When I first got involved with my school’s radio station, I never thought I would hold a management position. I figured I would have to be a least a junior in college in order to even be considered for a management position at WIUP FM, but here I am, with one of those positions at the start of my sophomore year. I am the music manager at WIUP FM, and I could not be more thrilled to do this. One of my biggest responsibilities is to put the music on rotation. Some others include contacting labels in order to get some CD’s sent in and to hold meetings with my team in order to find and listen to music that can be played on the airwaves. I’ve only been doing this for a few short weeks, and as cliché as it seems, I have learned a few things that apply outside of my position.
Listening to music for hours is not for everyone.
I consider myself a music geek, as in, I love listening to music. I could listen to it for hours on end, and I have it playing most hours of the day as background noise. A good chunk of the reason why I signed up for music team in my freshman year is because I wanted to discover new music, and I did. However, some people are not willing to listen to an up and coming artist that has little credibility, does not have music on every platform or has songs that are different from mainstream music. Already, my team of 11 people has lost a couple of members, but that's okay. If they were not into the team, then it is what it is. No hard feelings here.
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You have to be open to everyone's opinions.
As a team, we are listening and critiquing music. Just because I may like a song and I think it will be good for rotation, does not mean my team members will too. I know this seems to be common sense, but I have to take consideration of my team. They are there to help me after all. If we are listening to a song and not one of them likes it, but I do, 9 out of 10 times I will not put it into rotation. Odds are, if they don't like it, the general population won't like it either.
There will not be good music every single week.
Sometimes music comes in that is all pretty bad. It happens, and my team and I just have to move on with it. If there is no good music, I typically will not be able to put anything in rotation, and that's just the way it is. I know it's not because I am failing at my job, or that my team is failing at their duties, neither side is to blame. I cannot help but feel like I am doing a disservice to the station, but some weeks we do no get enough music, or that we get a lot that just happens to not be radio-worthy for some reason or another.
I have only been doing this for a short period of time, and I know more lessons are going to come as the semester, and maybe years, progress. However, in my first few weeks, these lessons have opened my eyes and made me realize that it really is a team effort, and we are just a cog in the machine that makes the radio station run.
