All Work, All Play
The life of a campus radio music director totally rocks
written by Michelle Feghali
A sea of plastic CD cases covers the floor. There are colorful posters wall-towall. And, of course, loud music blares through the speakers. Believe it or not, this is the typical atmosphere in my office.
I sit at my sticker-packed desk every day to make phone calls and complete to-do lists—at least until I have to go to class. Being so enthralled with my work, some days I actually forget that I’m still a student at Michigan State University. On any given day, I could be talking to promoters, discovering an artist’s new work, hosting a radio show, or even traveling to a conference in New York. It wasn’t until I became Music Director at my school’s radio station that I realized I probably have the coolest job on campus.
When I explain my job at Impact 89FM – WDBM, I pretty much say that I get paid to listen to music, but it’s so much more than that. One of the many items on my weekly to-do list is talking with promoters. Each week I get close to 800 emails from college radio promoters and label representatives. They want to talk to me for one reason: radio play. They’ll send me physical copies of their artists’ music, I’ll review it (or give it to my team of reviewers), and then the promoter asks, “What’d you think of this artist?”
Honestly, it can get difficult to fully appreciate them all—or even simply listen to them all, seeing that I get 50-100 albums per week. It’s not easy to tell a professional who’s supporting something that you’re not going to assist them. Regardless, I sleep well knowing that I get to connect with intelligent music lovers who give me the scoop on all of the newest and best music across the country.
A lot of times I’ll receive music that I’m unsure about. At WDBM, we pride ourselves in playing songs that no other station will dare to play; but even then, there are still some tough decisions. That’s where my specialty show comes into play. Every Sunday night from 8 to 10 p.m., I pull four or five knowledgeable listeners from the community and ask them to volunteer as panelists on my show, “Sit or Spin.”
I believe this show is what sets our station apart. Every week, we start by introducing ourselves, allowing the audience to get a feel for our personalities, and then we play a song. Afterwards, the panel and I will discuss the song and whether it’s worthy of being played on our station. Any panelist has the right to “sit” a song if they don’t want it to be played, or “spin” a song if they do. I feel that this show is unique in our profession, and is a huge advantage to my job as Music Director. Even if it’s a track we normally wouldn’t have in rotation, it still gets that one moment of airplay, and promoters love to hear that.
Currently, Impact 89FM is a kind of underdog when it comes to recognition at Michigan State. That said, we’ve been busting our butts for the past few years trying to win awards. In fact, we’ve been named College Radio Station of the Year 11 times from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. We’ve even been nominated on the national level for MTVU’s Woodie Awards, and CMJ’s “Most Creative Programming” and “Station of the Year” awards.
I was lucky enough to attend the CMJ Music Marathon last fall, and it was mind-blowing. Conferences and panels with industry professionals in the morning, mixers and mingling with other college radio stations in the afternoon, and concerts from new and well-known artists every night. CMJ is to this day one of the most important events I’ve ever come across, and I am forever grateful that I was given the opportunity by WDBM to attend.
It all does sound pretty cool, right? The everflowing music that’s delivered daily to my desk, the reviewing of that music with a team of handpicked experts, not to mention national music conferences? It’s almost too good to be true.
I should point out, though, that it took a lot of time and effort to get here. I started out as a psychology major my freshman year, and it wasn’t until I watched The Newsroom on HBO that I realized I wanted to get involved in something else, so I joined the radio station’s news team. After immediately switching my major to TV, Cinema and Radio, it took hard work and dedication to move up the ranks. And honestly, it has been a blast the whole way. I truly feel that I have found what I was meant to do for a career.
They say when you get a job, you’ll either like the work you do and hate the people, or like the people and dread the work. Somehow I ended up with a rarity: loving both my work and my community. Truth be told, it makes me never want to graduate.
I sit at my sticker-packed desk every day to make phone calls and complete to-do lists—at least until I have to go to class. Being so enthralled with my work, some days I actually forget that I’m still a student at Michigan State University. On any given day, I could be talking to promoters, discovering an artist’s new work, hosting a radio show, or even traveling to a conference in New York. It wasn’t until I became Music Director at my school’s radio station that I realized I probably have the coolest job on campus.
When I explain my job at Impact 89FM – WDBM, I pretty much say that I get paid to listen to music, but it’s so much more than that. One of the many items on my weekly to-do list is talking with promoters. Each week I get close to 800 emails from college radio promoters and label representatives. They want to talk to me for one reason: radio play. They’ll send me physical copies of their artists’ music, I’ll review it (or give it to my team of reviewers), and then the promoter asks, “What’d you think of this artist?”
Honestly, it can get difficult to fully appreciate them all—or even simply listen to them all, seeing that I get 50-100 albums per week. It’s not easy to tell a professional who’s supporting something that you’re not going to assist them. Regardless, I sleep well knowing that I get to connect with intelligent music lovers who give me the scoop on all of the newest and best music across the country.
A lot of times I’ll receive music that I’m unsure about. At WDBM, we pride ourselves in playing songs that no other station will dare to play; but even then, there are still some tough decisions. That’s where my specialty show comes into play. Every Sunday night from 8 to 10 p.m., I pull four or five knowledgeable listeners from the community and ask them to volunteer as panelists on my show, “Sit or Spin.”
I believe this show is what sets our station apart. Every week, we start by introducing ourselves, allowing the audience to get a feel for our personalities, and then we play a song. Afterwards, the panel and I will discuss the song and whether it’s worthy of being played on our station. Any panelist has the right to “sit” a song if they don’t want it to be played, or “spin” a song if they do. I feel that this show is unique in our profession, and is a huge advantage to my job as Music Director. Even if it’s a track we normally wouldn’t have in rotation, it still gets that one moment of airplay, and promoters love to hear that.
Currently, Impact 89FM is a kind of underdog when it comes to recognition at Michigan State. That said, we’ve been busting our butts for the past few years trying to win awards. In fact, we’ve been named College Radio Station of the Year 11 times from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. We’ve even been nominated on the national level for MTVU’s Woodie Awards, and CMJ’s “Most Creative Programming” and “Station of the Year” awards.
I was lucky enough to attend the CMJ Music Marathon last fall, and it was mind-blowing. Conferences and panels with industry professionals in the morning, mixers and mingling with other college radio stations in the afternoon, and concerts from new and well-known artists every night. CMJ is to this day one of the most important events I’ve ever come across, and I am forever grateful that I was given the opportunity by WDBM to attend.
It all does sound pretty cool, right? The everflowing music that’s delivered daily to my desk, the reviewing of that music with a team of handpicked experts, not to mention national music conferences? It’s almost too good to be true.
I should point out, though, that it took a lot of time and effort to get here. I started out as a psychology major my freshman year, and it wasn’t until I watched The Newsroom on HBO that I realized I wanted to get involved in something else, so I joined the radio station’s news team. After immediately switching my major to TV, Cinema and Radio, it took hard work and dedication to move up the ranks. And honestly, it has been a blast the whole way. I truly feel that I have found what I was meant to do for a career.
They say when you get a job, you’ll either like the work you do and hate the people, or like the people and dread the work. Somehow I ended up with a rarity: loving both my work and my community. Truth be told, it makes me never want to graduate.