For those of you who don’t know, I do a monthly “folk” radio show on WERU FM up here (sorry, no streaming yet, working on that). I’m at the station as I write this, ripping mp3’s off new stuff and cool stuff from the library while a mix of songs I’ve ripped from here and my library in the past (now at 11000 whoo hoo) is playing in the studio (now playing ‘Dar Williams – Christians & the Pagans‘.
It’s a strange thing being a DJ. Last night I was listening to a musician I like, Jamie Anderson live on KXCI in Tucson, AZ (they are streaming, I’m jealous) she mentioned that being a DJ is a very selfish thing, very attention seeking. Deja vu to my earlier post about web pages and journals being ‘look at me’ type things.
But again, is that what being a DJ is all about? I hardly like to talk on the air, so I’d like to think it’s not about me, it’s about the music. But then again, it’s me picking the music, it’s me foisting my opinion of what’s good music on the unsuspecting public listeners. What’s my reason for doing this?
Hmmm…
I love that Dar Williams song.
Tell me – have you found that “David Duchovny” song yet?
The problem with the radio musings above is that you unerplay the listener. It’s not about me, it’s about sharing with my listener. What is she doing now? What may he be interested in hearing, even if he has never it before? I’m a volunteer at a community station in Alaska. Community radio volunteers are, perhaps, some the only people in radio who can still think of our listeners as whole beings with the ability to tolerate diversity and not just consumers or a demographic niche. Being the keepers of this type of radio gives us more responsibility than the normal DJ. My 2 cents worth.