WXYC orientation guide & training manual WXYC NEW DJ ORIENTATION GUIDE for summer 2008

Congratulations and welcome to the staff of WXYC! We are very pleased to have you as a new DJ, and we hope you are excited about taking part in the unique WXYC experience. There’s a bunch of stuff you’ll need to know, and this Orientation Guide will show you the basics. The first part formalizes features of the station that we go over during your first orientation. There are many details here that you’ll need to memorize, but you can always reference this guide. The second part is where the real meat is. It’s where we talk about the philosophy behind our programming and how it should guide your shows. If you put the theme of this section into a few words, you might say that the way to do a great WXYC show is to: cover a lot of musical ground over a few hours, but to make it make sense and to keep in mind that you have an audience of listeners. You’ll want to read through part II as soon as you can, but to be a successful DJ, you’ll need to keep going back to it, again and again. We have a series of requirements that all new DJs must complete, with assistance from mentors. We lay it all out in the third part of the guide, but briefly, the requirements consist of the following, which help you become a better DJ on the air: • taping and critiquing two of your shows • doing one “interactive” observation of your mentor’s show • doing two rounds of research in WXYC’s music library We also need your help off-air, and we have these requirements for new DJs: • attending a “filing party” • working a merchandise booth shift at our ‘80s Dance (date TBA) • pit-sitting for station events (dates TBA)

These requirements are designed to help you become a great DJ and also give us help with fun off-air activities.

2 To get answers to any questions not covered in this manual, you can get in touch with a member of station management. This is a team of seasoned DJs who can help you at any time. The management is currently made up of the following:

Station Manager David van Dokkum, [email protected] Business Manager Emma Fixsen, [email protected] Music Director Jon Page, [email protected] Programming Director Kellen Carpenter, [email protected] Assistant Programming Director Andy Koch, [email protected] Promotions Director Steph Russ, [email protected] Promotions Assistant Kristen Orr, [email protected] Operations Manager Julianna Thomas, [email protected] IT Manager Jake Bromberg, [email protected]

3 NEW DJ TRAINING MANUAL, PART I Getting Into The Station During your first semester, you will be doing a show while the Union is closed. During this time, only one door is accessible to DJs, and it faces Raleigh Road and is across the street from Connor, Winston and Alexander dorms. It has a combination lock, and we teach you the code during station orientation. It is very important that you memorize the code right away. It is equally important that you keep it a secret – don’t give the number to anyone who’s not a DJ, and don’t write it down anywhere where somebody else could see it. Making it easy for non-DJs to get into the station late at night poses a big security threat to our DJs as well our record collection and equipment. If you forget the code at any time or if there is any problem entering the building, you can walk across the street to one of the dorms and use the outside phones to call the on-air jock for assistance. Also, please do not prop the door open because it’s a huge security risk, and a deafening alarm will go off after a few seconds. Memorize the on-air studio phone numbers are 962-8989 and 962-6397. There is also a combination lock on the door to the station itself, and this door must stay shut at all times. Do NOT give this code to anyone, and do NOT prop the door open. If someone knocks during your show, please open the door and politely ask what they need. If they say they’re a DJ, introduce yourself and check their name on the phone list. DON’T let anyone into the station whose name is not on the phone list, unless they’re a maintenance worker or other university staff. This may sound harsh, but it’s the only way to protect you and the station.

Rules & Regulations WXYC is a laid-back place in many ways, but there are some incredibly important rules that we are very strict about. Breaking any of the following rules will get you in serious hot water, and depending on the situation, you could be fired from the station. Please read them carefully to avoid misunderstandings about our expectations.

1. You are responsible for your shift. If you don’t show up for a shift once, you will be warned. If you miss your show twice in one semester, you will be suspended for the remainder of that semester. Tardiness is also a major problem. Please be considerate and show up for your shift on time. In the event that you know in advance you can’t do one of your shows, you will need to get a substitute (read on for how to do that). As a side note, if the DJ after you doesn’t show up, try to get in touch with them by phone. If that doesn’t work, get in touch with a station manager for further instructions.

2. No alcohol or illegal drugs in the station. In general, we do not care how you spend your free time outside of the radio station, but we ask that you never come to the station under the influence of alcohol or of any drug. As well, you

4 cannot bring drugs or alcohol into the station. To put it simply, keep all alcohol and illegal drugs and the lingering effects of either out of the radio station. This rule comes from both the Union and the University, and if we break it, we could lose our funding.

3. No smoking. You can’t smoke in the radio station or anywhere else in the Union, period. If you must smoke during a radio shift, please take a short break and exit the building completely, as long as another DJ can watch the station – it is a violation of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules for a radio station’s on-air operator to leave the station unattended while it is broadcasting. The best solution is to strategically take smoke breaks before and after rather than during shifts.

4. Food and drink are not allowed in the control room or production (“prod”) room, but they can be brought elsewhere in the station. Feel free to eat your lunch or drink a soda in the station (and remember to clean-up after yourself), but all food and drink is forbidden in the prod room (read on for details about this) and anywhere past the white cabinet at the entrance to the control room. Do not take food or drink near any of the equipment in either the prod. room or the control room. As careful as you might intend to be, accidents will happen and we cannot afford to buy new equipment. It just takes one spilled soda to completely ruin a $10,000+ mixing board and we don’t want to take any chances.

5. Records or CDs cannot be taken from the radio station. Anytime a record or CD leaves the station (unless the music director has given approval for a DJ to review new releases for playbox consideration), it is considered stolen. Anyone caught stealing will be fired from the station and reported to the Honor Court and UNC police. Taking records from a non-profit radio station (and therefore from the station’s listeners) has to be one of the worst crimes against karma that you could possibly commit. Don’t even think about it. When we lose records from our library, the quality of the station declines and everybody – listeners and DJs, alike – loses. That’s why you should be wary of possible thieves. If you encounter someone you don’t know in the station, you have every right to ask them to introduce themselves to you. You will often just be meeting another DJ, but it may be a non-DJ, in which case you should politely ask if you can help them. They may just be friends of DJs, people with PSAs to submit or flyers to put up, or Union housekeepers, but it never hurts to ask, especially when the security of the station could be at risk, not to mention your own saftey. If any problem arises, you can call a member of station management for help, as well as campus security (962-8100). Also, relating to this issue, never leave the station open and unattended. If you have made arrangements with management to take the station off the air, which would only happen under extreme circumstances, then make sure both station doors are shut.

5 6. You are permitted to have no more than one guest with you in the station. You can bring one guest to the station during your show and at other times, as long as you are always present. Guests must be signed in on the log on the control room door; they are permitted to keep you company in the control room, look around the station, and listen to records, but they may not talk or perform over the air or operate any of the equipment in the control room or prod room without approval from station management. You are responsible for your guest’s behavior, so if they break any rules, both you and they will be in trouble.

7. You cannot play “obscene” records or say “obscene” things over the air. There is a basic legal standard for obscenity that comes from George Carlin’s infamous list of seven dirty words: “piss,” “shit,” “fuck,” “cunt,” “cocksucker,” “motherfucker.” and “tits.” This is only a starting point, as there are plenty of other words or ideas that must be avoided. Commonsense comes into play here, as anything commonly considered obscene must be kept off the air. Unfortunately, this means that much great music (lots of hip-hop, hardcore, and punk, but you’ll find dirty words everywhere) cannot be played over the air unless edited versions are available. Besides not playing records with dirty words, you must also keep your talk sets clean, free of obscenities and any comments that could be taken as offensive. These rules about obscenity are our rules because we want the station to sound good. They are also the FCC’s rules, and if they are broken, we could be fined many thousands of dollars.

Paperwork One of the easiest but most important tasks that you need to do during your shift is to fill out two pieces of paperwork; the two forms you’ll use during a shift are the operator’s log and the flowsheet. The operator’s log is where you will sign in and sign out and take down our transmitter’s power readings every 2 hours. Here you will also indicate any FCC-related adjustments or special occurrences (i.e., “at 4:05 am, I had to raise power to 297 watts in order to get back within proper operating limits. –Reuben Ayres). The operator’s log is a legal document, and it is very important that you remember to sign in and out. The flowsheet serves as record of all programming that goes out over the air. There is one packet of flowsheets for each day, and every hour in the day has its own section where that hour’s on-air operator prints his/her name as the DJ. Special instructions for each hour are also listed, often for minidisk announcements that are to be aired. The big thing that you do with the flowsheet is make a chronological list of all the artists and songs that you play during your show. You should write down everything as you go, so you will remember what you played to tell our listeners. Besides listing the artist and song title, you must list the CD’s title if it is a Various Artists compilation out of our playbox. There are also some special codes that we use to track records out of playbox. You will put down an “H” for an item out of heavy rotation, an “M” for an item out of medium rotation, and “L” for an item out of light rotation, an “S” for an item out of singles rotation, an “NV” for an item from the remainder of playbox, and

6 an “R” for a request. You should also note when you do your talk sets by drawing a line between the songs on either side. You’ll also be reading Public Service Announcements over the air, and there’s a place on the flowsheet for you to keep track of those.

Proper Station Identification The FCC requires us to identify our station every hour, on the hour. We call this station identification, and we have a phrase that we must say exactly: WXYC-Chapel Hill. Any ID must contain that exact phrase, in that order. You may say anything before or after it, like “you are listening to WXYC-Chapel Hill,” but you cannot insert any information between “WXYC” and “Chapel Hill.” (If you don’t feel like saying it yourself, we encourage you to use station IDs made by celebrities and DJs. We have two minidisks filled with these fun bits.) There is a leeway of a few minutes on either side of the hour for you to fit in the station ID. For example, if you are the DJ for the 6:00 a.m. hour, you must do the station ID between 5:58 a.m. and 6:02 a.m.

Talk Sets, PSAs and Announcements Talk sets are a very important part of your show because they’re where you give our listeners information about what you’ve been playing, events going on in the community, and more. Over the years, a common complaint about WXYC is that our DJs do talk sets too infrequently or do them inaudibly. Some have even been said to sound dead! That’s why it’s very important that your talk sets are enthusiastic, concise, and well planned! Even if your musical selections are really great, your audience won’t want to listen to you if you don’t sound alive and excited. A talk set has a basic structure where you backlist, read a PSA, and then tell your listener what’s coming up next. There are other pieces of information that you can add, which we will talk about in a second. The basic structure is pretty tried and true, but there are many ways to get creative and make things sound really great. Be sure to not sound like a robot that gives out the same pieces of information in the same order every time you talk. The most important part of the talk set is backlisting. Backlisting means that you are communicating a reverse-chronological list of the songs and artists that your listener heard in your last set, starting with the most recent selection and going back to the first song. When you backlist, you’ll want to vary the words you use to transition between the songs you’re mentioning, and you’ll want to give concise and interesting tidbits about those songs, when possible. For the words that you use to transition, mix things up (and sometimes you don’t even need these filler words). Avoid a list where each song is connected by “before that, and before that, and before that.” Try expressions like “previous to that,” “just ahead of that,” “you also heard in that set,” “leading up to that was.” There are so many ways to transition, and you can learn more by listening to seasoned DJs’ shifts. When you list a song, also consider giving brief, pertinent information about it. For example, a little biographical info, like where someone’s from or whom they’ve played with, a date of a release, a record label, a local connection, an upcoming concert in the 7 area, etc. could be great. Try to put things in context for your listener, but do so without giving extensive details and/or rambling on and on. All our CDs and records in playbox have reviews so you can get an idea of how they sound and who made them. You can get good info for talk sets here, but never read straight from the reviews. You should digest the review and rephrase the interesting parts in your own words before you talk over the air. Overall there is an art to talking on the air, and it’ll take time to be really good. Practice (and a willingness to try new things) makes perfect. Here are some more tips to help: • When you speak, do so LOUDLY, SLOWLY, CLEARLY, and ENTHUSIASTICALLY. Avoid at all costs a monotonous, bored, or perturbed tone, and please don’t mumble! Think and plan before you talk! Then smile while you’re talking! PROJECT A FRIENDLY TONE! • Sit up straight or stand to talk, and put your mouth very close to the microphone, but not touching. Your voice will project best this way. If you direct your voice away from the center of the microphone, it won’t sound quite right, and your listeners can tell. • Do a talk set at least every 20 minutes. Any longer than 20 minutes will make the backlist of tracks too long to digest. • Definitely throw in bits of info, like the time, the station, the request number, and the weather. Think about information that your listener will want to know. Avoid settling into a routine or formulaic talk set. You don’t have to say the time or the station or the weather or our phone number every time. Mix it up. • It is a great idea to let our listeners know about concerts around town. There is a space called Concertshelf where you’ll find CDs or records by bands that are about to come through these parts, with the details of the show attached. Get the word out! • Don’t use internal station jargon that could sound really weird to our listeners. Examples would be “PSA,” “Rotation,” “Heavy Rotation,” “Playbox,” etc. Many listeners don’t know what these things mean, and jargon can easily deflate the radio mystique that we’ve got going. • Don’t reference things that are happening during your talk set. For example, if a DJ walks into the station while you’re talking, ignore it! This may sound obvious, but DJs have been known to make unprofessional chatter over the air, and it sounds really bad. (Along these lines, if you are about to enter the station, make sure that the on-air DJ isn’t doing a talk set. Our listeners can hear the door opening and closing.) • If you are letting a listener know over the air that you cannot find their request, mention that we don’t have it or that you can’t find it. Never speculate to our listeners that it may be stolen. • Keep comments about non-music related topics to a minimum. • Never say anything that could be offensive.

8 Public Service Announcements (PSAs) tell our listeners about events going on at the station, on campus, and in the community. They are an important element of our service to the community, and you must read three per hour. You will want to read only one PSA per talk set, because more than one would usually be too much information all at once. You’ll also want to make sure you don’t repeat ones that were just read or read ones that announce events that have already happened. It’s helpful to read the PSA to yourself before you begin talking over the air, and when you do talk, to speak slowly and clearly, being sure to give contact information. Sometimes our PSAs announce off-the-wall events that might make you laugh. Your job is to be professional and to present the information without passing judgment. And as mentioned in the tips above, never say something like “Now I’m going to read a PSA.” Radio jargon sounds bad over the air. You can also give listeners information by playing pre-recorded announcements that we produce at the station. These include station IDs, Concertline (a listing of area shows for the week), and promotional spots for WXYC events and programs. We record them on minidisks and CDs, and we keep them near the control room board. You will need to play these announcements if instructed on your flowsheet. You will air them separately from your talksets, usually between two songs. When you are backlisting, you don’t need to tell listeners that you played Concertline or that you played an announcement for a WXYC event. That would be another example of radio jargon that doesn’t sound good over the air.

The Phone When you are on the air, you are required to answer the on-air DJ line (962-8989) and the extra phone line (962-6397). If the 8989 line is in use, other calls will roll over to 6397. That means you can have two people on the line at once, and you can put either on hold. We have a third phone line (962-7768) for management and music department business. You never need to answer this one! (Don’t worry, our voicemail will pick up in the event that no manager or music department staffer is around.) If you receive a business-related call on the 8989 or 6397 lines, refer to the list of e-mail addresses and phone numbers above the control room board for whom you should direct the caller to. E-mail is the best way to get in touch with station management. If you get a caller who needs personal contact information for a DJ, please confirm that they are a station member before you give out info. Refer anyone else to station management. When you answer the phone, please say something like “Hello, XYC...” or “WXYC. May I help you?” Be polite to all callers, even if they are acting weird, hassling you, or requesting something that you’re not interested in playing. If you receive a disturbing phone call, just politely end your half of the conversation and hang up. If a caller repeatedly bothers you, feel free to not answer the phone if you believe it may be said caller. Report any calls that make you feel uncomfortable to the station manager. If you receive threatening calls, you can get in touch with campus police.

9 You may make local-only outgoing calls by dialing 9 before the number. No long distance calls are allowed unless they are on station business. Unauthorized long distance calls place WXYC in violation of UNC Student Government laws, and such violations could cause us to lose our funding. If you need to call a DJ who lives outside of the local calling area, get in touch with a member of station management first. A word to the wise regarding requests: consider making your listeners happy by playing what they want to hear. It won’t hurt you to play one song that you’re not so into. We’re here to serve our audience.

Emergency Alert System (EAS system) We have an EAS system that interrupts your show to communicate important national weather service bulletins. It is automatic an process, so you will not need to do anything if it happens. Just be prepared to resume your show once it ends. The machine, which is located in the corner of the control room, to the right of the rotation shelves, sometimes prints out tickets with information to be announced. If this happens you should immediately stop playing music and make the needed announcement. Then you can get back to business.

“The List” and “The Book” We have a listserv that has become over the years our primary mode of communication between station management and DJs. The address is [email protected], and you will be subscribed soon. You will find that traffic on the WXYC listserv is fairly heavy, so we ask you to read each subject heading carefully so that the important stuff doesn’t pass you by. All DJs are welcome to chime in on discussions, but please try to keep your contributions timely and relevant. Kept in the control room next to the turntables, “the book” is WXYC’s written diary of intra-station communication. You should read it and write in it as often as possible. This is where lots of cool stuff goes, like comments about records in playbox, questions about the station and its policies, invitations to parties, funny stories about doing late night shifts, and minutes for the meetings that the SEB board holds (read on for information about this board that owns our broadcast license). Although the listserv is the best way to get in touch with all DJs, the book is useful as a place to record funny or cool stuff without cluttering e-mail inboxes.

Finding Subs In the event that you cannot do a scheduled radio shift, you will need to find a sub (see rule #1 at the beginning of the manual). As soon as you know, you must post an orange “need help” slip to our sub board, which is located next to the control room door. This will advertise that you need help, but the best way to find someone is to post a request to our shifts listserv ([email protected]) as early as you can. This listserv is devoted to pleas for shift coverage, and all active DJs as well as those who don’t have time for regular shows are subscribed. If this doesn’t work, you should call up any and all DJs on our phone list, until you find someone who can help you out. Finding a sub is your responsibility, so make sure to make arrangements well in advance. 10 Once you find a sub, you or they must sign their name on your “need help” slip. If you don’t do that, the DJ before you won’t know who’s coming in to do your show. Once another DJ’s name is on the “need help” slip, it is their responsibility to cover the shift. Please note that you are welcome to substitute for other DJs, but during your first semester or (summer) and until you have completed your new DJ requirements and have been given the go-ahead by station management, you can only substitute for shows that are between 3:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. You will be subscribed to a listserv for you, your mentors, and station management. If you need to swap shifts, you can use this listserv to get in touch with other new DJs. The address is [email protected]. org.

DJ Webspace We have an internal section of our website just for DJs. Features include current phone lists and a link to our online card catalog. The address is www.wxyc.org/dj. The username is wxycdj and the password is freak893.

New DJ Restrictions and the Road to Daylight For your first semester, you can only do shows between midnight and 8:00 a.m. Once your first semester is over and you have completed your new DJ requirements, then you may be eligible for a better shift. At that point, station management must give you approval before you can take any shift outside of the new DJ range. New weekly shifts are assigned at the beginning of every semester, as well as at the beginning of the summer. We have preference sheets that you fill out to rank all the shows you’d like to do. Most second-semester DJs get regular shows between midnight and noon. Shift preference is based on being a good DJ, helping out around the station, and helping with Sign-Ups.

Sign-Ups and Helping Out At WXYC Aside from doing a radio shift, there is a host of things that DJs can do to help keep the station running. One big thing is doing sign-up shifts. At WXYC, we go on sign-ups during exams and during school breaks. During sign-ups periods, no DJs have to do their regular shifts; instead we open up the schedule and fill shifts on a first-come, first-serve basis, because many DJs are out-of-town or taking exams. While in sign-ups mode, we fill up the schedule week by week, and we need all the help we can get. We require new DJs to cover late-night/early-morning shows during sign-ups periods. There are other ways for DJs to help out at the station, such as volunteering to help the music department review records for playbox consideration, pitching in with specialty shows, attending record filing parties, pit-sitting to promote WXYC events, and much, much more. For suggestions on what you can do, ask a station management or music department member.

11 The Station’s Organizational Structure Board of Directors WXYC’s license is owned by Student Educational Broadcasting, Inc. (SEB), which serves as our Board of Directors. The board is made up of a chair, vice chair and secretary; the station manager and business manager; our chief engineer; and representatives from the DJ body, student government and the community. SEB meets on the first Monday of each month and conducts elections for station manager and business manager, and oversees large expenses and other overarching issues. All DJs are welcome to attend and make comments.

Station Management Every April, SEB elects a Station Manager and Business Manager. Any DJ is free to run for these positions, which are for a term of one year, although the Business Manager is required to be a current student. The Business Manager is responsible for the station’s budget and all purchases and expenses. The Station Manager is ultimately responsible for all the comprehensive day-to-day operations of the station, except for rotation and music-related decisions. The group known as “Station Management” is comprised of the Station Manager, the Business Manager and several other position including: Programming Director, Operations Manager, and Promotions Director and IT Manager. The Social Coordinator is in charge of planning, promoting, and executing WXYC community events, such as the ‘80s dance, our Party Series, and activities with WXDU-Durham. The Internal Operations Manager coordinates the hiring and training of new DJs and oversees sign- ups, prod room maintenance, and simple equipment maintenance. The Promotions Director coordinates Concertline, Concertshelf, and Ticket Giveaways, as well as promotion of specialty shows, open houses, and recruitment. These three station management positions have one-year terms that begin each May. Applications are made available at the end of the spring semester, and they are reviewed by outgoing station management.

The Music Department The Music Directors (MD) decides what records go into rotation and into playbox. He/ she should be extremely knowledgeable about a diverse array of music, and willing to listen to DJs’ feedback. His/her knowledge is supplemented by that of the Music Department. The station manager is entitled to select the MD, although currently it is a tenured position (meaning we don’t select a new one every year, but only when the old one steps down). The MD selects the Music Department staff through an application process. If you’re interested in working with the Music Department, be sure to let the MD know. In addition, all DJs (even new ones) are encouraged to help review new CDs as they arrive at the station. Just stop by during the MD’s office hours to pick some up.

Specialty Programming Most of WXYC’s programming is made up of our regular free-format radio shows. Some

12 evenings and on Sundays, however, we have specialty programming that supplements our regular programming and that focuses on particular genres, topics or releases. You are welcome to help out with a specialty show starting in your second semester as a DJ. During your first semester you can help out, but you can’t do one of these shows solo. Each show is coordinated by a different DJ, and you will find the current list of coordinators on our phone list. Feel free to get in touch with any of them. The shows are as follows: The Inside Track (Wednesday, 9:00 p.m.) is a new release played in its entirety. Inside Tracks tend to be from 40 to 60 minutes in length and are selected from WXYC’s current playlist so that listeners can hear some of the best new releases in full, set apart from WXYC’s regular music mix. Thursday Night Feature (Thursday, 9:00 p.m. – midnight) offers our DJs a chance to explore in depth a musical topic of their choosing. Thursday Night Features have focused on artists, themes (short songs, songs with organs), regions (New Zealand, the British Empire), genres (early hip-hop, ambient, ‘alternative country’), and much more. One of WXYC’s longest-running specialty shows, Orange County Special (Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.) features a wide variety of traditional and neo-traditional music from around the world. On any given Sunday morning, you can hear everything from bluegrass, blues, and zydeco to Celtic, Latino, and Eastern sufi music. The Orange County Special is also a great place to turn if you’re looking for information about traditional music happenings in the Triangle. Each week, Hell or High Water (Sunday, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.) explores a theme rooted in the folk traditions of the Southern US and beyond. The show’s staff works with UNC’s Southern Folklife Collection to pull unique recordings such as field recordings and out-of-print commercial releases and bring them to the airwaves. Broken Music (Sunday, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) is an hour devoted to longer, more “difficult” pieces of music that are typically harder to feature during regular programming. If you enjoy avant-classical pieces by John Cage or Harry Partch, deconstructionist noise by F.M. Einheit and Caspar Brotzmann, or rhythm drone loops from the Theatre of Eternal Music, then this hour might be cracked up for you. WXYC’s local music show is the Backyard Bar-B-Q (Sunday, 8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.), a veritable feast of North Carolina music culled from the fresh produce of CDs and singles from Chapel Hill’s finest, as well as older records from NC bands of the past. The Backyard Bar-B-Q also features new local demo tapes, a list of the week’s local band concert dates, and the occasional bits of local music gossip. The New Music Show (Monday, 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) puts a spotlight on brand new releases of all types and genres. Often the records featured on this show have just made it into our hands. The music department staff runs this show on a rotating basis. Sportsrap (Sunday, 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.) is WXYC’s weekly call-in talk show devoted entirely to sports. Sportsrap is run and staffed apart from WXYC’s regular DJs and management. People ‘round here like sports a lot. New Science Experience (Sunday, 10:00 p.m. – midnight) highlights urban dance culture and the art of live mixing. The music featured on NSE includes hip hop, house, techno, ambient, and various genres from the underground dance scene. The show also 13 hosts guest DJs who spin live in the studio. We are also adding two call-in talk shows on Sundays. One is at 5:00 p.m. weekly and is hosted by the UNC-CH Student Body President; various guests join the President for a discussion of issues that affect students and the community. (This show is on hiatus for the summer.) The other is at 6:00 p.m. weekly, and it is a combination of prepared news stories and talk, put together by the Chapel Hill Indymedia Center. Now… on to part II, which addresses the rotation system, our format and how you should work with these in your show.

14 NEW DJ TRAINING MANUAL, PART II WXYC’s format and how the DJ should work with it

Rotation/Playbox Aside from the fairly simplistic FCC requirements regarding paperwork and legal IDs, the most crucial requirement when you are doing a show is “rotation” (unless you are doing a specialty show). “Rotation” is a playbox of new releases of all imaginable genres and types. There are typically 100 to 150 pieces of music in rotation at any given time. Most of these releases are on CD, but there are also plenty of 7-inches, 12-inches, and LPs. How do we determine what does and does not go into rotation? The music director decides which records go into rotation, which is divided into sections called “heavy” (H) “medium” (M), and “light” (L). “Singles” (S) is a separate category that was created to give airplay to shorter releases (usually 12-inch and 7-inch singles) that consist of two to four cuts. New CDs and records that do not make rotation (that is, they are not in “heavy,” “medium,” “light” or “singles”) are still placed where interested DJs can find and play them. This “non-rotation” category of new releases (left out for various and sundry reasons: it’s just kinda OK, it’s not really new, it’s only a remix of a couple of songs that we already have, etc.) has historically been referred to as “new vinyl” or, more appropriately for the new millennium, “new CDs.” Here’s a diagram of the playbox shelf:

Heavy CDs usually take up the whole left column of the two CD racks. Heavy CDs are marked with a small green sticker on the spine of the jewel box. Medium CDs are on 15 the second row from the left in the bottom rack and are marked with a yellow sticker. Light CDs are in the two rightmost rows of the bottom rack and are usually marked with a red sticker. There is also a tiny section for CD singles, and they have blue stickers on their spines. Sometimes medium and light will extend into the top rack, which is where we keep new vinyl and CD singles. Now you know where to find the CDs, but there is still a box full of some vinyl and pieces of cardboard and an unusual set of rules that tells you what you can play and when. The playbox requirements for Heavy and Medium are fairly straightforward: every hour, take the first three cards (or LPs) from the Heavy portion of the playbox bin (they should remain in numerical order according to the number in the upper- right-hand corner of the card) and the first card from the Medium section. These cards represent your Heavy and Medium allotments for the hour. Each card may present up to four different CDs/LPs from which you must pick one to play a song from during the hour. When you have played the required songs for Heavy and Medium, rotate the cards in order to the back of their respective sections. If you don’t rotate the cards, the DJ after you will play the same artists you did, and the “rotation” would not be happening. Make sure that the DJ before you rotated his/her cards as well. Light rotation works somewhat differently than Heavy and Medium. In the first hour of your show, you should play a song from one of the CDs on the first card in the Light bin, rotating the card to the back when you are done. Then, in the next hour, you can choose any Light release to play, without rotating the card to the back. The next hour, you should play what’s on the first card again. Thus, from hour to hour, Light alternates between free choice and in-order rotation. There is no order to the records in the singles rotation bin. DJs are merely required to play one single of their choice per hour. But when you have played a single you should still rotate it to the back of the bin, so that the DJ on after you knows that it was just played and won’t play it again. For all rotation cuts you play, you should mark the appropriate rotation symbol (H, M, L or S) in the space for it on the flowsheet. You are welcome to play extra cuts from rotation in addition to your required ones, but don’t disturb the order of the numbered cards when you do so. Additionally, you are allowed one “veto” per hour. If out of the six rotation options in an hour, there is one card/release/set of releases that you absolutely cannot stand, then you are free to veto that rotation item and play only five cuts that hour. Just write down what you veto at the bottom of that hour on the flowsheet – but please give things a chance before you veto them. You are more than welcome to play all six rotation cuts per hour. In fact, unless you run out of time or just don’t like something, there’s not much reason to use your veto.

Some Thoughts on Our Format We begin with some words from a former station manager, penned more than 10 years ago. There’s some wisdom here: Since the autumn of 1980, WXYC has operated under the musical format loosely termed “Popular music of the 20th century.” This umbrella has generally included 16 all music except traditional classical music. The key to making such a broad format actually work is that every DJ has to exercise some intelligence when programming their shows. Here are some specifics: 1. Playbox cuts -- you have already read about these. To summarize: 6 cuts per hour (3 heavy, 1 medium, 1 light, and 1 single). The optional veto allows the DJ to skip one of these cuts per hour. End result: 5 or 6 cuts per hour are mandatory. 2. The balance of any hour should be an intelligent mixture of everything else besides playbox. Essentially, you can do anything you want as long as you don’t stagnate. Ideally, a DJ will incorporate several different styles into an hour. For example: old (‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s) hits/standards/others, male vocal, female vocal, instrumental, acoustic, electric, guitars, anything but guitars, reed flutes, drum machines, international, local, blues, jazz, cold wave, hardcore, disco, bluegrass, metal, comedy, ambient, reggae ... (insert both your favorites and those “genres” you know little about here) Now obviously it is impossible to do all of these things in one show and not sound like you’re just trying to get all of your food groups in. The point is not to play every last one of them, but just not to dwell on any of them for too long. How long is too long? Use your own judgment, but remember what time of day it is and that the more challenging/harsh the music, the smaller the percentage of our audience that will have patience with you. If you take your audience way out on a limb, you should be aware of your duty to bring them back into safety with something relatively accessible. Some days you feel like playing lots of “new” music. Fine, but play a variety of new music. Or you may be in a ‘60s mood. That’s OK, too -- just play a variety of 60s stuff for awhile, and then get out of it. There are general rules that should be followed but don’t get hung up on them. What is more important is that your show be interesting and entertaining. For example: we try not to play the same artist more than once a shift. But one day you may feel like contrasting an old Cure cut with something off a newer album by the Cure. That’s fine if you don’t do that sort of thing all day. Or you may want to follow a lyrical or musical theme. Great. You are required to experiment within the library, to discover genres of music you are not faniliar with. That’s one of the best things about working here -- the learning part. but no one expects each jock to cover the gamut of musical history of the world in every shift. Just remember, our sound is best defined by what we shouldn’t do rather than what we should. DON’T GET INTO ANY RUTS. ANY RUT IS AS BAD AS ANY OTHER RUT (although certain ruts chase audiences away faster than others). Be aware of what you are doing on the air. Concentrate on your programming. Think of how the songs you are playing fit together into your show. Have you tried anything different lately? Have you learned anything lately? Note: If the music is good, we should play it whether it is commercial or not. The notion that a song or act can become too popular for WXYC is counterproductive and the concept that we should abandon artists once they reach commercial success is a fraud on our audience.

—Bill Burton, July 1988 (updated June 1992)

17 Although over two decades old, Bill’s words stand up well today. The station’s commitment to programming a huge variety of music has only strengthened since that time. Unfortunately, with that commitment to playing every imaginable genre of music comes another set of programming difficulties, mostly involved with how to put them together. The technical term for the transition between two songs is a segue (pronounced seg-way) and in literal terms, it is as important as the songs themselves. How could a segue be as important as the songs? Well, from the listener’s perspective, if a transition is so jarring that it makes them put a tape in or change stations, they’ll never get to hear that second (or third, fourth...) song. Aesthetically (Duke Ellington --> the Ramones) or physically (volume jumps, cutting off endings, etc.), a bad segue can drive listeners away. The physical problems can be overcome by careful previewing and cueing, but the aesthetic problems are more difficult. Often DJs will try nice neat little blocks (three hardcore songs, three polkas, three psychedelic classics) with talk sets in between. This becomes just another rut (as well as severely limiting the ground a shift can cover. There must be some compromise between these two limiting options: (a) scattershot randomness and (b) genre sets. There is: keep moving across styles and genres, but make sure there is some connection for an active listener to make some sense of. One option is linking songs with musicological connections (a sample-heavy house music cut --> a rap cut --> a dub cut --> a roots ska cut --> a ‘70s New Orleans soul cut --> an electric Memphis blues cut, etc.) Another option is linking songs thematically (songs about fish, cars, etc.) Or even songs that share a common player (Adrian Belew: solo or with Talking Heads, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, the Bears, etc.) How about songs with a common instrument (other than guitars, perhaps accordion: polkas, zydeco, tangos, conjunta, Tex-Mex, forro)? Obviously any of these devices could be turned into ruts of their own, but if mixed together (with an occasional drastic segue thrown in for shock value), should make for great shifts.

—Bob Boster 6/30/92

At the risk of overwhelming you with yet more advice, there are a few more tips and comments to be added to the already invaluable recommendations from Bill and Bob. Let’s start the 1996 words off with some excellent tips on DJing from WXYC DJ Rich Dearing:

The challenge of DJing at WXYC is to gracefully incorporate diverse musical styles into a single set or shift. The DJ’s who do this well are those that have a genuine appreciation and taste for, as well as a knowledge of, many different styles of music. You can develop your musical taste and knowledge by listening to WXYC as often as possible, paying attention to rotation cuts (don’t look at rotation as an obstacle preventing you from playing “your music”), and reading album reviews and liner notes. A second element of good DJing is song selection and set construction. A typical initial strategy of set construction is to segue along related genres: e.g. from funk to rap. This is a fine way to start, but often it doesn’t work too well. A better strategy is to match genres that are more distantly related: e.g., techno/ambient and fusion jazz, 18 psychedelic rock and Eastern European folk music. This allows for more diverse, yet still coherent, sets. A strategy that works better than either of the above is to think in terms of particular songs rather than genres. Note songs with parts (especially intros or endings) which are anomalous for songs of that genre. For example, “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo” by A Tribe Called Quest begins with Latin-flavored guitar. A nice segue might move from a Latin ballad to hip-hop using this song. In addition to song selection and set construction, segue execution affects the quality of a shift. With some exceptions, segues sound best when the DJ matches the first beats of the measure in the two songs. If a song ends on a fade, particularly a slow fade, it is best to start the next song before the first fades out completely (matching the first beats of the measure is especially important in such cases). Finally, and probably most crucial, always preview the last 20-30 seconds of a song before you play it to get a feel for how the song ends. It’s a cliche, but the best way to improve as a DJ is to practice. Do as many shifts as you can. Sign-ups and substitutes are a good way to pick up additional shifts and to help the station out as well. Also, it is a good idea to tape your shifts and listen to them again later. Because you will be looking for music and cueing up songs, it is hard to listen to a shift while you are doing it. Listening again later affords an opportunity to notice what worked and what didn’t, and what could have been improved.

—Rich Dearing (WXYC DJ, 1993 - 1996)

OK. Now by all means, use any of the above suggestions from Bob or Rich to try to make good segues wherever possible. But don’t overconcentrate on this part of the DJing game to the detriment of your show/music selection. In particular, don’t forget that sometimes the easiest (and maybe best) “segue” between two songs is either: • (a) a segue between two songs (“A” and “B”) where the ending of “A” and the beginning of “B” just happen to share certain general qualities (quiet, drony, sad, percussive, staccato, noisy, slow...) • (b) a cart (one of the “random soundbites” or a legal ID); this works very well between extremely disparate songs; having a “safety net” cart ready to play is also an excellent way to fill time when you run into dead air from a technical mistake. • (c) a talkset Talksets are extremely useful for our listeners, who are often dying to find out more about that song that you played fifteen minutes ago. The most common complaint about WXYC is that the DJs don’t talk often enough. You should aim to make your sets about twenty minutes in length. Sets between fifteen and twenty-five minutes are also fine, and every once in a while, a thirty-minute set is bound to happen. Sets over thirty minutes are strongly discouraged for obvious reasons: if you are playing music to entertain and educate the listening audience (and not just yourself), then failing to acknowledge the audience and/or give them information about what you are playing is not only a bit rude, but it runs contrary to a good deal of what WXYC is all about.

19 Some final DJing tips: • Check the flowsheet of the previous DJ so that you can avoid repeating artists and songs. Also, try not to repeat artists on your shift from week to week. We all have our favorites, but a good rule of thumb is to wait two weeks after playing “Band X” before playing them again. • Listen to some of the records in rotation before your show. Being more familiar with rotation will improve the way you work with it during your shift. It is also best to not let your rotation selections be too similar to the types of music that you have pulled. If possible, let your choices supplement rotation and vice-versa. Listen to the radio station as much as possible. Hear what works and doesn’t work for others. Talk to more experienced DJs. Each DJ does things differently and getting various and sundry opinions, feedback, and ideas from others will probably help you towards finding out what works best for you.

20 NEW DJ TRAINING MANUAL, PART III Semester-long New DJ Requirements Very shortly, you’ll be assigned a mentor who will help you learn the ropes, complete your requirements and explore our library. He/she will also serve as your reference for questions throughout the semester. Feel free to also get in touch with members of station management or the music department with any questions or concerns.

1. Taping your show for yourself and for your mentor. One of the key aspects of the new DJ requirements will be the taping and critiquing your shows. You should tape your second and sixth shifts and then critique these them. For your first critique, concentrate on technical stuff. (Did I start songs soon enough? Did I pot up the microphone high enough? Are the levels consistent from song to song? Were there any disasters? What could I do to avoid that? Etc, etc, etc.) You should also begin to think about the questions that are taken up in the second critique. For your second critique, take up questions of flow and the logic that informed your programming. (Why did you play the stuff you did and in the order you did? Which segue-ways are you really proud of? Which didn’t work? How does each set feel? Is it held together well? Do you like listening to it? Etc, etc, etc.) Pass along your times to your mentor within one week of the show. Include your critiques, and drop your tapes in the “TAPE DROP” box in the mail rack in the back lobby of the station. Your mentor will provide you with some feedback, either in writing/ email, over the phone, or in person. If you are having any problems hearing from your mentor, please talk to the station manager so that we can work something out early on.

2. DJ Observations Practice and self-critique will help you as you grow as a DJ, but one of the best ways to improve is to observe the shifts of other DJs, check out their techniques and styles, and work new ideas into your shows. Using the form at the end of this manual, you will be required to do one “interactive” observation of your mentor’s shift. Besides going over the checklist and asking questions, you will get to do a 30-minute mini-set, so that your mentor can give you additional feedback.

3. Learning the libraries One of the most important things you’ll do as a new DJ is delve into our music library. This is a time-intensive process where you will find new stuff that suits your tastes as well as other stuff that might challenge you. We have two library research forms that you must complete. In advance, we will hold two research meetings, so that you get some ideas of records to listen to.

Here is an example for filling out an entry on the research form: Section: OCS Artist: Watson Family Thoughts: 21 Roots bluegrass and flatpicking. Liked it ok, thought it was a little too “historical” sounding for my taste. Best cut was #25. Will look for some other stuff along these lines.

You get the idea. The research possibilities are endless, but try to find some examples of the following genres during your search:

‘60s Folk Revival Grindcore Afro-Cuban jazz Hardcore Afrobeat Highlife alt-country/”no depression” Hip-Hop Ambient Industrial Art Rock Krautrock Avant-Garde Classical metal Avant-Garde Jazz new wave Beat Poets no wave Bluegrass Northern Soul blues oi! Bollywood Old school rap Bop (or Hard Bop) Jazz Old-time Brazilian Jazz Post-Punk Cajun Progressive Rock Calypso Psychedelia Celtic punk Chicago Blues R&B country Reggae Crooners Rock Steady Dancehall Rockabilly Delta Blues Singer/Songwriter Disco Ska (Jamaican/British) doo wop slow-core Drone Soul Dub spoken word Electro Swing experimental Techno French pop Texas swing Funk Tex-Mex fusion Thrash garage Tropicalia glam rock Turntablism go-go Zouk/Soukous Gospel (white and black) Zydeco Goth Rock and/or something from these countries/regions/scenes: 22

Andes (South America) Memphis Argentina Mexico Brazil Minneapolis Cape Verde Morocco Caribbean Nashville Chapel Hill New Orleans Chicago New Zealand China NYC Cuba Pacific Northwest East Africa Providence East Asia San Francisco Eastern Europe Siberia France South Africa Germany Southeast Asia India Tokyo Jamaica Turkey Japan Vietnam London West Africa Manchester

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