Tag: radio

Over the past while the issue of what a Radio DJ is and what a radio presenter is, has come up in conversation many times. Probably because, in college, the category at this years Hybrid Awards was titled ‘Radio Presenter’ while at the Smedias it was titled ‘Radio DJ’. I would consider the two to be very different.

Firstly if someone said to me that they were a DJ, I would presume that they were a mixmaster playing pumping tunes. If someone is a Radio DJ, I would say that they were a ‘This is.. that was.. ‘ type of person who works on a CHR station filling the listeners head with back to back tunes and a few funny tidbits along the way with their ‘less talk’, as a lot of them brand themselves.

I’ve only been involved in radio since last September after not doing anything in the radio field for something like thirteen years but I never considered myself a DJ, even as a young whippersnapper broadcasting from a garden shed. Even now if someone says ‘oh you’re a DJ’, it doesn’t particularly feel right.

When I filled out the form for the Hybrid Awards there was a section asking something like ‘Write a brief statement of why you submitted this work’. I put down that I wanted to be more than a ‘This is … that was..’ presenter. If I was listening to the radio I want to be engaged, I like to hear opinions and questions. If I want to listen to music, I can stick on itunes. (more…)