picture courtesy of wnnj.com
I began my first week as an intern at Clear Channel radio
station in Franklin, NJ on May 19. I was not sure what to expect from the first
week of the internship or what exactly I would be doing but I was eager to
start.
At the begging of the week I did not take a real hands-on
approach inside the radio station. Instead I shadowed my supervisor a lot to
figure how to do different things within the job. My supervisor, Ricky Hoffend,
is the Promotions Director at Clear Channel and also a part time DJ as well.
Also at the beginning of the week I got the chance to meet
the other full time DJ that also worked at the radio station. Talking with them
helped me figure out how to get into becoming a radio DJ myself which I have
always wanted.
In their opinion the best way to do this was by being the
promotions director. With shadowing the promotions director here at Clear
Channel they said would help me understand.
Furthermore I learned how to conduct myself properly in an
office environment between the curtsey and manners expected. It was a great way to practice how to be professional
when I officially go out into the workplace.
By the middle of the week I entered a meeting with the
entire promotions team at Clear Channel. The promotions team involved all the DJs which
were a total of four. The names of these DJs are Steve Andrews, Steve Allen, Borasio,
and Gary Cee. Also at the meeting was Ricky
the promotions director, his assistant Alex, as well as the head Director of Clear
Channel in Franklin, Chuck.
They started off the meeting talking about past promotions
and events that had gone on the previous week and weekend. They interacted
about what went right and thus what also went wrong so that they could improve
on the event as a whole.
Following this they continued by discussing events that were
coming up and what need to be done for each event. Also they shared their
thoughts on what should and should not happen at the events.
It was a great learning experience for me to see what
actually goes on behind the scene at the radio station. It was great to see how
and why they try to remain relevant by promotions throughout much of the county
where the majority of the station casts out to.
After the meeting rounded up I was then instructed to take
the notes that I made on the meeting and send out an email on what happened in
the meeting.
I was then able to take the skills I was taught in my journalism
classes to help me write a clear and concise order of accounts that carried on
in the meeting. This email was to show to anyone that did not at the meeting to
understand what happened during it.
Upon completion of this task I was then instructed to go
help organize a new office space by clearing out a room. At first I felt as
though they were just using the intern to do their dirty work for them but I
found that it was in fact very rewarding.
While clearing out the old boxes and such I found many old relics
of the past stored away. Being the history minor that I am I was able to
appreciate the old tapes and recordings that were from the past well before
they started really just using the computer to help do the radio.
It was great to witness the growth of mass communications
that has transpired throughout the time, especially at the radio station. I even found old photographs of when the
station first opened in the 1950s which was really cool to see because most of
the people at the station had not seen them either.
For the majority of the rest of the week I performed many of
these similar duties moving old papers and other things that need to be place
else where or just thrown away. I continued to pour threw the boxes however to
see if I could find anything that was interesting to help further my knowledge
of history of the radio business.
By the end of the week I was able to accompany Ricky on my
first event outside the station. Before
we left to go out on remote we first had to pack the company vehicle so that we
had everything for the event.
We packed an amp with two speaker systems with an XLR cord
as well. We also packed a “comrex” that would later help the DJ Borasio talk on
the radio station while on the remote site away from the station. Many other miscellaneous
things were also packed such as banners, table, table cloth, with a dice game,
and some prizes that would be given out later.
The event was at the Irish Cottage Inn which was a local bar
and restaurant not too far away from the station. When we arrived we contacted
the owner of the restaurant who showed us where he wanted us to set up for the
event.
During set up I was able to connect the “comrex” to the
internet and then the radio station so that we could broadcast live from the
bar. After set up we got everything organized for the event which was giving
out raffle tickets to everyone in the bar and up until it was time to announce
the winner.
The winner of the raffle received two tickets to the Pocono 500
NASCAR race. Also though there were
multiple opportunities to win lottery tickets by rolling a pair of dice and
either getting a one or a three.
I found this experience to be a lot of fun and showed that I
was really excited for what is to come for the rest of the internship. At the conclusion
of my first week I feel myself wanting more and more from the radio station as
a whole and cannot wait for what is to come.
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