OK for the holidays I applied at both a Target and Costco here in Denver hoping to find a part-time job to earn extra money for the holidays since they were hiring. On the job application of course it asked to name your past employers. For the last 20 years I only had two. One of them was a radio station in West Virginia. I was there for 12 years. Anyway at Target I noticed on my job application the phone number of the West Virginia radio station was crossed out and replace with a Colorado number. Found out later it was KOA radio. I asked about it and the guy interviewing me said KOA has a directory of all DJs past and present nationwide and if I was in radio I will be on there. Costco according to my friend who works there did the same thing too. Instead of calling up or even emailing the radio station in West Virginia they contacted KOA too. First up I NEVER worked for KOA !! They wouldn't have known anything about me !! That directory that Target speak of...does it exist ?? Since I didn't get either job was it just a ploy to call up KOA to hear them say that KOA has never heard of me so not to hire me ?? In the future should I call up KOA and tell them about me even though I have no desire to work at KOA ??
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A natiowide directory of all radio DJs ....does it exist ???
- Thread starter hamster
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AllAccess.com has its Industry Directory. It covers all radio & music industry employees who choose to register:
"With over 100,000 listings, the All Access Industry Directory is the largest searchable database of radio and music industry professionals and companies on the web. Find phone, address, and email contact info for radio stations, air talent, music executives, broadcast consultants, and more."
"With over 100,000 listings, the All Access Industry Directory is the largest searchable database of radio and music industry professionals and companies on the web. Find phone, address, and email contact info for radio stations, air talent, music executives, broadcast consultants, and more."
What if one never registered ?? I was never ask !! Do I have to contact KOA to tell them who I am since in Denver they would rather make THAT call than to West Virginia ??
Try https://www.allaccess.com/industry-directory
You may be able to create an entry, based on past history.
I looked for my own listing, as I never registered. I appear, but with a title I have not held for 7 years and a work address I never worked at and a phone that I never had. At some point, I will change it with an update.
I looked for a few associates, including three LA "significant station" programmers and a dozen on-air major daypart folks, also in LA. None appeared. I also looked for three morning hosts who, successively, was each #1 in LA over the years and I found just one, but listed as working for a station where he never had a physical presence and only aired as a syndicated show.
I don't know why those employers would call a local station that you never worked for to check a database that is not complete by any means. That would seem to be an inaccurate, incomplete or even biased way of screening potential hires and probably is not in compliance with good recruiting standards.
That's the problem with ANY "national directory of all radio DJs." There are 14,000 radio stations, and perhaps hundreds of thousands of people who have been DJs at radio stations around the country. Someone has to assemble such a directory, people have to register, or they won't have any names.
AllAccess has the registry on its home page. If you've ever visited their page, you've been asked to register. If you don't, that's your decision.
OK this goes back to KOA. I highly doubt either Target, Costco or anybody else outside radio would access ALLAccess so they contact KOA instead. My other half says to contact KOA on Tuesday but I don't know. The radio station I worked at was not a union shop but KOA is. Could this play a part in this ?? I just don't see how even if I would register KOA could help ME. To not register I guess Target or Costco will think I was lying about my radio days even though a quick call to West Virginia will prove otherwise.
It's a Denver thing I guess. People here will try to call local rather than long distance. I guess if I said I worked at a TV station in Virginia for 20 years knowing some of these people in Denver they probably call up KUSA 9 News instead even if I never worked there either.
I doubt very much that All Access calls anyone to verify. If you register, then you're registered.
But YOU have to register. Don't expect your employer to do it for you. Because they won't.
Candidly speaking, KOA will not have the least interest in your non-KOA work experience. Why should they? They have nothing to gain by spending time looking through industry sources.
If a prospective employer uses the wrong methods to check prior employment, that is an issue between the applicant and that particular employer.
You might, however, want to register with All Access (which does not show past employment... only current status as best they can). But likely better is to get some written documentation of your past employment such as a letter giving dates. You can certainly present this to any employer in the hopes they will take it into account.
I still don't get why anyone would contact KOA specifically. That is like calling a Chevy dealer in Denver to ask if the Porsche dealer in Philadelphia has a red Boxter in the used car lot.
I'd go farther and say it's a Colorado thing. Behind all of the glamorous natural beauty and the jet-setting ski culture, after ten years in this great state I'd characterize Colorado as a place that gravitates towards the sloppy and half-fast (to use the polite Stones spelling.)
Just because one was born here doesn't mean you'd want to display a CO state "NATIVE" bumper sticker likes it's a badge of honor, because it isn't.
A passing thought as I write: was the West Virginia station owned by iHeart? That would be the only reason to call KOA. Personally, if you think it's worth your time (it might not be) I'd call Target's corporate HR department in Minneapolis to report the local HR rep's ineptitude.
The station I worked for at the time was owned by a man who retired a few years ago and sold the station to West Virginia Radio it was not then or now owned by Iheart. Now I did work for a station that is now Iheart but that was way back in 1993 and that wasn't on my application at all. This whole thing doesn't make sense to me. Why call KOA, KLZ, KOOL 105, KYGO or whatever Denver station to ask about me other than being lazy on their part ?? I am calling Target and Costco corporate Tuesday.
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So I take it you didn't get the Job? At my Federal security background meeting in Miami I was asked about my days as a Doctor in Ohio. When I told the man I just did Radio & never lived in Ohio he seemed bewildered.
Radio people also go under assumed names. Your name might be raising a red flag in a local database. I for example get alerts from my Credit monitoring service when a Sexual offender moves nearby (provided for free for 3 years due to the Government hack)
Radio people also go under assumed names. Your name might be raising a red flag in a local database. I for example get alerts from my Credit monitoring service when a Sexual offender moves nearby (provided for free for 3 years due to the Government hack)
Except, AllAccess is not accurate by any stretch of the imagination. I know because my listing shows a radio station that I have not worked at since 2014. But to be fair, myself and many others don't bother to change their info when they move. So I guess "I" am not accurate by any stretch of the imagination!
The 440 site is quite good, "440 satisfaction" will get you there but as mentioned it only includes those radio professionals who wanted to be included and a pay a fee for that listing. It is still a great reference and goes back many decades. The only downside to it is the participant can edit their resume and leave out some stops...hmm...
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No I did not get those jobs. The weird thing was that Target and Costco both called KOA about me and in Target's case they scratched off the number number of the West Virginia Radio and wrote in KOA's number even though I never worked at KOA. I really am beginning to think it was lazy on the part of Target and Costco. I also being to wonder for being part time jobs is it worth my time to call up corporate at both Target and Costco since the Target one was temporary but in the future say I applies for a big job and the person interviewing me says they too will call up KOA, KLZ or whatever. AllAcceess, 440 and the like its doubtful a place like Target will check that out on their own so I guess they want KOA to do it but then again why would KOA do it ?? All of this could be prevented if they would simply call or email the radio station in West Virginia. I have been told leave the radio station off the next time but that will leave a gap of several years if I would do that.
I call shenanigans. Did you post this over at the DCRTV.com Mailbag a few weeks back, too?
"The reason I ask is I have a friend who for years did radio in Richmond and Hampton Roads, He recently moved to Phoenix and was trying to apply for work there. Every station it is was the same. They looked up in the directory of radio jocks and his name wasn't there. Some even suggest he was lying about his past despite his airchecks and the 30 years he had spent in both markets. One program director there even went as far as saying he knew everyone that was on the radio in Virginia but he doesn't remember him. Someone mentioned years ago on here that AFTRA had a directory but does that include non-union stations ??"
Methinks we're being trolled, and not even very well at that.
"The reason I ask is I have a friend who for years did radio in Richmond and Hampton Roads, He recently moved to Phoenix and was trying to apply for work there. Every station it is was the same. They looked up in the directory of radio jocks and his name wasn't there. Some even suggest he was lying about his past despite his airchecks and the 30 years he had spent in both markets. One program director there even went as far as saying he knew everyone that was on the radio in Virginia but he doesn't remember him. Someone mentioned years ago on here that AFTRA had a directory but does that include non-union stations ??"
Methinks we're being trolled, and not even very well at that.
I'm closing this thread because a) the story is improbable and b) it appears that the post has been repeated on other boards with minor changes in venue.
In any case, there is not much more that can be said on the subject.
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