A quick question:
When I grow up, I’m thinking of either being a bartender or a radio DJ. I know bartenders have to get licences by whatever state their in (hopefully the state of sobriety), but what about radio DJs? Does each DJ have to carry his or her own license, or is it the station that carries the license, and must police it’s own employees.
Tripler
It’s not a matter of “when” it’s “IF” I decide to grow up.
DJs are not licensed by the FCC. (Besides, how would you differentiate between a “DJ” and a talk show host or a news anchor or just some guy who comes in for an interview?)
Individual stations are licensed by the FCC, and the FCC can take punitive action against the station of on-air talent misbehaves. This doesn’t happen very often, but seems to occur more often to radio stations than television stations.
IMHO there is nothing more annoying and useless than the oxymoron that is “on air personality” aka “DJ” If you really want to spew out retarded banter for strangers then by all means choose bartending. The tips will be better, the pickup opportunities will be better, and a bar sponge is always arms length from your face, a mic sponge (and every other DJ’s halitosis) is in your face.
I’d go with not growing up. Kids don’t need licences.
FCC Radiotelephone Operators’ licenses have not been required for either on-air persons or those who operate the equipment for quite a few years now. Otherwise, I’d be out of a job!
DJs used to be licensed by the FCC. A prospective DJ had to pass an exam to prove that s/he could read, fill out a log, and perform basic tasks relevant to the job. Once the DJ had the license, it was valid for life. Two of my professors joined their college radio stations to get their license. The FCC stopped requiring individual licensure in 1995, but every so often, there is some discussion about requiring it again. So far, that hasn’t happened.
There are some radio operators who still need to be licensed. Amateur operators, for example, are tested on things like electronics theory, what bands they’re permitted to use, and basic radio protocol. Maritime radio operators also have to be licensed; one can join the Merchant Marine with this license.
I should point out that individual licensing isn’t intended to be exclusive; its goal is to make sure that radio operators know what they’re doing. Maritime operators are essential to the safety of passengers and cargo; hams participate in various public-safety operations, and each license level is allowed broadcast privileges on specific bands to avoid interference with commercial radio bands and television, so it’s imperative that hams know which bands they’re allotted, and at what power.
I know you didn’t ask, but engineers must be certified. They get their credentials from the Society of Broadcast Engineers.
Robin
I still have my old FCC Radiotelephone Operator’s License with Broadcast Endorsement (the latter was essential if you wanted to be on the air), but it did expire five years after it was issued, and you needed to be employed at a station for at least two years for you to be able to renew it (though I guess you could take the test again).
Of course, some bigger stations had DJ’s on the air without licenses back then – but they had an engineer with one. The government didn’t require everyone on the air to be licensed, obviously. However, most radio stations didn’t pay a separate salary for an engineer and the DJ was supposed to act in that way. Hence the license.
I also recall that DJs who ran their own boards (that is, they didn’t have an engineer and just did everything themselves) had to join the electricians’ union.
Robin
Well, now here’s a question: I was under the impression the DJs also did the music selection at the immediate moment, like, “Next we have Trace Atkins followed by John Lee Hooker. . .” and did the announcements, etc. True?
I mean, I know what a bartender does just by having been an astute observer (with many, many . . . many long hours of observation of the bartender in his/her natural habitat).
And I agree, I don’t want to grow up.
Tripler
I’m 28 going on 6 1/2.
If that were the case then radio wouldn’t suck as much as it does. If you get to spin your own tunes I think you’d have to work at a 5000 watt station where you’d have to tend bar part time to pay the bills anyway. I’d kill for a radio station that played Trace Atkins and John Lee Hooker.
Hahahaha. I like you. You make me laugh. 
As deevee pointed out, you’d have to work at a small station to pick your own music. Most corporate stations have a limited library to choose from and you play what they tell you or else.
Very little commercial radio is truly spontaneous. It’s all focus-groupped into oblivion. (No joke. Dave Barry did a column about it which turned into his Bad Songs book.) Songs that get good ratings get played over and over while songs that don’t get shit-canned until they come back.
Oh, and it’s Trace Adkins. Just so’s you know.
Robin
I knew that. I was checking you guys.
Tripler
:smack:
Take it one step further. The music is picked and laid in by computer. And the talent drops in voice tracks from another city.
Clear Channel seems to use voice tracking the most, but the practice is certainly not limited to them. One guy at a CC station in San Diego voice tracks the morning breaks for 20 other stations across the country.
I’m familiar with him because he really tries to sound local and it occasionally bites him. One morning on the Boise station he waxed on about the great dance that happened last night and what a great time he had, etc.
The dance had been snowed out. Cancelled.
Back to the subject. Right off the top of my head I can think of one radio station that has live announcers picking their music the old-fashioned way…KPIG in Northern California.
I often wondered about that. It seems the local places around here (KIK - 104.9 FM Great Falls, MT) have a decent record as far as local events and ClearChannel stations go, only because it’s like, the only country station around to my knowledge (and to be honest, I’m not even sure which company owns it). Do other radio stations do that sort of stuff: decentralized song playin’, centralized DJ’in?
But I thought that most stations were like the TV stations, in that they had their network feeds, but did their own local news and such. It sounds like the local guys have between 5 - 7:PM-L to do their local broadcasts and then “turn the switch” over to a network feed. Is that the same with radio?
I’ll even take it a step further: I imagine FM is pretty competetive. Is AM that competetive too? Should I even worry about AM?
Tripler
Yeah, I’ve got a good job. I’m lookin’ for something low stress.
Dave Fm has many stations throughout North America and is growing. A Toronto newspaper did a feature on the “DJ” who lives in Toronto and does all the voice tracks in his basement. Stations will email him with locality specific dialogue, he records it and sends it to them over the net. “It’s a beautiful day in Atlanta today” is voiced by a Canadian in his basement. I actually like this station because DJ banter is almost non existent.
FM is the more competitive of the two bands. Many stations, even those that are locally owned, now use voice-tracking because it’s cheaper to pay a DJ for a few hours to record a week’s worth of material than it is to pay a DJ a week’s worth of pay for a week’s worth of live material. In fact, there are some stations where the only live shows are morning and afternoon drivetime, and that’s because people making the commute want news, weather and traffic, and those aren’t things you can do ahead of time.
Some stations subscribe to a satellite feed for some programming, others use a computer that plays music and voice tracks at the scheduled times.
[url=“http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6478863&postcount=9”]Here[/url is a post I made a while ago that pretty much answers your questions. There is other good information in that thread, as well.
Robin
Deejays picking individual songs? Cripe! The FM rock stations of Philly (and I’m sure elsewhere) back in the 70’s did album sides (think LPs) or complete albums late at night. WMMR used to do new releases, so you could hear the hits that had gotten airplay along with the rest of the record before you went down to the record store and spent your hard earned $5 for the vinyl. Folks like me would stay up late to tape the whole album on reel-to-reel.
Get off my lawn you darn kids!! 
It’s not the main point of your question, but I have to comment on this. You don’t need to have a license to be a bartender in most states. You probably don’t even have to go to bartending school. You just have know how to pour drinks well enough to get a job. Not to hijack, but are credentials required for bartending any state?
Ah… so many pleasant memories…
By the early 1980s, a Radio DJ only needed a Restricted Class, (formerly 3rd Class) RT operator’s license. It required no test and lasted until yanked. The first station you worked for got it for you, and until you got the card back from the FCC the form filed at the station covered you. Yrs. Truly had one of those.
By the late 1980s even that went away. You still need the license to be the transmitter engineer, who actually controls the signal, but the people handling the programming can just be right off the street.
And even better that that, Yrs. Truly’s stint in radio was in College Radio in the early-mid 80s. That’s right, WE DID pick our own playlists. WE DID hear all the cool bands before they got big. Heck, even our Classical programming (daytime) was idiosyncratic and slightly off kilter, and never mind our overnight experimental music show.
And of course we had real DJs as we had 2 top-o-the-line turntables plus tape machines and carts and a lot of analog-media goodness. So what if we were only 10 watts??
IIRC, Pennsylvania requires a course in law and ethics before one can tend bar.
Robin
My cousin had to get “a license” before she could tend bar in PA, and I think my sister went and got her “license” in NJ too. . .
I think that’s why I’m under the assumption that most states require a license (or at least some sort of formal training).
Tripler
But it’s not like a vodka martini is all that hard to make. . .