Well. Frankly, radio is just a stepping stone in my career move, my next move will be television and then finally, the movie industry.However, for the time being, I'm stuck in the radio industry. For those who are unfamillar to corporate or "commercial" radio, allow me to give you a crash course of what goes on behind the sceenes.
At an AOR format (AOR stands for Album Oriented Rock) a radio station plays music, just like every other station in a city. However at a station that is owned by a corporation, say Clear Channel Broadcasting or Cumilus Broadcasting, this radio station is forced to play music that is of questionable taste by a band that is a one hit wonder, or in the case of the station I work at, WIOT plays not only one hit wonders but the bands that are conciddered classic artists like Jimmy Hendrix, we play only a very select few. The reasioning (I use the term reasioning very loosely) behind this is that corporate radio stations have certain songs tested. When a song is tested, it is done by two methods:
The first method of phone interviews are like this. A research company or some people call them telemarketers that don't sell anything, call you up and ask you what you think of certain songs that they play over the phone. Radio stations pay the research company for the information that is collected. Lately large broadcasting corporations have been conducting the information themselves and passing the information to the stations that they own. Another type of phone serveys that are done are called ARBITRON. Arbitron is the radio version of the NELSONS, the Nelsons is the rating system television networks use to determine how many people watch a certain television program. Arbitron is lust the same except there are no boxes hooked up to your radio, instead you fill out a diary of what radio stations you listened to and when.
Auditiorium style questionares are just what it says. A radio station will rent out an auditiorium for the day and have people come in and listen to music. After each song, each person will fill out a questionare about that song. This will go on for pretty much all afternoon, and the radio station will pay the people who attend and provide lunch for all the participants.
Well, that's it in a nutshell. If you are still confused I suggest you check out an article that was posted up on the web by me. The article was in the Feburary issue of Spin magazine, entitled Who Killed Rock Radio, and this is more indepth and easier to comprehend than my explanation.
Here is a listing of radio stations on the internet some comercial and some..... Well, lets just say these guys believe in free speech.
104.7 WIOT This is the station I work at
ROCK 106 Rock 106 is WIOT's main competition, and frankly these guys can be relly annoying at times.
Heres my favoriate part. Pirate radio or "Free Radio" as some people call it may not be totaly in the up and up with certain federal officals but hey! Somebody's gotta keep these overpaid, underworked, facists buisy and reminded about the first amendment.
Free Radio Berkley. This station has been on the air for years and the F.C.C. has ben busting them for exactly that long.
The Free Radio Network. This site has links, info, and lots of other goodies.
The Pirate Radio Network. This guy has recently been busted by the FCC. He did have kits you could buy to start your own radio station,as well as simulcasting his station on the web.
This page was last edited on july 22nd, 1999