Tuesday, November 17, 2020

No substitute for on-air experience

I remember one co-worker, upon hearing that another co-worker had been a DJ, asked him if he had studied broadcasting in school.

"I have an associates degree in broadcasting," the DJ replied.

That's the only time I've ever seen anyone ask a DJ about his college degree.  Radio is one of those fields in which a degree doesn't really matter, regardless of how hard you worked for it.  For a DJ, what counts is your ability to perform on-air and convince program directors to hire and keep you.  I was surprised that the questioner didn't follow up with questions about the DJ's experiences in radio instead.