Dealing with Dead Air
by Job B. de Leon on July 28, 2010
Nobody likes Mondays. They’re like bitter, charred bits of bread or meat: sooner or later, you have to swallow them. They remind everyone that it’s time to hunker down and prepare for another round of mundane work until the weekend comes.
While everyone else is trying to shake off the weekend vibe, I moonlighted as a student DJ for University Rock on NU 107.
University Rock – or URock as it is better known, runs from 9-11pm. The show brings together tunes from unsigned college bands, interviews from young entrepreneurs and hosts a live guest band to cap off the evening. Every season has a new batch of jocks and production staff which will run for an entire semester.
The program is entirely dedicated to college students: we aim to share university-level talent and prove that the Filipino youth has a distinct culture that doesn’t ape our Western counterparts.
I auditioned with the ambition to be the cool kid working at a cool station, topped off with a legitimate excuse to stay out late on a school night. After submitting my resume and a short interview with Mico Halili, the show’s producer, they signed me for the show’s second season.
The first thing you have to know is that this station is serious about its brand: if you want to work for them, you better love rock music and everything else in the periphery.
I once had the privilege of interviewing Quark Henares, who at that time was promoting summer workshops for The One School and told him, “Thank you sir, for taking time to be here.” It sounded alright until I realized he was more than a commercial director and musician: he owns the station, making him the Supreme Being that allowed your unglamorous self to come on board and continue your job. You need to know these details if you want to gain a shred of credibility in the radio scene.
Here’s another thing: spontaneity on-air isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Meeting your co-host and guests for the first time is like being introduced and left alone with a friend of a friend. A certain kind of awkwardness is felt when you know everyone’s listening to your clumsy attempts at conversing with the usual precursory questions.
You need to be a conversationalist, and if you’re not, you have to learn. While some people are natural talkers who click instantly with anyone, others take some time to warm up. Despite of what most people think, the casual and drawling banter on the radio doesn’t come naturally all the time.
To paraphrase Sir Mico, the biggest difference with URock compared to other student programs is that it throws you into the deep end of the pool.
You, the student Rock Jock, do all the talking. You come up with your own conversation and are responsible for holding the listeners’ attention – there’s no one to bail you out if it gets awkward. The regular jocks are only there to man the technical stuff. It’s precisely because of the initial inelegance and slow, stressful seconds of dead air that you learn to step up. Simply said, the show must go on.
After the show, I’d have to go home to Las Piñas from the station in Ortigas and then be back in school for my 9am class the following day. As a result, I’ve slept through several of my film classes.
In the end, it was definitely worth it. Being a radio host is a great experience and an insane amount of fun. You get to meet people, listen to live music on a regular basis, and basically go on an adventure with zero experience and come out with more wisdom and cool stories to share – what more can you ask for?
