“Life sucks and then you die.” Is a statement I heard growing up, and the older I get, the more it comes true? But is that us filling our heads up with reasons why things aren’t going in your favor? Remember, you have the other side of the spectrum. Those who state with lots of pride and excitement, “Life is what you make it.” I try to believe the latter since I haven’t been going through the most positive lately. But then there goes my way of thinking. “It gets better.” It does, and it will.
I remember when I was talking to my girl Shelley on the phone one night, probably the only weirdo calling her during her graveyard shift, Lol. We’re having a conversation about how hard it is to get into the radio industry. What was one of the things she said that has stuck with me today? “Dan, where you are right now, is where all of us were before.” That’s what I reference back too when I don’t receive an e-mail response, when I don’t receive too much interaction on my morning show, when I don’t get the interviews I want because people won’t take out the time of day to respond to us upcoming broadcasters and when I can’t convince a brand too sponsor my various podcasts. But shit! Where’s the support here. I can’t just be the only young, upcoming, hungry, determined, broadcaster out here. It’s time where these radio companies need to stop shifting seats, and start taking a chance on us young unhesitating broadcasters. Listening to all people around you is a gift and a curse. You can have twenty of your closest friends telling you you’re good, but am I? Am I good for what you perceive to be decent quality work because my goodness this isn’t panning out for me?
Starting up various projects starts money. I just launched my comedy podcast three weeks ago, and already have failed on the consistency of uploading the episodes at a static time. Then I realized, okay, for a media host we’re going to have to buy the $20 package from Libsyn since I didn’t realize how big the episodes are going to come out. That’s 400 MB of space to upload stuff every month. I still have to pay my sight registration and I have to pay the Libsyn monthly. All while living on a fixed income, there’s things I have to get for my baby Teeva, Send money to my daughter, rent, and just living expenses. Remember, it gets better, right? OR so I hope… I just hope!
What about all those connections in radio who said they’d help me out. They have their hands tied but if you understand my hunger since it’s something you’ve experienced, why won’t you give me an ad to read? Help me with my demo? Maybe coach my content, or even let me do a podcast out of your studios so I can get the real feel of a broadcast environment. I can sit down at home, and do radio and still love it till this day. However, there’s nothing like sitting in a legit radio studio, sitting in front of a microphone sitting on a boom arm, ready to present your content as the clocks tick down before the post of a song or before you have to go to break. The routine for a music producer is not always in their home or professional studio. Sometimes they produce great content in another studio; in another environment, or even maybe with people who understand their creative flow and can bounce ideas off of each other. I think that’s why I find talk radio shows, podcasts and morning shows so appealing. I can hear two sides of a conversation since we all think so differently. I’ve found great joy doing my morning show for that reason because my co-host is different in a lot of ways and I think you need difference from people to know what having an open-mind is like. I hate closed-mindedness. The fact that it’s sprinkled with lots of ignorance and its lack of conduciveness to the advancement of this world is at a major high, I can’t stand it. We’re supposed to progress. We’re supposed to make a difference in this world. Imagine if we went back to the 60’s, and its 2015 now and we were still living like the 60’s, wouldn’t we go insane? Seriously?
This radio industry that I’m not yet fully in, I still love. I might complain, bitch and moan but I truly have found my calling. Even in that, everyone’s different. They have a field they feel most passionate about. Mine just happens to be one you really can’t go to school for, one you can’t really teach, one you can’t really learn or one you just have to get tips and pointers from the people you know and love. I have been blessed with a lot of my connections, I just wish at this moment that I could get the smallest little Crum in the radio industry. All this truly becomes discouraging when you have been applying to stations for over two and a half years, in some of the smallest positions, just to work my way up. It’s like, shit, I’m not good enough to even get a shitty board-op job? If I had the job, I’d be grateful but they won’t even higher me for that. It kind of leaves me speechless you guys. Not going to lie, but this is a learning lesson at the end of the day.
Things I’ve learned from all of this:
- From Shelley</a> “Where you are, is where all of us were before.”
- Enjoy all the time that you are not doing anything, so that when you do get a job, you didn’t miss out on all that free time.
- Surround yourself with really good people that will always be there for you in need. Whether financially, or just as an ear. There are levels to this shit and it’s not easy. You need a sense of commonality, or you just simply need to get your mind off of it.
- Constructive criticism is key. If you don’t have anyone close to you telling you what you could have perfected in an on-air break, in a demo or whatever you need to put out there, you’re not going to learn. You need to have tough skin because not everyone’s going to like your shit.
- Prove yourself to yourself. Show yourself why you’re confused on why you may not have gotten a job. What are you doing wrong? Always iron out the kinks in your faults so you can apply those methods later.
- Be aware! Always look. Always send your materials. Always put 200% then the average person you see in everyday life. Learn from other brands. Don’t learn the brand, but learn the formalities of the brand. Learn why the brand is so successful, and what would be your role. With that role, learn its importance and why it could be overshadowed for more important things at the moment.
I love this writing thing. It really feels good to put this down and put it out there.
I started my podcast The Dan Show Live Podcast. It’s a playoff of my old radio show that was uncensored and now it’s back again, with the format before we cleaned up. I hope you enjoy. If you’re easily offended, then it’s not the podcast for you. However, I will be starting my podcast, “Behind the eyes,” very soon where I will speak about my blindness experiences and interview successful blind people all around the world.
Along with all of that, I still am doing my morning show on Z108. The morning show has grown and it sounds just unbelievably amazing. Here’s a little clip when Sam (My co-host) and I interviewed our voice girl for the station, who happens to do a morning show as well.
Listen to it here
I hope you took something from this today. I did learn a lot because it’s refreshing to remember those things when you’re not feeling that high-spirited.
DanRMusic 