The guys on air before me ran past 8:00 a little bit, but that was okay. However, they decided to play an instrumental loop of Dr. Dre's, "The Next Episode," just as they were leaving the studio. I stopped it as soon as they left the room, of course...that instrumental stench is already stinking up my time slot. I sat down, donned the headphones, placed the CD into the player and hit the button to start the CD to do the intro. Click. Nothing. A little bit of a dilemma, I would say. I had a quick run-down of the place during orientation, but not quite enough to troubleshoot the equipment...call a manager--no answer. I called the only phone number I had. I did not notice the piece of paper with the other two numbers until later.
After a few minutes of futily trying different button combinations, just in case, I realized it was already 8:11, and my CD was clearly not going to play. I had to get on the air. At about that moment, it occurred to me that my little show had undergone a rather significant change for the night...hit the green button; skip the intro. I introduced myself and my (currently) nameless show. Then, I explained that there was a slight change in the program. It was an interesting start.I blew through every topic I had been researching in about 25 minutes, which would have been sufficient if music would have served as breaks. I still had almost 22 minutes to fill, so I hit the red button to let the programmed jazz play until the next DJ came on. 15 seconds later, my cell phone rang...jazz is not playing; it's time to talk some more.
Having not anticipated this problem, I tried to think of jokes. By the by, it is hard to think of a joke when put on the spot like that. I read a few CD covers and song names aloud, looking for a CD appearing interesting enough to play. I managed to stretch that out to about 8:51...the next DJ just arrived. I signed off eight minutes early. It is an extremely disappointing situation to find yourself in--you are in a position to speak to the masses (potentially, anyway), but you cannot think of anything to say.
The 9:00 DJ showed me that, to play that loop from earlier, a switch had to be pressed on the control board. If I would have only known. My orientation Tech Radio veteran only said, regarding the computer with the public service announcements and loop files, nobody used it much. Thus I did not learn anything about it. Actually, I do not understand why she said people do not use the computer. Anybody with background music, show intros, lead-ins or any other sound byte (excluding whole songs, though a radio station at which I interned kept its music on a server) would get a lot of use out of the computer, assuming he/she could upload clips to it.
The next DJ, Garrett, asked if I wanted to sit in as a co-host on his show. It is a much better environment with music. It is more suitable. During a song break, he put my CD into his laptop. Much to my chagrin, the CD played. I used to have a stereo with the same problem. Some CDs played, while some would play, but with rhythmic fuzz.
If a good thing could be said about tonight, it is this:
The worst thing that could happen on my radio show happened on my first night, so now it is out of the way.I am not saying the lack of music ruined everything; it just changed the course a bit. All things considered, it went well.
[EDIT: I cannot get the extra spaces to go away, and I cannot get other spaces to stay. Oh well.]
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