Monday, September 1, 2008

Why Radio Stations Are Worse Than Kindergarten...

Aside from the sometimes kindergarten-ish behaviour...

When one DJ gets the plague, I can almost guarantee that almost all of the on air talent in the building will catch it. Radio studios are worse than the sandbox at a kindergarten. Think of it this way... We all sit in sound proof booths, talking into the same mic sock, touching the same buttons, touching the same screens, breathing in/touching each other's germs for however many hours every day.

Also... Most DJ's hardly ever call in sick. There are no sub morning show hosts (although most stations have a designated fill in should the need arise... I've been that person... getting a call at 4 AM is not fun...) like there are sub teachers. For example, say you're Joe Shmoe, Morning Guru at HOTTT FM (Home of the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and TODAY!) and you're sick. That means that you have to phone your PD at 4:00 in the morning and he's either going to have to haul his ass out of bed and fill in for you himself or he's going to have to call yet another unsuspecting soul to haul their ass out of bed and fill in for you... meaning that you'd better REALLY be sick or you have a really cold heart. The only time I ever got called in to do a morning show, the regular host was literally in the hospital. I've only ever called in sick three times. Two of those times, I had such a sore throat that I couldn't swallow my own spit... the other time, I'd lost my voice (meaning I was a pretty useless radio DJ).

So, it's almost comical to watch bugs travel through on air staff. One person is coughing and suddenly everyone is hacking up a lung.

I think I'm catching a cold. I think I'm patient zero. I'm preparing myself to be more hated than Judas for the next month.

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