Jennifer in 1987 at WHRC
When I was doing my recent interview with Jeff McMahon for his “Radio Obsessive” profile he asked me an interesting question that cuts to the mission of this entire website. He said, “I’m not sure what a ‘radio survivor’ is. Could you explain that to your readers?”
So, in light of Jeff’s question, Matthew, Paul and I will each share our take on the meaning behind our blog’s title of Radio Survivor.
Here’s my interpretation:
First of all, I want to point out that when I was invited to join Radio Survivor, the blog had already been named. So, my interpretation about the meaning has more to do with my personal feelings about radio and connections with radio than with the official origin of the name (I’m excited to get the real back-story on that in Matthew’s upcoming post).
As we begin 2010 many people have already written off radio as either a dead or dying medium. Commercial radio has been in a state of decline for years and non-commercial radio also has its struggles. But, despite all of the negative pronouncements levied against radio by listeners and critics, I maintain that radio is still vibrant and valuable.
Radio survives and thrives and part of my mission as a writer is to share stories about both stations and individuals who are working hard to keep radio fun and relevant.
I think radio is a survivor and I’m most interested in non-commercial radio stations (especially college radio stations) who are focused on independent music and programming.
I am also a radio survivor. Having been a college radio DJ off and on since 1986, it’s hard to believe that I’m still passionate about doing radio (through all of its ups and downs) 24 years after my first stint behind the mic.
As a college radio DJ, I’m also committed to the survival of not only my station, but radio in general. I love doing my show and being exposed to new music every week. I also enjoy the process of crafting my playlists and figuring out the combinations of tracks that might work together sonically. It’s icing on the cake when I get a compliment from a fellow DJ or listener about something that I’ve played.
So, I’m devoted to the survival of radio, think radio is a survivor, and have made it my mission to evangelize radio as much as I can in order to remind people that it still has the power to be an incredible force.
