Radio Days #5

Working at the station has been a very good experience so far. I'm learning a lot and getting more responsibilities. Michael has had me run th board while he talked on the air, and had me talk on the air while he ran the board, but he has recently started letting/making me do both. It's mildly terrifying, of course, but I like it a lot too. I still make plenty of mistakes, but I'm getting better (I just need to remember to BREATHE!). I've been learning a lot more about the automation and how a show is put together on the computer. The automation is what plays at night when there is no one at the station running the board, it's sort of a complicated process, but I got to put together the automation for three different nights last week. For a while I was only monitoring the board while we recorded the show African Perspectives, but this week I got to see what happens after the recording, when the cut the pieces of audio up, splice in music tracks, install faders, and do a number of other things. I'm enjoying all the new things I'm getting to do a lot, it's much better than just observing people and shadowing.

Written:
1. Text Messages: texting can often seem impersonal and since it is done quickly there can be errors. To avoid offending people, only send text messages when it's really necessary or when you're being very informal.
2. Letters: letters can be a good, thoughtful, and personal way to communicate with someone, but if you have illegible handwriting or if speed is of the essence you might want to consider a different form of communicating.
3. E-mails: E-mails can also seem impersonal and rushed, this can lead to misinterpretation and possible affront. When writing an E-mail you should take your time (if possible) and use your spell checker.

Verbal:
1. Over the phone conversations: When talking on the phone it is easy to get distracted and stop listening, also depending on your phone service and location the sound quality can be compromised. Phone conversations can be very useful as long as you use proper phone etiquette as well as good judgment as to whether the conversation should take place in person or not.
2. In person conversations: Well if you have a bad case of halitosis, in person conversations might not be for you; physical appearances can be distracting as well. When you know you're going to be having an important personal conversation you should definitely mind your appearance and you should always keep good dental hygiene, as well as all the other sorts of hygiene.
3. Speeches: Speech making can be daunting to many individuals, there is and added pressure to speak well and not make mistakes. If you make a mistake while making a speech there is a larger audience and your mistake may be hard to recover from. If you know you're going to make a speech you should be well prepared; have note cards in case you get stuck and rehearse your speech with a friend and ask for their opinions. Trying to relax and not making such a big deal of the event might help as well.

Non-verbal:
1. Facial Expressions:
2. Body language/demeanor
3. Hand gestures

Whistle while you work.

Well, my parents got into the habit of calling me Negatori (a play on my nickname Tori), but I think when I'm confronted with an unpleasant or bad situation, I react reflectively. You have to weigh the pros and cons in your life and adjust accordingly. Although I'm not usually very quick to be excited or happy I'm also not very quick to think negatively about something, I have to have all the information before I can react. In general though, I think I'm have a pretty sunny disposition. I like to keep on the sunny side of life.
I'm usually pretty happy to be at the radio station, so I would think that my attitude is positive while I'm there. I like the people there and they're very nice to have conversations with. I don't think that there is much room for improvement as far as my attitude is concerned, but I'm interested to see what my evaluation says.
My parents always taught me to do everything with a joyful heart, which as you can imagine, I still haven't mastered. I think the real lesson was to have a good attitude though. Complaining doesn't get you anywhere and there are always going to be things you have to do that you simply don't want to. Throughout my life I've seen people with bad attitudes as well as people with good ones, and I've come to the conclusion that having a bad attitude is a waste of time and really doesn't help one bit.

Morning Routine

1. 8:00AM – Wake up.
2. 8:00AM – Grope around till I find my cell phone and shut the alarm off.
3. 8:01AM – Get out of bed (try not to stumble over piles of stuff on floor) and turn off iPod dock alarm or sometimes I put on a song I want to hear.
4. 8:03AM – Stumble into bathroom and appraise face in mirror.
5. 8:04AM – Feed Aslan, my fish.
6. 8:06AM – Use bathroom.
7. 8:08AM – Take/inhale Asthmanex then hold my breath for ten seconds.
8. 8:09AM – Take Flonase.
9. 8:10AM – Brush teeth.
10. 8:12AM – Go downstairs and talk to mother.
11. 8:20AM – Go down other stairs and take shower.
12. 8:40AM – Fetch laundry from drier and take it up two flights of stairs to my room.
13. 8:45AM – Go through daily regimen of lotioning, potioning, drying, and straightening or curling.
14. 8:50AM – Figure out what to wear.
15. 9:05AM – Get dressed.
16. 9:06AM – Figure out if that’s actually what I want to wear and possibly change.
17. 9:10AM – Put on make-up.
18. 9:20AM – Find shoes.
19. 9:22AM – Find bag and all the things that go in it.
20. 9:35AM – Figure out who is giving me a ride.
21. 9:40AM – Run through the house and make sure I have everything, and if I have time grab something to eat.
22. 9:45AM – Grab lunch or lunch money.
23. 9:47AM – Leave house and lock door.
24. 9:47AM – Get in car and drive.
25. 9:57AM – Walk through front door of school.

Tick tock tick tock...

I seem to struggle with time management on an hourly basis some days. There just never seems to be enough time to get everything done. Waking up early is always a major help in the quest to get out the door though, and getting things done the night before is a good idea as well. I'm a slow waker, so the less I have to do in the morning and the more time I have to do it, the better. I still depend on my parents for transportation, and things always go smoother if I remind them the night before of where I need them to drive me the next day. Currently I am very busy and have a lot of obligations, and I'm at a point where I need to start making decisions about whether or not I can keep up with everything I'm attempting to do. I might have to cut a few things from my schedule in order to not start falling behind. I have to figure out what's important and what can be dropped.

Radio Days #4

So this past week I was able to start reading station IDs on the air. I can say with some odd sense of satisfaction that I TOTALLY botched it my first try. The thing with radio is that once it's done, it's really done. You can't suck your words back off the air, it's physically impossible. You just have to shrug it off and learn from your mistake; I'll never invert the station numbers again! I got to try again before the day was over, and I'm proud to say it was much better the second time around. I've yet to encounter anyone who has heard me on the air, so I have no idea what I sounded like. Michael says he never heard his voice on the radio until he'd been working for years and got to start recording his voice for promos.
Every week I'm astounded by all the new things there are still to learn and at how much I am actually learning and retaining. I've got most of the schedule memorized and I've stopped making as many mistakes when I check programs. I think a lot of the knowledge comes from just being at the station and being completely immersed in everything radio. The more I learn the more I get to do and the more I get to do the more interesting the whole thing gets. There are boring patches, but they are easily overshadowed by the crazy, exciting, and sometimes stressful events that take place every so often.

Radio Days #3

Well, things were very eventful this past week at the station. There was a student from the montessori middle school interning for the week and one of the board operators has an intern from Clarke Central who started coming in last week as well. It's a small station so with three added people running around the building things were slightly hectic. Also with three teen aged minions around ready to do whatever needs to be done there wasn't a lot for me to do. The girl from the montessori school won't be there this week though so I'll be back to running to a fro and back again. I didn't get a chance to run the board for African Perspectives last week because the host, Akinloye Ojo, has been sick recently, but if he's better this week I think I'll finally be able to run the board. My sponsor, Michael Cardin, told me he might let me read a station ID on the air sometime soon or maybe even read the weather report. Being on the air will probably have me shaking in my boots, but in an excited way. Last week I mainly ran around the offices and searched the internet for Georgia Labor Law posters that needed to be updated. I really wanted to find one that was out of date so that I could replace one, but they were all current. It was work that needed to be done though, Michael was really glad that it got done, and it was sort of gratifying to finish something; as soon as you finish something at the radio station you have to start on next week's work. Things are constantly moving at the station, you barely get two minutes to sit down before something happens and you have to rundown the hall. Even though sometimes there isn't a whole lot for me to do, the place in general is busy and I like that about it.