Help Me Think of Questions to Put on My College Radio Station's DJ Application

as if the two were mutually exclusive

"can you make coffee?"

"do you have your own car?"

"is your sister still free?"

(come on, it's not that hard to think up questions!)

(someone continue)

I did this, and it was a good first step.

I'd ask them about their opinions on community radio and perhaps about independent media in general.

i once worked at a record store with a serious application that sent most people running away. it made you list five bands in each gere of music that the store carried. celtic, bluegrass and world were the hardest for people to actually get but lamers would fail to list five jazz musicians or five soul singers...

So ask the rock/pop DJs what music they listen to and appreciate that doesn't have electric guitars and drum kits; what music they listen to that doesn't have vocals in English; what the oldest piece of music is that they regularly listen to. Ask the jazz DJs what music they listen to & appreciate that doesn't have improvised solos; ask classical DJs what the newest music they listen to and what kind of pop music they listen to, etc.

[apologies to alan licht]

attitude/mentality often can make or break a station. im involved with two college stations. #1 is pretty hardcore and as a result, i learned so much about how to be a dj. on the other hand, station #2 is slack to the point where its borderline-anarchic and the station community seems to not give a shit about anything. im new there but because of this mentality dont feel much for the place.

perhaps you should also consider questions about how their approach to djing/being a member of the station. for example, "what are 5 things a dj should be doing besides playing records?" in the end, you'll have a staff thats playing great music but also cares about the station.

If you were in charge of K***, what would you change?

What do you see as K***'s place in the campus community?

List your top five favorite songs of the 1990s

What was your favorite album of last year?

What is your least favorite musical act, and why?

I should explain a few things about the station: we're a very new (7-year-old) mostly internet-only station (we have leaky FM transmitters in all the dorms on campus) and about a $10k budget ($30k, actually, but due to budget rules 2/3ds have to go towards salaries). We don't report to CMJ (or anyone), and get a lot fewer promo CDs and no listeners who aren't affiliated with the college in any way; moreover, the college has (until recently) kept us on a fairly short leash ever since there was a "free speech incident" a few years ago that resulted in a big lawsuit (eventually dismissed) brought against the college As the programming director this year (and the probable station manager next year), I'm mostly just trying to find a place for us; right now, not that many students listen (the most ever for a single show is 25, I believe, when we had a scientologist; but I go to a school with 1800 students so that's not such a huge travesty), and while on the one hand I'd like to change that, I'm beginning to think that low listenership is a given and we should just focus on giving as many kids a show as possible (given that part of our mission statement is to give students an opportunity to become familiar with the workings of a station/radio equipment), and to make the station lineup as interesting and diverse as possible (I'm also looking for faculty and staff to have shows--we had two very popular profs do a punk show last year that attracted a ton of listeners--not to mention branching out to the wider community; as a kid growing up in Princeton one of the great pleasures of high school was sitting in on my friends' late night WPRB shows). We're also making campus concerts as a big part of what we do, but right now that's not my area. Anyway, thank you all for your suggestions. I may incorporate others into a second draft (those questions are the ones being sent out to first-semester DJs).