Doing a Radio Shift
Once or twice a year, I have the good fortune to enter a college radio station and be the DJ for an air shift. I’ve documented a few shows I’ve done here on this blog. If you get the chance to spend some time on the air, and you get to call your own shots with the tunes, I recommend taking some time to prepare for your adventure. In fact, I recommend taking about an hour or so a day for the previous week to really prepare. That’s pretty much what I did for a recent shift that is documented in the playlist below this post. I spent time thinking about what I wanted to play, then I compiled several CDs of music to make the work less hectic. Here’s how to start.
First, what do you want to do on the air? Most folks want to play the tunes they like. Guess what? Many of those songs may not be easy to find at the radio station you visit. In fact, they may not even be on hand at all. A week before your on-air moment, start compiling band names, album names and “must play” song titles. On my recent shift, I was inspired to have some sort of theme. That morphed into a show featuring three hours of power pop. You can’t play everything, so concentrating on a style or era can help you focus on doing a smooth show.
After compiling that list of bands and albums, start jotting down song titles that you want to play. Review the list to determine if a theme is already apparent, then start tossing those songs that just don’t fit. Keep adding, reviewing and deciding on what can fit. Once you have a decent size list, start collecting these tunes together so they are handy to play in the air studio.
I have a large collection of CDs and LPs, and about 12,000 songs as MP3 files. It is easy to compile playlists on your computer then burn these to a CD for the show. If you go this route, make sure you use decent quality MP3 files. I rip my CDs at 256 kbps and have many other files that are a variable bit rate (VBR). These can be a decent quality for on-air. I compile a group of tunes to burn onto a CD as audio files, which can be key factor in the success of your shift. Not all radio stations have compact disc players that can play MP3 files. The DJ that followed me recently came in with a bunch of MP3 files on CD, but no way to put those files through the audio board and over the airwaves. So take the time to make audio CDs of the songs you want to play. Choose a burn rate that is slow as some CD players can be finicky in playing home CDs that have been burned quickly. Lastly, assemble more music than what you have time to play. This can give you more latitude when you get in the studio and go on-air. For my most recent shift, I burned four CDs of material covering almost five hours of time for a three hour show. It is always better to have more than what you need in radio.
Once you have made your audio discs, don’t forget to print out a list of the contents. This will really help when you are trying to find those songs. When the big day arrives, go a little early so you can spend some time to search out a few songs in the radio station archives that you didn’t have in the home collection. At this point, you will be very comfortable walking into the air studio with your handy library of tunes. It will be easy to augment your shift with other music on hand, but the songs you brought will make your shift much easier and more enjoyable.
I recall toting a box of vinyl and CDs to spin for a radio shift many years ago. Sure, it may have been more spontaneous, but the amount of effort getting the stuff there and back home was draining. Making that handful of homemade audio CDs with track listings simplifies the process and gives you some new discs to play in the car of give family and friends.
Have fun on your next air shift!
First, what do you want to do on the air? Most folks want to play the tunes they like. Guess what? Many of those songs may not be easy to find at the radio station you visit. In fact, they may not even be on hand at all. A week before your on-air moment, start compiling band names, album names and “must play” song titles. On my recent shift, I was inspired to have some sort of theme. That morphed into a show featuring three hours of power pop. You can’t play everything, so concentrating on a style or era can help you focus on doing a smooth show.
After compiling that list of bands and albums, start jotting down song titles that you want to play. Review the list to determine if a theme is already apparent, then start tossing those songs that just don’t fit. Keep adding, reviewing and deciding on what can fit. Once you have a decent size list, start collecting these tunes together so they are handy to play in the air studio.
I have a large collection of CDs and LPs, and about 12,000 songs as MP3 files. It is easy to compile playlists on your computer then burn these to a CD for the show. If you go this route, make sure you use decent quality MP3 files. I rip my CDs at 256 kbps and have many other files that are a variable bit rate (VBR). These can be a decent quality for on-air. I compile a group of tunes to burn onto a CD as audio files, which can be key factor in the success of your shift. Not all radio stations have compact disc players that can play MP3 files. The DJ that followed me recently came in with a bunch of MP3 files on CD, but no way to put those files through the audio board and over the airwaves. So take the time to make audio CDs of the songs you want to play. Choose a burn rate that is slow as some CD players can be finicky in playing home CDs that have been burned quickly. Lastly, assemble more music than what you have time to play. This can give you more latitude when you get in the studio and go on-air. For my most recent shift, I burned four CDs of material covering almost five hours of time for a three hour show. It is always better to have more than what you need in radio.
Once you have made your audio discs, don’t forget to print out a list of the contents. This will really help when you are trying to find those songs. When the big day arrives, go a little early so you can spend some time to search out a few songs in the radio station archives that you didn’t have in the home collection. At this point, you will be very comfortable walking into the air studio with your handy library of tunes. It will be easy to augment your shift with other music on hand, but the songs you brought will make your shift much easier and more enjoyable.
I recall toting a box of vinyl and CDs to spin for a radio shift many years ago. Sure, it may have been more spontaneous, but the amount of effort getting the stuff there and back home was draining. Making that handful of homemade audio CDs with track listings simplifies the process and gives you some new discs to play in the car of give family and friends.
Have fun on your next air shift!
posted by E-Mann | 1:01 PM
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