Meet Your Boss -- Walter Sabo

On Friday October 18th over 3000 people attended the College Music Journal Festival at New York UniversityYour next bosses attended Alison Johnson Music Director and Melissa Bond of KTSW 899 Texas State University AustinKTSW is a true student run college radio station Unlike too many college licensed stations it is not ruled by the finance department wretched administration staff or faculty members under the guise of being a training ground It is run by students The power of that experience was revealed in the conversation with Ms Johnson and Ms BondHere are their rules for operating a station successfully1 quotWe are paid for 15 hours of work per week but we put in at least 40quot2 quotEvery second of the station we overseequot The general music programming is selected by the music director Specialty shows present music selected by their hosts Alison then detailed each specialty program demonstrating a pristine knowledge and pride of their onair lineup3 Respect the business of radio and musicquotWe are all top 40 fansquot Even though you may not like Taylor Swift39s music she is to be respected for knowing her business and managing her career brilliantly4 The music director and program director must be in 100 synch5 DJ39s should be prepared and have an opinion about the music they play6 Talk programming quotDon39t put on a talk show unless the host is committed to hours of preparation a day or it won39t workquotWhen asked about the shows on the station that give them particular pride they bragged about quotThe Other Side Drivequot the PM Drive show In detail they expressed why it worked why it sounded good and how it was put togetherCareer Plan quotWe think you should start in the city where you want to work and stay there Others think you should go to a small town but then you just might work your way to the middle and be stuck therequotAllison and Melissa both 20 are moving to New York City when they graduate next year In a one hour conversation neither mentioned any concerns at all about the future of radioThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Meet Your Boss -- Walter Sabo

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