Interview Questions 1. How long have you been a DJ? On air since November 2007.
2. What kind of station do you DJ for? I was a member of WDBK-FM, the 30watt station of Camden County College from September 2007-August 2010. When I started, WDBK was a Alternative station from 6am-6pm, playing popular “indie” bands that I could not stand. Then at 6pm, the specialty shows began, playing whatever the DJ desired, completely abandoning the “indie” format. Then after a management change in Sept 2009, the format was utterly done away with and it was a basic free-for-all so to speak. As of September 2010, I am currently a trainee at WRSU-FM, one of two stations run by the students of Rutgers University (in New Jersey). So far, I’ve gauged WRSU to be a “free-for-all” with a giant mix of music going on the air, but metal not being allowed to be featured on a specialty show before 6pm.
3. Does this station play music you personally like? I rarely listened to WDBK unless I was in that station itself, on air myself, or a few select friends of mine who’s music taste were similar to mine because I found the majority of the music the DJs were spinning to be pretentious and horrible. As of right now, I only listen to WRSU when I am actually on air with the metal show because I believe that WRSU is actually too eclectic to the point that a listener gets turned off by the strange match-ups of different genres.
4. If no, does that bother you at all? Yes, it bothers me quite a bit. I would love to turn on the radio and go more than 10 minutes without changing the station or turn on my iPod. I’d like to support the DJs to I know because I know that they are “working hard” but most of the time my own musical taste gets in the way.
5. What made you want to become a radio DJ? I actually never wanted to be a DJ. I wanted to be a music journalist, meaning I’d interview bands, and review albums and concerts in the hopes that my pieces would find their way into some form of print media. I joined WDBK on my first day at community college because a friend suggested it to me. I originally joined under the notion that I would help organize the metal library, listen and catalog the incoming metal music, tell the metal DJ what was worthy of being on air within the new stuff, and occasionally doing an interview or review. The idea of being on air terrified me, and still terrifies me every time I open up the microphone. I was offered a co-host spot on a metal show in the works and decided to give it a shot, even though it scared me. The show Trephination, ran from December 8th 2007-August 13th 2010 every Friday night from 6-10pm (most of the time), with me being the only permanent host through the running time with me going through 3 male co-hosts before the show was over.
6. Is this job what you though it would be? Not at all. I thought it would be one big party. With a sense, it somewhat is, but with the knowledge that you actually have something to get done, whether it be interviewing a band, producing a show, or even just showing up every week. Just knowing that your opinion is being heard and listeners actually care about your opinion is a monumental concept for a college student. I’ve been on tour buses, backstage, I’ve had to call Finland at 3am to set up an interview, I’ve Mced local shows and campus events, something that I never imagined my shy self would ever have the willpower to do.
7. Do you plan to pursue a DJ career once you finish school? No. I plan to go into the interviewing aspect of music journalism. The politics and rules that surround and supersede radio is too much for me to want to deal with for the rest of my working life and I believe that I would not enjoy it. With print media, you have to put thought into what you say and you’re able to edit, while on radio if you say the wrong word, curse, play the wrong song, or use call-to-action, you can’t take it back and your career may be over thus far.
8. Who chooses the music you play? While I was at WDBK, my co-host at the time had equal say in what we’d play on our show. On WRSU, I am training on a show with 4 or so people, so we all just collaborate on what goes on air. For both shows, all the song are in the vein of metal.
9. Can you pick any of the music you play? Yes. I pick whatever I want. In WRSU, half of your play list must be from the current rack that they have in the on-air studio, but they keep it stocked with metal so I have yet to run into a situation where I am completely against what we are playing, but then again, the metal show is on after hours so we are not allowed to play such music before 6pm.
10. Are you allowed to play songs with minor swear words on air? We are advised that if the word is in George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words”, which are “shit,” “piss,” “fuck,” “cunt,” “cocksucker,” “motherfucker,” and “tits”, are without a doubt not allow on air. As for words like “bitch” and “ass”, we are told to really look at the context. It’s very unclear where to draw the line. Also, there is the problem of curses in songs in other languages, like I frequently would play music in Norwegian, Finnish, and Swedish.
11. Do you believe music should ever be censored? While I would like to say no, I do believe that children are entitled to listening to any “clean” broadcast.
12. If yes under what circumstances? If no, why not? As for yes, I believe that a child’s innocence can be preserved with the censoring of curse words. With that being said, I believe that if curses and violence were more prevalent in broadcasts, that children will hear such words so often and come across the violence in songs that they would become desensitized to those topic, which in turn would render the curse words virtually useless because they would loose their shock value. Unfortunately, children should not be desensitized to violence.
13. Do you think this music censorship will continue in its current state, or will it get better or worse in the future? I believe that censorship has actually lessened. Violence is more accepted and some curse words, like “bitch,“ are frequently heard uncensored. Despite this, I think that parents are becoming actually more protective of their children so I can see more and more challenges to songs or the slapping of albums with more “Parental Advisory” stickers without really questionable material or justifiable reason.
14. What advice do you have for someone like myself, who would like to become a radio DJ? Have fun. Work hard, but not to hard. Don’t be afraid to give your opinion, no matter how mean, politically incorrect, or controversial it may be, but be prepared to defend your opinion with adequate support/experience. Also, when it comes to having to censor a song, be happy that you even have the opportunity to play the song, even if you have to flip around a curse word. Don’t be afraid to edit songs, it’s better to alter a song slightly that have to resort to not playing it. Know that your opinion matters. Fight for your musical taste, but be prepared to play songs that you despise and work with people that are extremely self-centered and stubborn. Don’t be afraid to mess up, just keep trying and find your own niche.
15. Is there anything else you’d like to say on the subject of censorship? Sometimes editing songs can be fun, so don’t look down on it completely. At least the music is still getting out there!
Yay! *puts it with my collection from 2nd grade* It always bothered me that you could get gold stars, silver stars, green stars, red stars, and blue stars, but never purple stars. I have yet to get my purple star.
Comments
Interview Questions
1. How long have you been a DJ?
On air since November 2007.
2. What kind of station do you DJ for?
I was a member of WDBK-FM, the 30watt station of Camden County College from September 2007-August 2010. When I started, WDBK was a Alternative station from 6am-6pm, playing popular “indie” bands that I could not stand. Then at 6pm, the specialty shows began, playing whatever the DJ desired, completely abandoning the “indie” format. Then after a management change in Sept 2009, the format was utterly done away with and it was a basic free-for-all so to speak. As of September 2010, I am currently a trainee at WRSU-FM, one of two stations run by the students of Rutgers University (in New Jersey). So far, I’ve gauged WRSU to be a “free-for-all” with a giant mix of music going on the air, but metal not being allowed to be featured on a specialty show before 6pm.
3. Does this station play music you personally like?
I rarely listened to WDBK unless I was in that station itself, on air myself, or a few select friends of mine who’s music taste were similar to mine because I found the majority of the music the DJs were spinning to be pretentious and horrible. As of right now, I only listen to WRSU when I am actually on air with the metal show because I believe that WRSU is actually too eclectic to the point that a listener gets turned off by the strange match-ups of different genres.
4. If no, does that bother you at all?
Yes, it bothers me quite a bit. I would love to turn on the radio and go more than 10 minutes without changing the station or turn on my iPod. I’d like to support the DJs to I know because I know that they are “working hard” but most of the time my own musical taste gets in the way.
5. What made you want to become a radio DJ?
I actually never wanted to be a DJ. I wanted to be a music journalist, meaning I’d interview bands, and review albums and concerts in the hopes that my pieces would find their way into some form of print media. I joined WDBK on my first day at community college because a friend suggested it to me. I originally joined under the notion that I would help organize the metal library, listen and catalog the incoming metal music, tell the metal DJ what was worthy of being on air within the new stuff, and occasionally doing an interview or review. The idea of being on air terrified me, and still terrifies me every time I open up the microphone. I was offered a co-host spot on a metal show in the works and decided to give it a shot, even though it scared me. The show Trephination, ran from December 8th 2007-August 13th 2010 every Friday night from 6-10pm (most of the time), with me being the only permanent host through the running time with me going through 3 male co-hosts before the show was over.
6. Is this job what you though it would be?
Not at all. I thought it would be one big party. With a sense, it somewhat is, but with the knowledge that you actually have something to get done, whether it be interviewing a band, producing a show, or even just showing up every week. Just knowing that your opinion is being heard and listeners actually care about your opinion is a monumental concept for a college student. I’ve been on tour buses, backstage, I’ve had to call Finland at 3am to set up an interview, I’ve Mced local shows and campus events, something that I never imagined my shy self would ever have the willpower to do.
7. Do you plan to pursue a DJ career once you finish school?
No. I plan to go into the interviewing aspect of music journalism. The politics and rules that surround and supersede radio is too much for me to want to deal with for the rest of my working life and I believe that I would not enjoy it. With print media, you have to put thought into what you say and you’re able to edit, while on radio if you say the wrong word, curse, play the wrong song, or use call-to-action, you can’t take it back and your career may be over thus far.
8. Who chooses the music you play?
While I was at WDBK, my co-host at the time had equal say in what we’d play on our show. On WRSU, I am training on a show with 4 or so people, so we all just collaborate on what goes on air. For both shows, all the song are in the vein of metal.
9. Can you pick any of the music you play?
Yes. I pick whatever I want. In WRSU, half of your play list must be from the current rack that they have in the on-air studio, but they keep it stocked with metal so I have yet to run into a situation where I am completely against what we are playing, but then again, the metal show is on after hours so we are not allowed to play such music before 6pm.
10. Are you allowed to play songs with minor swear words on air?
We are advised that if the word is in George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words”, which are “shit,” “piss,” “fuck,” “cunt,” “cocksucker,” “motherfucker,” and “tits”, are without a doubt not allow on air. As for words like “bitch” and “ass”, we are told to really look at the context. It’s very unclear where to draw the line. Also, there is the problem of curses in songs in other languages, like I frequently would play music in Norwegian, Finnish, and Swedish.
11. Do you believe music should ever be censored?
While I would like to say no, I do believe that children are entitled to listening to any “clean” broadcast.
12. If yes under what circumstances? If no, why not?
As for yes, I believe that a child’s innocence can be preserved with the censoring of curse words. With that being said, I believe that if curses and violence were more prevalent in broadcasts, that children will hear such words so often and come across the violence in songs that they would become desensitized to those topic, which in turn would render the curse words virtually useless because they would loose their shock value. Unfortunately, children should not be desensitized to violence.
13. Do you think this music censorship will continue in its current state, or will it get better or worse in the future?
I believe that censorship has actually lessened. Violence is more accepted and some curse words, like “bitch,“ are frequently heard uncensored. Despite this, I think that parents are becoming actually more protective of their children so I can see more and more challenges to songs or the slapping of albums with more “Parental Advisory” stickers without really questionable material or justifiable reason.
14. What advice do you have for someone like myself, who would like to become a radio DJ?
Have fun. Work hard, but not to hard. Don’t be afraid to give your opinion, no matter how mean, politically incorrect, or controversial it may be, but be prepared to defend your opinion with adequate support/experience. Also, when it comes to having to censor a song, be happy that you even have the opportunity to play the song, even if you have to flip around a curse word. Don’t be afraid to edit songs, it’s better to alter a song slightly that have to resort to not playing it. Know that your opinion matters. Fight for your musical taste, but be prepared to play songs that you despise and work with people that are extremely self-centered and stubborn. Don’t be afraid to mess up, just keep trying and find your own niche.
15. Is there anything else you’d like to say on the subject of censorship?
Sometimes editing songs can be fun, so don’t look down on it completely. At least the music is still getting out there!
Brittanie Ricciuti
http://www.camdencc.edu/studentlife/wdbk.html
http://wrsu.rutgers.edu/