I got my own college radio show...

[bostonbred]

Today at my college orientation I signed up to host my own radio show in the only remaining slots available: Tuesday and Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m. It's a pretty small school, but we are beginning to stream online which seems to be pretty big news for the communication department.

Any advice or ideas on the show? Basically they told me I have four hours a week to do whatever I feel like doing, while keeping the obvious regulations in mind. They said I'll have assistance for my first show but that it's pretty easy to do.

Now I hear this station is full of tons of hip-hop, so I figured I would change it up. I was thinking about maybe mixing some of the best classic rock (Zeppelin, Cream, Floyd, Sabbath, hell even Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and early 90s etc.) with some of the best rock of today. Maybe get a few guys in and inject a little sports talk? Any bands that don't get much play that you think may be good for the show? Nothing overly folksy or progressive. The place has countless CD's, but I wouldn't mind getting some opinions if you wanna throw 'em out there.

 

[EmbassyRow]

College radio? Play a lot of indie. Explore a little. Play things you don't even know. Just make sure you know where it says '****' and '****.' College stations don't have the luxury of delay switches, so be ready to cut the power quickly off and on when it comes to the boards.

It's good that you took your shifts where you could get them. I ended up with the 9-to-midnight shifts Friday and Saturday when I got my first show. Never got rid of them, either. That way, I could get every guy in my house to tune in as they drank, as long as I gave them shoutouts every now and then.

If you're going to drink in the studio, be smart about it. Hide your Jack in a paper bag, like I did.

 

[EmbassyRow]

And for God's sake, when you're on, give us all the Web link so we can listen.

 

[bostonbred]

And for God's sake, when you're on, give us all the Web link so we can listen.

I'll give you guys the link once it's up and running.

I'm very excited to explore different bands and be exposed to music that I don't normally hear.

haha and I'll certainly take the advice about Jack in the paper bag.

 

[EmbassyRow]

I wouldn't recommend actually doing that unless you have an understanding co-host.

 

[mike311gd]

Congrats on the show. I hope you enjoy it. Hosting a radio show(s) was one of my favorite parts of college. I hosted three shows -- two-hour time slots -- during my sophomore year, two my junior year and one in my last year, most of them from midnight to 2 a.m., during safe harbor hours, where I could play anything within the station policies.

One of the most important things you've got to master is the art of transitioning. Never go from Led Zeppelin to Kanye West, for instance. Ease from classic rock to punk rock. Mix in promos, advertisements (or underwriting, depending on if the station is commercial or not) and public service announcements to not only help with transitions, but to increase the flow of the show. They're your friends. Most people didn't like having to play them, but it was only because they didn't understand their purposes.

Don't expect everything to be as easy as it sounds. You're going to screw up. You're going to screw up plenty of times. Just don't get frustrated with each mistake or, even worse, when they start to pile up.

 

[BYH]

Congrats. I really wanted a radio show when I went to college, but it turns out not every school was like Fitchburg State, where my best buddy went and ruled the airwaves every Friday and Saturday night. He and his co-host would get drunk, play whatever they wanted and, eventually, field phone calls from two girls who wanted to screw them. (they did!) this was in 1991-93, so to land an audience at all was pretty impressive, never mind finding an audience of females that wanted to screw.

I went to visit my buddy one weekend and the hosts for a Saturday morning show didn't show. So we went over and ran wild for a few hours. I did this one thing called "Nirvana or Bryan Adams?" I'd play a few notes of Lithium, then a few notes of Everything I Do (I Do For You). A few notes of Smells Like Teen Spirit, a few notes of Somebody. I'm a dork because it still makes me laugh today.

Anyway, once I transferred to a real college, I went to the newspaper and radio station get-to-know-you meetings. Turns out the radio station's idea of initaition was having you sit in the studio and watch a guy push buttons and having you attend a semester's worth of meetings. And most of the DJ slots were for Irish folk music and polka, because, well, the alums who donated wanted to hear Irish folk music and polka.

I spent one football game twiddling my thumbs in the studio and one Wednesday afternoon meeting listening to some dork drone on and on about the station and how we couldn't touch anything until the spring semester. Meanwhile, at the newspaper, I was asked to join the editorial board after one story (I wasn't that good, the sports editor was burnt out and a senior). Easy decision.

But I'd still like to play DJ and screw a listener one day. May the force be with you, BB.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Bring in strippers and get them to take their tops off. People love that.

Get a partner with a funny voice and call him Mad Dog.

Say "yo yo yo" and "what up" a lot. Very street.

Use those factoids from USA Today about how much time we spend in a year waiting for elevators. People relate to that.

Get a bunch of friends to come in and hang out and laugh and clap every time you say something.

You're on your way!

 

[buckweaver]

I did this one thing called "Nirvana or Bryan Adams?" I'd play a few notes of Lithium, then a few notes of Everything I Do (I Do For You). A few notes of Smells Like Teen Spirit, a few notes of Somebody. I'm a dork because it still makes me laugh today.

That's ****ing awesome. ;D

 

[EStreetJoe]

You could stay within format and go old-school hip-hip and play nothing but late 70s and 80s hip-hop/rap -- Grandmaster Flash and stuff like that.

Or you could mess with them and play nothing but disco for two hours.

Or break out the funk - Parliament, James Brown, and stuff like that.

Or you could just go the classic rock/independent rock route. If you want some good rock you don't hear much of on the radio, look at some of the playlists or listen to some of the shows from Little Steven's Underground Garage
http://www.littlestevensundergroundgarage.com/homepage.html

Or really mess with them and go the Americana route and play stuff like the Jayhawks, Old 97s, Slaid Cleaves, Lucinda Williams, Joe Ely, Dan Bern and stuff like that.

 

[Stone Cane]

I was thinking about maybe mixing some of the best classic rock (Zeppelin, Cream, Floyd, Sabbath, hell even Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and early 90s etc.) with some of the best rock of today.

when i did college radio, i made sure to avoid crap people can hear on commercial stations. if you play those bands, find deep album tracks that people don't know.

and i disagree with mike down below - college radio should be experimental, free form ... if you want to play zep into kanye, by all means, do it and make it work.

Never go from Led Zeppelin to Kanye West, for instance. Ease from classic rock to punk rock.

 

[93Devil]

Look at some other stations to get ideas about music to try out.

http://wnrn.org/

There is a lot of great music out there. Use youtube as well to get a free listen of the song you are thinking about playing.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

I had 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. Monday mornings a lifetime ago.

Laughable... but still a fun experience.

 

[93Devil]

I had 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. Monday mornings a lifetime ago.

Laughable... but still a fun experience.

I had a stringer once do a radio show in a previous life of his and he said ladies would call him late at night just to talk.

Any truth to that?

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

I did one a few years ago. It was awesome. I was well out of college, but a friend was finishing up in school and asked me to come on with him. There were three of us. We meshed really well on air because we hung out together all the time. It was like we were just BSing with each other in front of microphones.

But we did put time into preparation. We wanted it to be a real radio show. Don't underestimate how much effort you should put into prep, even just for a couple-hour-a-week show. We were on three hours a week. That's a lot of time to fill, especially for someone inexperienced.

First, we chose the musical format we wanted. At that station you could play whatever format you wanted. And ours kind of evolved as we went on. We focused on alternative and power pop with a local and regional emphasis. So we were able to scout out music we wanted to feature and pick tunes ahead of time while also leaving time for requests or "ad-lib" decisions.

Now, we wanted to talk and be funny in between songs as well. You can get tiresome to the listener right quick doing this. Be careful about going on and on between songs. Don't fall in love with the sound of your voice. Have something to say. We planned a few weekly features, most of which I actually wrote up ahead of time and practiced reading before we did them

There was my weekly Sports Sermon, which was about a 60-second (hopefully) comical rant about the world of sports. (The first time I did it, it was live and I didn't mess up a word. I amazed myself.) 60 seconds is a long time to filibuster on the air, especially if what you wrote is not good. I tried not to go too much longer than that, but at the same time you don't want to have to talk so fast no one can understand you.

Other skits were New You Cannot Use, where I found three or four weird news stories and me and one of the other guys bounced back and forth reading them like an actual news broadcast with the precursor that if anyone listening ever tried to use any of those news stories in an actual social context, they would fail miserably. This turned into one of our best contests ever when there was a dog with a pickled pig's feet jar wandering around some small southern town for a week. We told the news story then asked if listeners could guess which state it happened in. Winner got some sweet concert tix; phone lines were jammed up -- it took 13 people before someone won.

Then we did little parodies of real radio -- the Saturday School Closing List, the Campus Traffic Report (very popular on move-in day), and a couple other things like that. We would bring in local musicians and interview them. One recurring skit was 10 Questions, where I would come up with questions our guest, some personal, but then tell them if they were right or wrong based on the answer that I came up with ahead of time.

It was loads of fun. I'd do it again in two seconds, but we now all have real jobs and it's tough to make that commitment. You'll be nervous on the air at first and if you start talking too long you'll start thinking that you're talking too long and you'll stop thinking about what you're going to say. Just don't panic if this happens.

Have fun, it will be a blast!

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

I had 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. Monday mornings a lifetime ago.

Laughable... but still a fun experience.

I had a stringer once do a radio show in a previous life of his and he said ladies would call him late at night just to talk.

Any truth to that?

Phone... silence

 

[User 1019]

So, any thought to what your first song's gonna be?

I vote ***** Control.

 

[Rumpleforeskin]

So you're NOT moving to Florida?

 

[playthrough]

I went to college thinking I'd go on the sports-broadcast track and be an effing stud on radio. The first, and last, assignment I got from the campus radio station was calling a men's soccer game. My suckitude was obvious. Next stop, school newspaper.

Funny, I ended up covering the soccer team one season for the paper, sitting in the same press box with more wanna-be broadcasters who would get their ass handed to them while trying to call soccer. Pretty good sport to weed out the hacks. I knew what they were going through and was very happy to be at the other end of the box, toiling over my Trash-80.

 

[Rumpleforeskin]

I went to college thinking I'd go on the sports-broadcast track and be an effing stud on radio. The first, and last, assignment I got from the campus radio station was calling a men's soccer game. My suckitude was obvious. Next stop, school newspaper.

Funny, I ended up covering the soccer team one season for the paper, sitting in the same press box with more wanna-be broadcasters who would get their ass handed to them while trying to call soccer. Pretty good sport to weed out the hacks. I knew what they were going through and was very happy to be at the other end of the box, toiling over my Trash-80.

It seems like everyone who wanted to do college radio always began covering soccer. I was stuck up in the visiting press box of our football stadium, using binoculars to differentiate between numbers while calling a soccer game. The press box at my college's football stadium, well, let's say, Paris Hilton's box would have been less dirty and dangerous.