If you follow me on one of the big three social networks you've undoubtedly seen my posts about work. I work a lot (around 60-ish hours a week and generally six days a week, sometimes seven). The media business is a 24 hour a day seven day a week endeavor and all of us in this business end up working while a lot of people are goofin' off. Somebody's gotta make the donuts!
One of the most common questions I'm asked is: "What do you do?" I'll attempt to give you a short overview. I won't cover everything but here's a chunk of it:
On-air: I'm on the air as a radio dj six days a week. Weekdays I'm on 3-7 p.m. and weekends the timeslot varies but is usually Saturday afternoons. I'm responsible for all of the content you hear that comes out of my mouth, answering phones, interacting on the web, preparing things for air such as traffic reports, drinking sodas, and eating cookies. The vending machine is my friend.
Commercial production: I voice commercials for my station as well as for MIX-fm, The Truth, and ESPN 1490 The Fan, load into our computer systems commercials that have been produced other places, and various other producing things.
Remote broadcasts: This is where I go to a location and broadcast live usually for a couple of hours at a time. Greet listeners of the station, schmooze clients, hand out prizes, and stand around and look pretty. That last part is the hardest.
Website: I'm the radio station website maintenance boy. I make the graphics (this is not my expertise in life but hopefully they're good enough not to make people go blind), and manage the content. I've had to learn all of it myself so even after doing it for about four years I'm still learning. I also create the content for my own blog (the one that you're reading now), take photos for viewing on the 'net, and maintain the station's Myspace, Facebook and Twitter accounts as well as my own. My Blackberry is really helpful with this task!
ESPN 1490am traffic: I compile the information for and voice the traffic reports in the afternoon for ESPN Radio 1490 The Fan.
Programming: I am the Program Director for Mega so I schedule all of the music that plays, manage station design, manage the dj's on the station, and am generally responsible for all of the content on the station. What you hear coming out of the speakers is my responsibility 24/7.
Promotional announcements: I write all of the promotional announcements for the station and produce about half of them (we have a company we contract that does the other half).
CW Tucson: I am the station promotional voice for KWBA-TV (CW Tucson Channel 58 / Cable Channel 8). I have recently expanded this role. What does this job mean? I'm the voice you hear at the end of promotional commercials you see that says stuff like "Tonight at 7 on The CW Tucson".
Mega Movie: I host movies on Saturday nights at 9 p.m. and Sunday nights at 7 p.m. on The CW Tucson. My happy face appears about every 30 minutes during the movie to talk about stuff related to the movie or stuff on the radio station. Shocking fact: I do my own hair for TV and sadly still have a face for radio.
I hope that gives you a little bit of insight. Oh! I almost forgot: I frequent the vending machines here and jam through nearby drive thru's often. With all of this work to do who has time to eat?
