What is the public's perception of the "DJ?"

[John FL]

I’m sure you’ve caught that duster commercial where “Mr. Broom” requests “Don’t You Want Me?” The DJ has a totally retro look and of course the radio voice to go along with it. He’s basically silly and goofy. Perhaps its effective advertising to be entertaining but I wonder if the public really has this perception.

I still maintain the talent, including syndicated, has an important role in the business of radio. Given Mr. Burn’s recent study, it would seem that even he believes radio personalities have relevance with the format since he advocates they interact more with the music. I’m sure there are pubic opinion studies on radio personalities. In my own radio listening, I hear lots of really fine talent who have nothing in common with what was portrayed. Thoughts?

 

[SirRoxalot]

Jocks are portrayed in the media about a sympathetically as car salesmen.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I have been giving thought to starting a new thread but it is so close to this topic, why not combine them.

What effect has the emergence of the Party DJ and the Wedding DJ, etc. had on the radio business?

As some of us are fond of phrasing it, "Back in the day...." when radio was bursting forth in America, there was something magic going on. It was the most visible and exotic technology in may communities. And the people at the radio station.... they must be somebody.

I once worked for a very successful small town broadcaster who put some limited effort into trying to reach teens during the evening hours with a classic young DJ. He 'limited' the effort on this basis: The kids will soon know this guy, how he dresses, what he drives, and in their mind he will be nothing special. But that guy who sky-waves in here from Chicago or Cleveland or Dallas.... now he walks on water. He is something special! (We never learn that he has pimples or bad breath or can't carry on a face-to-face conversation.)

Think of all the talented people who knew they couldn't do financially in radio as a DJ what they wanted so they get their education, come home and run dad's business, practice law, teach school or work for corporate America. BUT... come weekend they load up their collection of sound equipment and they go DJ a wedding, a class reunion or some other get together. And they outshine anything the local radio station ever puts on the air. And people get to know these "sideline DJs" and come to realize they "don't walk on water"... they are just smooth, velvet mouths who may or may not have some dignity.

So the question I add to the discussion is: Has the supply of Party DJs for Rent stolen from radio the image of being something special, exotic and worth turning on?

 

[landtuna]

Jocks are portrayed in the media about a sympathetically as car salesmen.

"Media" and "public" perception are two different animals. IMHO the media (films, commercials etc.) generally portrays DJ's as fun-loving and generally off-beat characters. The public perception is generally much more conservative (depending upon the individual DJ's format).

 

[Basnya]

Has the supply of Party DJs for Rent stolen from radio the image of being something special, exotic and worth turning on?

I think so. Most of the rent-a-jocks I have heard aren't doing anything more than punching up songs. The last wedding I went to would have been better served by a loaded CD changer on random select. The guy didn't even have a mic. Good jocks involve the listener. Great jocks make you care less about the music and more about what he or she will do next.

 

[gr8oldies]

The few wedding DJ gigs I've done, I hated.

 

[SirRoxalot]

The few wedding DJ gigs I've done, I hated.

Hard to believe. You seem like such a "people person".

 

[gr8oldies]

I am. Not for a room full of drunks though.

 

[adma]

Jocks are portrayed in the media about a sympathetically as car salesmen.

Or in extreme cases, more akin to a "friendly scoutmaster".

Funny with this talk about wedding and party DJs though; because to me, that embodies the DJ as a cornball square character. And what hasn't been addressed in this thread is how the "hip" associations of the term "DJ" have, since the 1980s, migrated away from anything radio-related.

Consider this book, for instance. Within it, the radio DJ comes off akin to silent cinema relative to the history of cinema...

 

[TheBigA]

I have been giving thought to starting a new thread but it is so close to this topic, why not combine them.

What effect has the emergence of the Party DJ and the Wedding DJ, etc. had on the radio business?

It's really cheapened the profession. The lack of standards hasn't helped. The minute anyone with a turntable and a mic could call himself a DJ, the rest of the industry was in trouble. Imagine if that was the standard for a doctor.

One of the turning points in the evolution of the DJ when voice quality no longer mattered. There was a time when you needed a deep clear voice, with the ability to enunciate. In the 80s, that qualification went away. The next step down the road was the morning zoo. The team approach, with a cast of characters, talking to themselves instead of the audience. That was when music knowledge ceased to be a qualification. In the last ten years, the opportunity for people to make their own personal radio has made the whole gig superfluous.

The public's perception of the DJ didn't change overnight. It's evolved over 60 years. My view is the role either needs a huge make-over, or needs to be retired. Because in most places it's a characature of what it once was. I think Casey Kasem made the right move, maybe a few years too late. If HE couldn't breath life into the role, nobody can.

 

[landtuna]

I wouldn't vote for DJ retirement there BigA. There are still a great many professional DJ's (some even still have on-air work). The listening public generally knows the difference.

 

[mleach]

One of the turning points in the evolution of the DJ when voice quality no longer mattered. There was a time when you needed a deep clear voice, with the ability to enunciate. In the 80s, that qualification went away.

I would go a bit further and say that the "deep voice" factor ended in at least some places well before the 80's. Over the years I have heard many of stories about how some "kid" had got its start in radio back in the 70s and even 60s in some small town..at the age of 12 or 13. I doubt they had "deep voices" at that early age. I even knew of a small AM station in Virginia who back in the 60s even had a NINE YEAR OLD GIRL on their airstaff ( her dad owned the station ). I doubt she sounded like a sexy Playboy model.

But then again in this case its was usually the small town stations, but you are right, that trend of having deep voices more/less ended in the bigger markets by the 80s. Today on some of the major market stations I have checked out within the last few years, I swear the few jocks they have sounded like they are straight from the local high school !!

 

[gr8oldies]

I've heard airchecks of Charlie Van Dyke at age 21, and wonder how in the WORLD did he have that deep, ballsy voice then..as well as the delivery to match.

 

[TheBigA]

I even knew of a small AM station in Virginia who back in the 60s even had a NINE YEAR OLD GIRL on their airstaff ( her dad owned the station ). I doubt she sounded like a sexy Playboy model.

Hmmm...I can understand why they'd want her.

Your post reminds me that some stations had policies against having women as announcers. They weren't seen as sounding authoritative.

 

[adma]

I think Casey Kasem made the right move, maybe a few years too late. If HE couldn't breath life into the role, nobody can.

Though in Casey's case, a different kind of "breathing life" probably factored in, given his age and its increasingly palpable effect upon his diction...

 

[oaktree]

It's not merely the "golden" voice ... it's how you use the one you have, naturally, as well as what you say.

Remember how many "jocks" in large markets and many many small and medium markets who listened too closely to their own voice ... fell in love with it in emulating Charlie Van Dyke, Kris Eric Stevens, Jackson Armstrong, Shadoe Stevens, Casey Kassem and so many others ... and ended up being boss jock "pukers" and should never have been on the radio in the first place? They still exist, because nobody's showed them any different.

Must have been the headphones ...

 

[John FL]

There have been some interesting turns in this thread, thanks Goat Rodeo for bringing another perspective here resulting in lots of comments. I believe all of us have experienced really bad DJs at weddings and other functions. It seemed the "deep voice" and the non-natural sound were the perceptions of the wanna be's. But these are really the non pros and being on the air is something else entirely. I'm sure all of us can recall radio listening from our youth to present day. If I can take the liberty, I think more often than not, the average listener will always gravitate to the personality they can relate to or who they don't perceive to be a phoney.

I have always thought the PD had a tremendous and influential role in mentoring talent. With talent, especially for those who have been around for some time, ego and an unwillingness to accept advice could be an issue. How many times have we seen talent site creative differences as a reason to move on to something else? Here's where it can get tricky. Not all PDs are made of the same mold and goodness knows, there is a history of many who have made whopper of errors. But I have always thought behind really good talent are really effective PDs who are very good in their role. It's much easier not to deal with issues. But the PD who "inspect what they expect" and interracts with and grows the team so they can be the best they can be appears at least to me to be on the right course.

For talent who has been on the air for a long time, it's not an easy task to change behavior or get someone out of their comfort zone. Obviously, an on-air personna in 1985 may have delivered great ratings but that would not be the case today. A PD would actually hurt the station and damage his and the talent's credibility if the kind of DJ that has been discussed in this thread would be on the air. The public's taste is like a moving target - it changes and a PD needs to evolve as well.

 

[TheBigA]

I have always thought the PD had a tremendous and influential role in mentoring talent.

Here's a novel idea: Whatever happened to the idea of TALENT mentoring talent? If I am a young mason learning how to lay bricks, I don't learn from the owner of a masonry company. I learn from another mason. Teachers mentor teachers, lawyers mentor lawyers. That's how the system works. PDs can mentor other PDs, and often do at seminars and clinics around the country. Those who make the effort to attend events like Conclave know what I'm talking about.

I think the role of the DJ has been hurt by DJs themselves. Quite often, their own personal problems, jealousies, and selfishness stand in the way of helping the next generation. How many working DJs actually volunteer to be a guest at local colleges and high schools? Mentoring begins with each and every one of us. I really believe what's been missing from this discussion has been the establishment of a professional association that seeks to set standards for DJs, and provide mentoring. I'm not talking about a union or an association that serves the financial interests of DJs, but a professional association that is more about the craft than the compensation.

 

[oaktree]

Not a bad idea.

PD's doing some mentoring is a good idea, too ... as long as it's not the "Pig Vomit" kind of mentoring of WNBC's former PD (who's now at WGN) in trying to "mentor" Howard Stern to say "...like Mr. Imus, now, say ... Double You ENNNNNNNN Bee Cee! See? Double You Ennnnnnnnnnnn Be Cee! Do it that way and you'll be a start like Mr. imus."

 

[oaktree]

*Star* ... (sorry.)

From "Private Parts". The PD ... Kevin Metheny.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Metheny