Intern Party-Girl

I have been an intern with the radio station for about five weeks now. Starting out and having absolutely no radio broadcasting experience except for two small segments during radio interviews in the past, I have Ben getting the hang of things pretty well. Here are some highlights and experiences I have taken part in during my interning:

First, I have established and officially been named as “Intern Party-Girl.” This nickname may have a negative connotation, but I think it just stuck when the first week was my 21st birthday. Let’s just say that this internship isn’t your normal office job. The day after my 21st birthday, Ben and Kelly welcomed me to the station during an on air celebration with Mikes Hard drinks. I will always remember this 7am drink session. 😂

To keep up my “party girl” image, I came in one morning with a problem. I went kareokeing the night before, but never was able to sing my favorite. Always looking for segments for the show, Ben and Kelly asked if I would like to fulfill my hankering of singing kareokeing. Let’s just say I ROCKED IT!!

Another memory I will always take with me from my internship will be attending the opening and announcement where a new venue and hotel will be built on 4th street in Louisville. I Iistened to the Mayor speak and met some people involved with the reconstruction. WHAS news crew attended and I was excited to see how the press went about recording the grand opening. I am thankful that Ben allowed me to join and experience the atmosphere! We ended in a champaign celebration! 👍

Throwback Thursday Fun!

So, the morning show at 99.7 has been a blast. My favorite part of this week has been the Throwback Thursday songs that were played. It took me back to my childhood and loved seeing the excitement on Twitter that the songs received. Everyone freaked out about NSYNC and good ole Brittany Spears!!

I love watching how Ben or Kelly will come up with scenarios related to experiences they have had to allow callers to give their opinion or stories on related topics! Ben is very quick on his feet and can multi-task like no other! He is running the show with the sound board, keeping up with Twitter, Facebook, and the radio website, as well as leading discussions that will interest the audience. I have been updating the radio site by listing and putting links to all of the stories mentioned on the morning show each day. Every big story or interesting segment is updated on the radio’s Facebook page. I am feeling a lot more comfortable with tasks and excited to keep learning! Lastly, I recorded my second advertisement to be played on commercial breaks. I heard my voice on the radio for the first time last Tuesday and was caught off guard. It was interesting to hear myself on the radio for the first time, and I am able to think of ways to improve my voice recordings. The way you speak into the microphone and use pronunciation is an art and I hope to become better at making radio advertisements!

Week 2 @ DJX

Starting to get the hang of things:
The second week at the radio station has been full of learning and experiencing new things! By the end of the week, I was behind the Audio Board, controlling the show ( starting at 9am until about 9:30am.) I was nervous because the audio board can be intimidating at first, but once I got familiar with the controls, I was able to feel a lot more confident!

The thing I was most excited about was recording commercial advertisements for breaks in the show. I now have a 15 second promo advertising for a company, Boars Head. I actually just heard the advertisement on the radio as I was driving today! It was different but exciting to hear my voice on the radio.

I listen to the radio a lot differently now:
I think about when segments were recorded and if they were pre-recorded and repeated even though it seems as though they are “live.” I also hear breaks in the audio where commercials were edited to speed up the time frame. Promos are only supposed to be a certain length for the amount of money spent to have the promo on the station. When I recorded my audio, it had to be sped up to fit 15 seconds. Now, every time I listen to the radio I analyze the structure behind each show. This could be a good thing or a bad thing.

My First Week at WDJX

I start my internship at 7 am and finish around 12 pm, and I come to the station every Tuesday and Thursday. The morning show for WDJX is called The Ben Davis and Kelly K. Show which runs from 5:30 am until 10 am.

August 20, 2013: My first Day!

• I was very excited to start my internship at 99.7 WDJX, and was eager to start learning the ins and outs of what it takes to run a radio station! I was able to sit in the studio, listen and observe the morning show.
• Kelly K. wasn’t in the studio for my first day but Ben and Alex, girl who reads traffic, were there to give me a good idea on how things are run every day.
• I was entertained by the callers’ comments/feedback from different segments of the show!
• DJX, being a radio station that plays/features the new top 40 hits, has to please their listeners by evaluating the public’s interest in music. Ben Davis asked me to rate 6 new songs that he played, to see what my opinion was on certain types of music. He asks others in the radio station to get a better idea on what songs would be more successful than others.
• After every morning show, the audio has to be documented and saved for future references. Ben taught me how to cut the audio into clips and delete the advertising audio. Music and traffic is also taken out of the audio. This process is always done after every morning show. The program used was Sonic Foundry Media.

August 22, 2013:

• After the first day, I was familiar with the process and order that the shows were ran. I cut the audio clips after the morning show and was taught the basics of the Audio Board.
• There was about 2-5 minutes of the show where I was behind the audio board and switching all microphones and switching over different segments.
• There was a gift card being given out today to the 9th caller so I was taught how to do the telephone screening and talk to the winner to input their information into the system for the prIze.
• Kelly K. Explained that in radio they are always on the search for new, juicy, and entertaining news. She also showed me some great websites to keep up and always finding things to talk about on air!

Behind the scenes of the Ben Davis and Kelly K. Show after two days has already been such a great learning experience. With anything, muscle memory and second nature come naturally. The amount of responsibility it is to keep a radio station constantly on air and entertaining to listeners is huge. While running the soundboard, I got nervous, but I always have to remember how things always get easier. I WANT TO BE FAMILIARIZED WITH EVERYTHING SO I CAN CONTINUE TO BUILD ON MY EXPERIENCE AS AN INTERN FOR DJX!!!