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When it comes to radio, people usually are informed on what is going on in front of the mic, but rarely think about the interesting things that occur behind the scenes.
Radio has been around for almost 100 years. Millions of people tune in to the radio while driving to listen to their favorite radio personality or radio show such as; The Breakfast Club, The Steve Harvey Morning Show or the Tom Joyner Morning Show.
Tallahassee has several radio stations including Florida A&M University’s 90.5 the Flava Station. A lot of intricate steps take place behind the mic that the average person might not know about when it comes to getting these shows on-air, listening to your favorite artist or song or even hearing the commercials about local stores.
A radio studio has a multitude of audio and sound equipment, computers and other forms of automation to help radio personalities do their job. There are a lot of things that radio DJ’s or personalities do at one time in the studio so the margin for error becomes extremely broad.
“People do not know what goes into radio to make radio work. Radio has the traffic department, continuity, sales, programming and production,” said DJ Speedracer.
There are several departments to keep radio going. The sales department is responsible for the bulk of radio’s success. Sales representatives go out to seek advertisers for commercials, sponsors for special events such as remotes or out of studio broadcasts.
The traffic department is not at all about cars and highways. This is the department that is responsible for scheduling commercials into the station’s programming schedule, as well as invoicing the advertisers to seek payment for the service of promoting their businesses via advertising.
The program department deals with everything from which songs are or are not played. The way the station is presented on the air is often controlled by programming to keep the radio personalities from running out of control in addition to providing a uniform presentation.
Also, the promotions department is responsible for catering to the specific demographic audience that frequently tunes in by using visual advertisements on television, in print or social media posts. Many stations give away hats, T-shirts, and other miscellaneous items in hopes that the listeners use them regularly, which ultimately provide free advertising for the station.
These departments are what make radio what it is. Not only are the different departments important, but also the on-air work that the radio personalities put the station on a daily basis.
“With radio, you must be sure to be animated with your audience because people cannot see your face on the radio like they can with television,” said Janesha Jones an on-air personality at Blazin’ 102.3.
These are only half of the things that make radio, radio. People usually do not think about how a radio station runs or what goes on behind the scenes. Radio has the same concept when it comes to running a television network; the only thing is one hears the production instead of seeing it on a screen.