For the past few weeks, I’ve been working my way towards achieving a DJ position with CSU’s very own radio station, 90.5 KCSU. I’ve been born and raised in Fort Collins, and I remember listening to 90.5 probably early on in middle school, after my Dad introduced me to it’s non-mainstream ways. I have to respect the old man for giving me the direction of music that has truly given my life more color. I shudder to think where I would’ve been otherwise.
It was on KCSU, as I clearly recall, where I first heard of the first airplane crashing into Tower 2 of the World Trade Center. I remember having some big argument with Mom ending just as she pulled up on the curb to drop us of, and as I opened the door, some guy got on the air, saying “I’m sure you’ve all heard about the airplane crash on the World Trade Center now,” or something very similar, and my mom opening her mouth and saying “Oh my god”, and that was it. This was before the second tower was hit, mind you.
But enough recollections, KCSU has held a special infatuation in my heart for a little while now, and this entire training process has been pretty damn exciting. As of now, I’ve collected the signatures of four of the seven managers at the stations (there is quite a lot of behind-the-scenes work that takes place at the studio, quite a few employees don’t even have their own show), and now I’ve shadowed for two shows, and I’m feeling more confident going into my next two tests.
The hardest part, in my opinion, will be this first test. I basically have to take a pass/fail test: miss one question and you lose. I’ve got to study the names of the managers (I guess they ask you to recall three specific names and match them with their station), know the difference between payola and plugola (feeling pretty confident about this one, I wrote an article about payola scandals at Clear Channel…actually, I remember speaking to the KCSU station manager for that one!), and some of the rules, regulations, stuff like that. I just pray we don’t go into specific technical details, because I seriously don’t remember any of that stuff, and what’s worse, I’ve lost my training manual.
Part two is show auditions. This is the spot that separates the staff member from the DJ. Pass this, and you get your very own show! Of course, being a newcomer, I’ll be placed into a spot that goes no earlier than 11:00 p.m., and should to go on at 11:00 a.m., it’ll be on Wednesday night, the night before my beloved 8:00 a.m. Online Writing course. Any other day, and I’ll be going from possibly 1:00-3:00 a.m., or 3:00-5:00 a.m., or maybe 5:00-7:00 a.m., so many options! I guess I shouldn’t get ahead of myself because that is all far into the future really, if I do have a show I won’t get a start on it till mid November and that’ll be if I’m lucky.
Here’s to making the grade.
Also, Erik’s video of the week: there’s something about 1:40 that made me laugh loudly.
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