Since my traffic has increased 1000% because of an article I wrote last month, I have received numerous emails asking about my mentioning in my bio my employment as a tracking radio DJ, not a club DJ.
Numerous radio stations across the nation no longer have local studios, made possible by the Federal Communications Commission’s 2017 repealing of a rule that required stations to have local studios. What that means to you is that DJ you listen to on your favorite station? Yeah, they just might be a tracking DJ.
Tracking DJs provide a voice to stations that eliminated their local studios and offices. The only component that is local is the transmitter. There are a ton of us, all around the nation. I, and people like me, are assigned to several different radio stations. Of course more than one DJ is assigned to each station so that listeners get the same variety they’d get if the DJs were local.
As of right now, I provide voice talent for four stations and on various shifts for each. For example, I’m heard on the overnight shift on one station and in the middle of the day on another station that is not close to another. This prevents listeners from getting suspicious.
So how do I get on the air? I have access to each station’s automation server. The software lists the songs, commercials, legal IDs and everything else.
I don’t touch anything that doesn’t concern me, instead looking for my “bed,” or the spot I need to fill with DJ banter. So I do that, being mindful of the song so that I don’t “hit the post,” meaning that I am talking only over the intro, not going into the actual singing.
Of course I will not name the specific company that I work for, nor will I mention my DJ names (one for each station). No, I will not mention the stations nor the cities that they are in.
Now, how can you tell if a station is using a tracking service? If I am performing my job the way I want to, you might never figure it out. When I upload load my banter into their automation, it does tell me the exact time things are scheduled to play out on air, but all it takes is a power outage and we’d look quite the fool, wouldn’t we? Another reason to not name the exact time is because the programming director might move the banter and the song somewhere else.
Here are some indications as to whether a station might use a tracking service. It’s important to note that a station could have local talent and use a tracking service overnight or maybe just over the weekend. At all other times, the station does have a local studio and the local DJ does or her show from there, or maybe even from home.
- There is no mention of current weather conditions. Doing so would be a dead giveaway. For example, I could check AccuWeather and say that it’s raining based on that, then it turns out the rain has stopped and the sun has come back out.
- Sometimes, tracking DJs are too timid about mentioning the specific time, instead saying “The time is 12 noon,” they’ll say “top of the hour” or something like that. Sometimes, I feel bold and mention the exact time. Other DJs in my employer’s company do mention the time.
- The DJ does not pronounce a local city’s name correctly. I go to great lengths to avoid that by researching difficult-sounding cities, usually using YouTube to get a mention of the name. I don’t know what my colleagues do.
- No one ever picks up the requests line or the line is disconnected altogether.
- The station has no local contests or events, or if there are those things, it’s always enter by app or their website, never “fifth caller.”
As for how I do all of this, I have a room set aside as a studio, with all the equipment and noise-reducing items. I typically do my work between 8am to 2 pm.
However, I and people like me can record what is in front of us (we get information by email) double-check that I have all my stations’ work completely finished, uploaded and I am assured that the software has accepted the sound files with no red elements. That indicates a few problems, but in my context it is warning that something is missing and it has the potential to ruin a station’s day. Well, maybe not that dramatic, but it is very serious.
Sometimes, it’s the station’s fault and, one time, I missed a slot. I went back and fixed it long before it hit the air. No harm done, but there could have been. If it’s something that the station forgot, I have contact information for each station and they have hours, maybe even days to fix it before it becomes a problem.
Speaking of days, some stations ask or my co-workers to record banter for a long holiday weekend, again ensuring that the same DJ does not run the show the entire weekend.
Each station is compliant with the Emergency Alert System and I help keep them compliant by playing legal station ID’s as needed as close to top of the hour as possible.
And yes, it is perfectly legal to be a tracking DJ. Some stations have local DJs who still track. That’s how I got into this field. Some listeners might feel a little upset if they found out that their “local” DJ was actually in, say, Maine, when the station is in Alaska. Me? I don’t care if they’re in Noord Holland. Just make with the music.
So there it is. Nothing too fancy, and we are paid well and well-treated. Just know, sometimes that local DJ is actually local and sometimes people get me from the other side of the country.