Radio FAQs: The Most Asked Question

"Do you pick your own music?" As soon as someone finds out you work in radio, that is by far the most asked question. I suppose that can't be helped, since the term "disc jockey" has been used to describe radio people for decades. That may have been true at one time, but those days are gone. For one thing, we almost never jockey discs. Secondly, the music selection process has gotten a lot more sophisticated. It is essential to a station's survival to decide on a target audience and to focus like a laser beam on catering to it. As a former program and music director, I can appreciate the work that goes into this music scheduling process. I am not nostalgic for the old days of scrambling for a 45 to cue up with seconds left on the one playing. Music is too important to be a snap decision by air people busy with other show elements. How do they decide what gets played? While some stations occasionally insert requests, there is often a fair degree of market research involved before a song makes the air. That means we actually do give listeners a chance to tell us what they want to hear! Going out and finding these potential listeners is more of a reflection of what works than just waiting for random people to call us. Then it is programmed through music software like the one pictured above from MusicMaster or Selector. For radio vets, this post will elicit a "well, duh" response, but to casual listeners it is probably earthshattering!