Future Prep

The days of reading the trades and replying to ads posted
are gone. Gone, gone, gone.

Does it still happen? Yes.
Do people still get jobs that way? Yes.
Is it the best way? Absolutely not. In fact, I'd consider it a last resort.

If you'd like to put yourself at the back of the line when it comes to finding a gig and hope that your demo is so out of the ballpark awesome that the station hires you instead of someone who they were already aware of, your results will speak for themselves, but let's be honest here... even if your demo is that awesome, wouldn't you rather be the person the PD got a tip about? "Hey, you need to check out this guy's stuff."

We all gripe and moan about the need for radio to change - myself included. It's easy to point out the changes corporate needs to make. But what about the changes *we* need to make?

Change has also got to start with us. You, and me.

There are expenses that come with any career, and radio is no different. How many of us have given a friend $100 when he got blown out of a gig so he could afford to buy a spindle of CDs, a ream of good paper and mailing supplies. Or hell, how many of us have been on the receiving end of such a gift? I remember getting blown out due to management changes and the production director offered to order me a box of clamshells for mailing CDs. We all KNOW the expenses that come with finding a gig.

What about the expenses that come with HAVING a gig? You need headphones, right? You need CDs to save your airchecks, right? (please tell me you do this).

One of the expenses of being in radio is future prep.

You need a real website. Come on now, it's 2007, not 1997. You need to start using your online presence as a way to get other people to market your work for you. You need a link at the bottom of every email you send that leads to your site. How can someone who works in the media not understand the power of advertising? Or of grass roots marketing?

A domain name costs NINE dollars a year. Decent webhosting costs $10 a month or less.

Also, get a myspace page and link it to and from your real website. Myspace is cool, and it can be a superb tool, but it's important to have a real 'thisisme.com' type domain to pass around. It looks professional, and it's great for using on the phone. Let's say you sent a demo the old fashioned way, and the PD liked it. If you're on the phone with the PD, you can say "oh, and by the way, I've posted samples of spots I've written on my site." It's a great way to show far more versatility than you ever could on a demo.

Think of the things you want radio to do differently. You want content, right? You want personality, right? You want resources. So, why are you denying yourself those very same things when it comes to marketing yourself? Why limit your personality to what they hear on a demo?

A great jock is more than what we hear on the air. A great jock is prep, and captivating public appearances. A great jock is people skills and a superb communicator. A great jock is marketing savvy, even if the jock doesn't realize it.

Is an air check the 'only' way to show that you are those things? Part of the reason I started This Is The Box is because I wanted to show that I had programming smarts far beyond what was on my demos.

Last, but absolutely not least, if you're a jock or prod person on the beach, you really should learn at least the basics of web design. It's a bitch at first, but it gets easier as you grasp the concepts of html, css and such. Then, it becomes another reason for a PD to hire you rather than someone else.

Are you into photography? Use your site as a reason to become a better photographer. A jock with a camera is a valuable thing, in my opinion. Good pics on a station website...? That's content - even if the pics are just from a station event.

Or maybe you're a writer? Use your site as an excuse to write more, and to become a better writer. Again, we're talking versatility here. Maybe you could be the person who helps write promos.

Today is a new day, and we've got to live it a new way, or the blame for continued misdirection will be ours.

Change starts with you. (and me)