Live Interaction

Chris Jones

Mr. Jenkins
Honors English 11
April 30th, 2009
Live Interaction
For my live interaction for my research project on being a music producer, I visited a local radio station and received a tour. As I was led around the station I got to see many different rooms that all housed different equipment. I also got to learn about radio stations in general and how the one I visited was different from others.
I was first led around the outside of the building and got to see where the employees park and such just to get familiar with the property. While walking outside my guide shared with me some insight as to what made this station different. He pointed out that the radio station was its own building here and that most other stations in much bigger cities such as New York and Los Angeles are usually housed in a skyscraper with other businesses due to different reasons whether it be financial or geographic. Another interesting thing he pointed out was that the transmission tower was in view from the station. Most stations can be miles away from their tower and often share it with other independent broadcasters. I was then taken inside and shown the broadcast room. The room consisted of a console, microphones and a CD player. My guide told me they had recently got rid of their old turntable and put it in storage. The console controls the station, everything that is broadcasted on the air waves runs through that. The computers have software that edits songs and phone calls for them. The microphones are an intricate part of the studio and are used for the hosts and interviews on the air. The other room I was shown was the production room which is where the talk shows are formulated and the music mixed and cued so the folks in the broadcast studio don’t look stupid. The final room he showed me was kind of a gift room. It was full of things from platinum records to signed guitars that artists and music producers had given to them for promoting a song or helping to sell records.
And there you have it my live interaction, my tour of a radio station.