| |
 |
 |
Rants and lots of 'em!
man it must suck to be a deejay nowadays.
i am not talking about the deejays of the "2 turntables and a microphone" variety, but rather the ones who get on the radio everyday, pretend that the music they are playing is the BEST in hip-hop, classic rock, new country, etc., and shill for whatever band is playing at the big arena, owned by the same company who owns the radio station, who just happens to own the record label that the band is on, but i digress.
don''t get me wrong, i have absolutely nothing against the deejays. they have a job to do and it''s probably not a bad gig, beats working at the drive-thru, i get it. but it wasn''t too long ago that being a deejay was the shit. think about it for a second. radio deejays introduced the world to rock-n roll for gods sake! i mean, who among us doesn''t like to spin some tunes at a party, maybe play some stuff that nobody has heard before, and have your taste in music validated by a sufficiently entertained group. "dude, who is that, this rocks!", that type of thing. well, these early rock-n-roll deejays were turning an entire nation of youth on to some totally new shit. they had direct control of the airwaves, and were basically programming the nation''s playlists to suit their own tastes. from wolfman jack, and his pirate radio broadcasts, to guys like alan freed (who, incidentally, is credited with coining the phrase "rock-n-roll") celebrity status was attained because, in a nutshell, people enjoyed their record collections. maybe not the best thing for music in general, because so few carried so much influence, but from the deejay''s perspective, a dream job to be sure.
eventually, businessmen realized there was a chance to make a buck off of this new thing called rock-n-roll, so things started to get really exciting for the deejay. now, instead of having to go out and discover new music, singles came flooding in to them, hoping to pique their interest enough to get a few spins and some much needed publicity. and sure enough, when the profit margins started to sag for all the newly formed record labels, a more direct approach was implemented. PAYOLA BABY! now the deejay was not only getting music provided to him, but also boatloads of cash (not to mention hookers, blow, etc.) as well! once again, maybe not the best thing for music in general, but from the deejay''s perspective................
flash forward to today, and the only requirement for the deejay position is a good "radio voice". show up, clock in, plug into the clear channel ipod (can you imagine all of the available space on that baby, only 20-25 songs to fill the hard-drive), and try to convince your ever dwindling audience that whatever garbage you are playing is actually worth wasting the next 3 minutes of your life listening to. not a very rewarding existence, i would imagine. oh, there is still payola, but the deejay has been squeezed out of the action by the program directors, who make all playlist decisions visually (computer printouts of statistical analysis of listening patterns of target audiences, etc.) instead of audibly (by LISTENING TO MUSIC). these guys are so impotent that the hookers and blow route is obsolete now. kind of makes you long for the days of deejays being hired for their records, instead of their voices.
so let''s run it down.
old deejays played what they wanted, became influential players in the birth of rock-n-roll, got paid when things got dirty, and some became celebrities.
new deejays play what they are told, promote who they are told to promote, watch their bosses get paid, because things are still dirty, and become nothing more than a small part of the mindless, droning machine that is radio nowadays. probably not what you thought of when you were busting you''re ass getting that degree in broadcasting.
so, brothers and sisters, please take a moment to pray for the deejay, for i fear that his time is coming to an end. sooner or later, all of the stations will realize that they do not need a "live" deejay, and will begin training monkeys to hit the "shuffle" button on the company ipod, at a substantial savings, directly helping the bottom line.
anyway, here''s to hoping that all of the newly unemployed deejays will take a little bit of their severance packages, and get themselves a hooker and some blow of their very own, god knows you guys deserve it.
your friend,
j.b.
|
|
|
|
