many of the more popular national personalities use their real name. Do you see what I mean?

id say national people arent as "accessible" as say a local dj. think about it some of tha bigger names live in gated houses and such. l;ocal peeple dont more than likely.

does that makes sense?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????//




I Win!

I decided early to use my real name on the air... I didn't ever want to get a check I couldn't cash... (at the bank... no really, I'm Johnny Sunshine, I mean Caravella. hell, who AM I this week?)

Ever notice with certain formats that jocks pick certain types of names. With rock they're into one-word names or using last names only. The funniest are the urban jocks. At Jamn in Boston names like Geespin and DJ Pupdog. What do they call you when you're 50? Pupdog? I don't get the whole use of DJ in front of the names anyway. I mean it's not like you're a doctor.

A news anchor I once worked with told me to use my real name on the air when reporting the news as he did, because as he put it "If I lied about my name, why would they choose to believe me about anything else I told them?"

As for the lunatics, they show up no matter what... We once had to walk a midday host to her car every day for a week because there was the threat of some guy who was a few eggs short of a good omlette showing up in the parking lot. She used an air name.

Tim Staskiewicz

If I ever got a job at a hip-hop formatted radio station I would use the name Big Marc. But then I got to thinking what would happen if I lost weight? Then again neither of those two things will ever happen so I don't have to worry about it.

MarcB said:

If I ever got a job at a hip-hop formatted radio station I would use the name Big Marc. But then I got to thinking what would happen if I lost weight? Then again neither of those two things will ever happen so I don't have to worry about it.

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What are you trying to hide, you've used the name "Jay Clark" on the radio before... then again, there was nobody listening during the time you did, so...

tim_stask said:

A news anchor I once worked with told me to use my real name on the air when reporting the news as he did, because as he put it "If I lied about my name, why would they choose to believe me about anything else I told them?"

As for the lunatics, they show up no matter what... We once had to walk a midday host to her car every day for a week because there was the threat of some guy who was a few eggs short of a good omlette showing up in the parking lot. She used an air name.

Tim Staskiewicz

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We had a situation at one of the Pro-FM Bloopers vs Michael Bolton's Bombers games where we had Ginger Casey (formerly Ch 10 anchor) "Playing for us" for a TV story angle. Unbeknownst to us, she was being stalked very badly by someone who had sent a ltr to Ch 10 that he was going to do something at the game. We have our girlfriends/wives/kids in the stands, there was police presence, thinking more for Michael; but turns out they had the stadium staked out and ended up taking the guy down in the middle of the first inning (he was sitting behind most of the station's families behind the dugout) needless to say we had a crowded dugout for the remainder of the game as none of our wives or girlfriends/kids wanted to sit in the stands for the rest of the game

Dennis W. Harwich

There used to be a DJ on the air at WCOD that used the name Dennis W. Harwich. He obviously got his name from an exit sign on Rte 6 that says:

Dennis

W. Harwich

I think that is SO cool!

2 names I thought were pretty cool...Janet From Another Planet (WNBC) and Michel With One L (B101)

I remember Janet from another Planet. That was actually a cool air name because at least it was funny.

First time I went on the air, my boss told me not to use my real name. Privacy and security, I was told. Now I understand a little better. If radio is the lowest rung on the ladder of entertainment (or so it was explained to me long ago. Probably newspaper reporter or podcaster might have taken that spot over), then it would follow that an "air" name would be the cheapest form of protection. Maybe. But following this model, the further up the ladder you go, the more exposure you get and the greater likelihood of fringe followers, so, more elaborate protection. I began to notice that way back when I realized how many layers of security you had to go through to, say, meet a recording artist or large market media types. If you can afford to use your real name at that level, you can also afford, presumeably, the people and the hardware to provide you with the security or privacy you desire. Actually, I always wanted to use the name "Lars Copeland".

DToTheJ said:

What are you trying to hide, you've used the name "Jay Clark" on the radio before... then again, there was nobody listening during the time you did, so...

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I'm not trying to hide anything, Diamond Joe. I don't know how that name stuck. I used it for the first time in July 03 when I had to guest co-host the morning show on that particular station. From there on in when I was doing work at that station whether on-air or not the GM always referred to me as "Jay Clark" and introduced me as Jay Clark to visitors to the radio station i.e. potential advertisers (yes beleive it or not they did have a few advertisers), and the host of the Sunday Morning Italiano Radio Show.


Here's a story I never told. One Friday Night when I was doing my brokered show "The Jay Clark Show", I had a woman call me on the hotline and say to me "How dare I use the name of her teenage son who committed suicide 10 months prior?" I cussed her out and slammed the phone down in her ear. I still can't figure out how she knew Jay Clark wasn't my real name.


My real name appears in the signature of every post on this message board, so it's no big secret what my real name is. It's just an inappropriate name to use on any radio station, unless it's the BBC.

aqualung said:

The funniest are the urban jocks. At Jamn in Boston names like Geespin and DJ Pupdog. What do they call you when you're 50? Pupdog? I don't get the whole use of DJ in front of the names anyway. I mean it's not like you're a doctor.

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I've often wondered why the use of DJ preceding your name.can you imagine other professions doing that? "Hi. I'm Plumber Joe." or "I'm Garbageman Tony." "This is yo boi, DJ G-Man." You're not my boy. Don't come looking for money from Dad, the old man.(By the way, it's boy not BOI, imbecile)

I've come to the conclusion that it feeds their already overly inflated egos of themselves. A lot of them also figure it's another way to get chicks. "I'm a DJ. I'm DJ Kill. I'm a big shot!"

Chuck Tiller said:

I've come to the conclusion that it feeds their already overly inflated egos of themselves. A lot of them also figure it's another way to get chicks. "I'm a DJ. I'm DJ Kill. I'm a big shot!" [/b]

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In the old days being on the Radio got you chicks. Now I think they just point and laugh....lol.