Essay 4.1

Mark Melchior

Eleanor Henderson

Academic Writing

April 17, 2011

Adjusting the Antenna:

Why Radio is Still a Relevant Medium

            My first thought when I saw the phrase ‘Rush Night’ was pretty blurry. I didn’t exactly know what to expect when I got there. Coming through my first week of freshman year the Park auditorium was still as daunting as day one. It has this odd, dark, eerie glow to it at first. You get used to it eventually. However, the misshapen, back-straining seats will always be the same. Twenty-some people were on the stage bullshitting about this and that. What they, “are all about here at WICB.” I was sold.

            This was the first experience I had encountered with working on a radio station, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been ignorant to it. I love radio. Everywhere I have ever been, radio was never to far behind. It was radio that introduced me to bands like Green Day and Sublime. It was radio that delivered me the news of the Iraq invasion a few years ago. Today, it’s radio that I dedicate my life to.

            “You will shadow veteran DJ’s. You will board operate a 2 hour shift. You will take a written exam and then, finally, must produce an exceptional demo tape.” These words from the station manager were enough to drive almost half the crowd away. I guess not everyone was as excited as me. I put my name on the e-mail list. I didn’t know at the time it would eventually submerse me into one of the countries greatest media outlets ever invented. I shadowed. I operated the board, wooed the executive staff with my charm. I even ask questions! I seem to never ask questions. Yet still there I was, practicing talksets in my room while nobody was around. Further on in, my still infantile, radio career I was awarded a DJ shift from two until four in the morning.

            At this point I had surrounded myself with some many “radio-junkies” that I didn’t realize how much danger FM radio was actually in. Apparently, people haven’t got the same taste for radio any more. The data even shows it. I looked into listenership ratings and was stunned by the information. In 2000 the peak hour of radio was 7 AM with 26 percent of potential listeners tuning into stations (Arbitron). Years later in 2009, radio listeners drifted and sent the percentage plummeting to around 18 percent (Arbitron).

            Shortly after I started ‘DJ-ing’ I decided to work with the promotions team as well. It usually consists of a weekly meeting, about an hour or so. This is how I discovered the Ithaca community. The promotions team and I have gone out into Ithaca countless times. We play music, have contests, and listeners get to win things. That’s always fun right? I always thought that it was cool to get out and be a part of the community. To explore the interest of my listeners and see what they enjoy. Apparently this has been one of WICB’s most respected qualities. In one of my classes a girl proposed that radio, “is mostly irrelevant now,” and that, “it’s not as modern or as good as something like Pandora.” According to her radio just couldn’t keep up any more. That night I read a few advertisements on the air for our iPhone app and our Facebook and Twitter pages. All while seated in a brand new studio with shiny microphones, a new iMac computer, and the sophisticated AudioVault music software.

            Weekly meetings generally consist of preaching about how to stay current. I was told that just like television we still have an obligation to stay up to date on news and information. Every week I find myself talking about a new story. It could be an event or concert coming up in town. After DJ-ing for a while I started to notice that listeners rely on me. There are plenty of people who have given thanks to our crew for one reason or another. Not that long ago a woman came up to me and recognized me by my voice. She said she loved my shows and appreciated that I exposed her to new music. This reliance proved to me that many people are still dependent on radio whether it’s for news, traffic, weather, music, or events. We answer this dependence by constantly trying to improve.

            Author and media expert Douglas Rushkoff said that good radio stations get “back in the box.” What he means is that instead of rebranding your station, or coming up with fancy ways to promote will never suffice for content (Ramsey, par. 1). My experience with radio has been exactly that. We strive to serve the listener by treating them more like equals than our consumer. After all they are the ones who keep us in business. Rushkoff said of audiences, “I think what we’re startin to realize is that consumers are not just targets but they are really members of your company’s culture,” (Ramsey, par. 2). Still despite all of these great factors of radio, some still show that caring for the audience and staying current isn’t enough for them.

            One week, in class, we discussed how the proliferation of services like Pandora and other automated Internet radio stations would affect FM radio. One student said that they liked Pandora better because it was more convenient and accessible. I brought this kind of statement to some fellow DJ’s and staff members and they all had a similar answer. Things like Pandora can’t do what we can. We have the benefit of personality. We have an actual person behind the microphone. Working hard to select music and envelope you into the music world. There will always be an attachment to real radio because listening to a robot doesn’t achieve that same effect.

            Coming to the end of my freshman year I realized that radio influenced my behavior more than I could expect. Becoming a DJ, in reality, was only a tiny step in learning what radio has to offer. It’s apparent that not only am I a DJ, but also a community leader. People look up to individuals like us because we have responsibility and care about our listeners. By this time I have developed an unparalleled sense of duty to provide entertainment for those who are loyal to the station. To me, the story of my DJ career has taught me some valuable lessons. For me, I may not be able to say that I’m a YouTube sensation, or a television star. However, I know that as a radio personality I can say that radio certainly offers more than just the next song.

Works Cited

Arbitron. “Radio Today: How America Listens to Radio 2000 Edition.” Arbitron             (2000): 4-7. PDF file.

Arbitron. “Radio Today: How America Listens to Radio 2009 Edition.” Arbitron             (2009): 94. PDF file.

Rushkoff, Douglas. “How to Make Radio Relevant Again-An Interview with Media Futurist Douglas Rushkoff.” MarkRamseyMedia.com. MarkRamseyMedia.com, 2005. Web. 17 April, 2011.