What will it take for me to become a radio personality?

[DavidEduardo]

But the operating system was ahead of its time. Bill Gates fine tuned it with the first edition of Windows, and made it simpler to learn for the novice.

Windows 1.0 was a POS. It was slow and klunky on the CPUs of the day. There was also not much software that would run under it, making it more of a novelty than a productivity tool. But it was fun to participate in the OS discussions on The Well and CIS in those days as passions ran high for the Mac and negatives abounded for Windows 1.0.

On the PC platform, the GEM interface, most remembered from Ventura Publisher, was snappy and intuitive... much better than Windows 1.0.

By the time 2.0 was released in 1987, my numerous complaints and suggestions to Microsoft garnered me beta tester status for Windows 2.1 and Windows 2.1 386 which actually could do some work in Excel, Page Maker, several Windows databases and a variety of word processors.

Apple's OS for the Mac (not the early Lisa) was very good, but the hardware lagged for a number of years and the peripheral device selection was much more limited. I'd even say that the Mac OS was much better than Windows... in some senses, it still is. But the PC has to accommodate an open system architecture which the Mac does not.

I generally recommend Macs to anyone with limited computer skills who does not need to run PC-only software exclusively. They are more intuitive and users seem to figure them out easily.

 

[fordranger797]

I've long recommended a college path that includes a sampling of disciplines. If you plan to be in commercial radio, a smattering of basic business classes, some math, social sciences like sociology and psychology (Maslow could have been a good PD), computer sciences, as well as languages, literature and music will all help. And if broadcasting does not work out, it's a firm base for many other careers.

It's good that you mention that, as most of my strengths are in the English side of education.

 

[DavidEduardo]

It's good that you mention that, as most of my strengths are in the English side of education.

I had the somewhat odd education in that I dropped out of high school to put my first radio station on the air. It would be almost a decade before I got to college and only after I had been an owner, manager, chief engineer, sales manager and program director, most concurrently. So, after running stations in three different countries I found myself a consultant with hours each day free to go to school. I followed the general area of courses I mentioned.

That course of study gave me a sampling of many areas where a conventional major would have short changed me. But I've felt the benefits for the last 40 years.

 

[fordranger797]

I had the somewhat odd education in that I dropped out of high school to put my first radio station on the air. It would be almost a decade before I got to college and only after I had been an owner, manager, chief engineer, sales manager and program director, most concurrently. So, after running stations in three different countries I found myself a consultant with hours each day free to go to school. I followed the general area of courses I mentioned.

That course of study gave me a sampling of many areas where a conventional major would have short changed me. But I've felt the benefits for the last 40 years.

So you would also venture the opinion that it is best to work your way into radio the old fashioned way (via interning, and working for free) when you are trying to start out?

 

[DavidEduardo]

So you would also venture the opinion that it is best to work your way into radio the old fashioned way (via interning, and working for free) when you are trying to start out?

Liability and labor laws have made free interning a hard thing to do. I spent my first year hanging around WJMO and WCUY, being a go-fer and doing odd jobs... for free. In today's world few radio managers would let kids hang around their station for fear of lawsuits or a claim that the visitor was doing work and not being paid. There are even EEO issues to be dealt with.

That said, if you can get in the door, go for it. I worked at a station group, Richard Eaton's United Broadcasting, where I learned a lot from the staff... but the owner showed me how not to run a station. So even in a bad station, you can learn.

 

[fordranger797]

Liability and labor laws have made free interning a hard thing to do. I spent my first year hanging around WJMO and WCUY, being a go-fer and doing odd jobs... for free. In today's world few radio managers would let kids hang around their station for fear of lawsuits or a claim that the visitor was doing work and not being paid. There are even EEO issues to be dealt with.

That said, if you can get in the door, go for it. I worked at a station group, Richard Eaton's United Broadcasting, where I learned a lot from the staff... but the owner showed me how not to run a station. So even in a bad station, you can learn.

Well I like the sound of that. After all, I am INSIDE the door right now.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Well I like the sound of that. After all, I am INSIDE the door right now.

I did a formal internship in 1963 at Organización Radio Centro in Mexico City. The first instructions I received were, "Do what you are asked to do and don't talk unless you are asked to". There was plenty to do, too, as ORC had 5 AM's in the market, each the #1 station in its respective format.

I learned enough in those 6 months to build, the following year, my own station in a 42 station market and see it go to #1 in its first ratings.

 

[fordranger797]

I did a formal internship in 1963 at Organización Radio Centro in Mexico City. The first instructions I received were, "Do what you are asked to do and don't talk unless you are asked to". There was plenty to do, too, as ORC had 5 AM's in the market, each the #1 station in its respective format.

I learned enough in those 6 months to build, the following year, my own station in a 42 station market and see it go to #1 in its first ratings.

What kind of jobs did you do?

I have plenty to do as well, however, I spend more than half of me time observing/helping those who do on-air and engineering duties. I suppose that will help me (I hope).

 

[DavidEduardo]

What kind of jobs did you do?

I have plenty to do as well, however, I spend more than half of me time observing/helping those who do on-air and engineering duties. I suppose that will help me (I hope).

Mostly I assisted the program department and the group PD.

Every hour, they had a headline newscast on each station. It was the same newscast, duplicated on 5 carts. I would take the 5 to the individual studios, remove the previous hour's cart, and go back to the newsroom where I took off the label and bulked the carts, found the splice and got them ready for the next hour. Occasionally I would be asked to scan the wire services and to watch for breaking news when the news guys were on breaks or at lunch.

I was taught a lot about production, and one thing I was pretty good at was creating blends of the many Top 40 hits from the US that had Spanish covers. I'd record both on tape, then alternate at key points in the song the English and Spanish versions making one song that we called the "7-90 Bilinguals" ("Bilingües 7-90"). We did several of those a day, depending on how many covers there were that became hits.

I also did pretty routine stuff like keeping the new promo copies of records in order for the PD to audition, and then filing them afterwards if they did not go on the air. If we added a song on any of the formats, we called the label to ask for 10 or more copies so they would not get noticeable cue burn. I got to keep the noisy burnt ones! We did not play songs off carts yet as the union had separate board ops and announcers.

I occasionally would volunteer to empty waste baskets when they seemed to be overflowing, but was told that doing that was beneath my position and not to offer to do that.

The station was all done in marble floors and walls with the absolute best equipment I had ever seen. The management offices, on another floor, looked like something out of a European palace but I was mostly kept away from that area, as well as the sales pit on the first floor. Programming ran the operation, and there were no sales or management intrusions into to the formats or programming in general. Sellers who mistakenly made comments about formats were told to go sell something and mind their own business.

At the time, FM was not a factor and there were 31 AM stations in Mexico City. The ORC group of 5 had about 40% of the total listening. About 8 years later, I was asked to return to program the 5 FMs they had been using as studio transmitter links... I turned them down, which may have been a mistake as in the 80's and 90's there were a couple of programmers in the market making $500,000 a year, US.

 

[ContinuousWave]

Here is a Broadcasting primer 101......let me know when you can start.


We are an Internet radio station on the Upper West Side/ Morningside park area

I absolutely hate it when some calls themselves an Internet "Radio" Station....maybe an Internet broadcaster...but a RADIO station requires to RADIATE via a radio transmitter...ANYONE can do streaming on the net...but thats not radio and not the same model.

 

[fordranger797]

Mostly I assisted the program department and the group PD.

Every hour, they had a headline newscast on each station. It was the same newscast, duplicated on 5 carts. I would take the 5 to the individual studios, remove the previous hour's cart, and go back to the newsroom where I took off the label and bulked the carts, found the splice and got them ready for the next hour. Occasionally I would be asked to scan the wire services and to watch for breaking news when the news guys were on breaks or at lunch.

It sounds like I am really being "thrown" into the world of radio. In perspective, I have not been asked to do too many menial tasks.

 

[firepoint525]

I occasionally would volunteer to empty waste baskets when they seemed to be overflowing, but was told that doing that was beneath my position and not to offer to do that.

Not so fast, there. At my last station, I picked up the trash-emptying job (after the previous trash-emptyer left) and I was allowed to claim a couple extra hours per week, WITHOUT having to spend any additional time at the station. I was there overnights, so I was able to do it without any interference from anyone else, since I was the only one there at the time. I was already there (and had the time, since I was babysitting the programming), so why not do it? I also did voiceover work, for which I was not paid any extra, but again, I was already there and didn't mind doing it, so why not?

 

[DavidEduardo]

Not so fast, there. At my last station, I picked up the trash-emptying job (after the previous trash-emptyer left) and I was allowed to claim a couple extra hours per week, WITHOUT having to spend any additional time at the station. I was there overnights, so I was able to do it without any interference from anyone else, since I was the only one there at the time. I was already there (and had the time, since I was babysitting the programming), so why not do it? I also did voiceover work, for which I was not paid any extra, but again, I was already there and didn't mind doing it, so why not?

You entirely missed my point. I was talking about an internship in Mexico in the programming operation of a 5-station cluster. A white collar position. Mexico in the 60's was a very classist society, where everything you did defined your position. Think of it as a less formal system than India's caste divisions.

In that context, a white collar intern did not do blue collar menial labor. It would demean the person and affect the image others had of them. When I was told not to pick up the trash, I was being "trained" not to do things below my station.

 

[Small Market Guy]

I was going to use to pitch to prospective talk show hosts:

Here is a Broadcasting primer 101......let me know when you can start.


We are an Internet radio station on the Upper West Side/ Morningside park area and are open to any idea and show topics. Our studio includes 6 mics, phone lines skype, wireless internet...we provide a Pro audio engineer to run your show and produce a quality sounding podcast.

We stream your show live, you'll get a separate podcast page on our website. You can send the link to all your social media friends and you can put it on your own personal website where they can stream or download YOUR show.......YOUR Podcast.

Radio requires some unique skills, You have to LOVE doing your homework. We'll teach you how to design your shows outline, deciding the topics, finding and pitching quality guests. How to send preliminary letters, get background information, formulate questions (talking points) to start the interview. The logistics of your show, do you want to take phone calls, theme music. We want your podcast to be something you can be proud of.

Here is a fact:

Everyone who is on Radio or TV has paid to be on the air, yes Couric, Stern, Imus, Wendy Williams all paid. Some paid $100,000+ to get a college degree and work at the college radio or TV station, some paid $10,000 to go to Broadcasting School, some spend years being an intern. We offer a pay as you go plan. The cost is very reasonable for those who are truly serious, and 1 hour is a very, very long time if you are not prepared.

Thousands of people daily are investing their own money to be on the air. Plus lots of people are entrepreneurs and have a business to promote and then it becomes a tax deduction. Also you can sell your own ads, and get sponsors.

If you already have a fully prepared show, send us the links and we could add it to our rotation.

Note to OP:

DO NOT - I REPEAT - DO NOT DO THIS.

You will not get on the radio by PAYING to do a podcast.

If you want to get on the radio keep interning. Do EVERYTHING that you can to get your foot in the door.

Broadcasting school isn't that important. A psych degree would be fine to get a radio job. The entire business is who you know and how much you're willing to sacrifice.

But whatever you do, DO NOT PAY TO BE ON THE AIR OR EVEN WORSE ON THE INTERNET.

 

[fordranger797]

Note to OP:

DO NOT - I REPEAT - DO NOT DO THIS.

You will not get on the radio by PAYING to do a podcast.

If you want to get on the radio keep interning. Do EVERYTHING that you can to get your foot in the door.

Broadcasting school isn't that important. A psych degree would be fine to get a radio job. The entire business is who you know and how much you're willing to sacrifice.

But whatever you do, DO NOT PAY TO BE ON THE AIR OR EVEN WORSE ON THE INTERNET.

Thanks for warning me, but this isn't exactly something I want to do anyway. I know that podcasting is considered to be a good way to start, but I don't care to kickstart my career in radio that way.

 

[Small Market Guy]

Thanks for warning me, but this isn't exactly something I want to do anyway. I know that podcasting is considered to be a good way to start, but I don't care to kickstart my career in radio that way.

I don't know anyone that started by podcasting, but even if you wanted to do so, you could do it for free. Just hook a mic into your computer and talk.

Seriously, though, I'm quite a bit older than you and came into the business later in life, but I was in the same position you were 5 or 6 years ago. No idea how to get into radio. Funny thing is, a local program director actually contacted me on this board and gave me a job as a board op. Then that transitioned into sitting in with the mid morning host. Then doing weekends. Finally I got my own morning gig at a different station.

My main tip for you is to do something locally for a little bit then start looking elsewhere. And be ready to move. You will likely have to move 2000 miles away and work for peanuts at first, but that's the way things are now.

Broadcasting school is a hit or miss thing. The main benefit is that they have contacts. A good broadcasting school will be able to link you up with stations. But of course, that comes with a price. You'll have to decide if it's worth the price. I personally have a communications degree, but it means absolutely nothing to what I do. My college didn't have a radio station, and my best subjects were photography related. On top of that, no one has ever asked to see my diploma. I could tell them I have a degree from Harvard and it wouldn't matter. If you sound good, have a good attitude and are willing to do crap jobs, you'll catch on somewhere.

 

[firepoint525]

You entirely missed my point. I was talking about an internship in Mexico in the programming operation of a 5-station cluster. A white collar position. Mexico in the 60's was a very classist society, where everything you did defined your position. Think of it as a less formal system than India's caste divisions.

Would have loved to trot that one out on my parents back when they were trying to force me into one dead-end blue-collar job after another. I now have back problems because of some of those jobs!

In that context, a white collar intern did not do blue collar menial labor. It would demean the person and affect the image others had of them. When I was told not to pick up the trash, I was being "trained" not to do things below my station.

Hmm, so I wonder who picked up the trash. Did all the "menial labor" people move to the states? I am beginning to understand all the illegal immigration now. So apparently in Mexico, once a laborer, always a laborer. In the states, you might actually have a chance to "get above your raisin'."

At one station where I once worked, the GM's stepson, who I believe is now sales manager at one of his stations, started out (at age 15) doing things like mowing the station grounds, and sealing the parking lot during a searing hot summer. He had a break to get into radio that most of us did not have (at least at that age), but at the same time, I get the feeling that the GM probably put him through hell, even more so than he did the rest of us.

 

[firepoint525]

To the OP of this thread: you have received some excellent advice so far, but I wanted to add one piece of advice, basically taking what others have said here, but addressing it from the opposite side. Don't do anything of "permanence." By that, I mean don't buy a house or anything like that. I own my own home, and it is bought and paid for, but I have also been out of radio for many years. Probably a good thing, because there is no real opportunity in radio in my immediate vicinity, at least nothing that would pay the cost of living, or anything like that.

I look back on the guys I knew back in high school who started in radio while they were still in high school. Most of them either still work at the same or similar station(s), or are out of radio entirely now. I can only guess that some of them just never had the desire to leave that small town. Maybe some of them got married and had kids. If you have a spouse and kids, you are much less likely to want to uproot them to move to a new (probably unfamiliar) town. I suppose that I, too, would not want to move if I had kids, particularly kids who are school age.

I know of a college station near me that occasionally runs announcements seeking volunteer announcers, but I see by looking at your profile that you do not live near me. If you did, I would put you in touch with that station. Apparently, you do not even have to be a student there! I would check them out myself, except that they are an hour's drive away, even from me.

 

[Richard Stefan]

YOU are SO WRONG on this..........Then why do so many pay CSB and take out $10,000 in student loans to get "radio" experience?

What if we are radio people offing a studio to develop your show? Yes you can do it from home but it will sound like crap, and no PD will ever listen to it.

We've alread had 2 people pay $2000 or so to make 20 or so podcasts then edit them down to demos and get real jobs......I got them quality guests they took phone calls and conducted real live interviews in the studio...

If you want to smoke weed with your 5 friends and goof off that's what you get for Free....but when people put their money where their mouth is, they get real serious real fast......

--------------------------------------

Note to OP:

DO NOT - I REPEAT - DO NOT DO THIS.
You will not get on the radio by PAYING to do a podcast.
If you want to get on the radio keep interning. Do EVERYTHING that you can to get your foot in the door.
Broadcasting school isn't that important. A psych degree would be fine to get a radio job. The entire business is who you know and how much you're willing to sacrifice.
But whatever you do, DO NOT PAY TO BE ON THE AIR OR EVEN WORSE ON THE INTERNET.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Hmm, so I wonder who picked up the trash.

The janatorial staff did. The distinction in that society at that time was that you did not do a blue collar job if you were in training for a white collar one.

Did all the "menial labor" people move to the states?

No. Migrants are predominantly and overwhelmingly from rural areas of Mexico. They either migrate to the larger cities of Mexico or emigrate to the US. Mexico City is a destination, not a point of departure.

I am beginning to understand all the illegal immigration now. So apparently in Mexico, once a laborer, always a laborer.

That was much more true in the period than today. Due to increased incomes, greater access to education and more progressive societal values, Mexican society is quite aspirational and mobility is possible, sometimes in an individual's own lifetime and sometimes from one generation to the next.

n the states, you might actually have a chance to "get above your raisin'."

And that is true in Mexico today. The real issues in all developing countries is that there is a large group of predominantly rural people with less than full primary school educations who can only compete for certain types of labor.