Who is a Radio Jockey?
Tuning-In with Hardeep S. Chandpuri
FRIENDS, it was with interest that I came across the term RJ or Radio Jockey when I returned from my stint in Melbourne, Australia. I was aware of the fact that abroad everyone used the simple term Disc Jockey to identify the person speaking over the microphone, spinning records and also selling everything from the latest brand of Anti-Wrinkling cream to the spiciest flavour of Hakka noodles on FM radio.
Then I moved to North America and came across the term “Radio Disc Jockeys” and while I was doing my own shows, I met the famous radio star Bill Singer and unknowingly called him a Radio Disc Jockey. He immediately pulled me up and told me very tersely, “Look my friend, here they don’t call us Radio Disc Jockeys please, we are better known as Radio Personalities”. Phew… “Sorry Bill”, I mumbled.
There I also came across another term “On-Air Personality”, which is reserved for people like the great Casey Kasem, Rick Dees, Shadoe Stevens and stars like Ameen Sayani and Jasdev Singh, closer home. And how can you forget the term “Shock Jock” which is synonymous with who else but.Howard Stern, who thrives on shocking people on his shows and the result is a five year long $500 million deal with a leading satellite radio operator. That surely shocks…right.
Then on my return to India I wanted to get to the bottom of this and try and figure out as to how this term originated. All my efforts went to a naught and I was against a blank wall. Suddenly, I woke up one morning and it was clear as the dew drop on the rose petal. Actually, the concept of Club DJs or Wedding DJs had come a lot earlier than the concept of FM Radio, as we see it today. So the term DJ became synonymous with the guy spinning “Nehron Paar Bangla.” at a wedding function and we, the Radio Disc Jockeys of our country had to content ourselves, with just being called a Radio Jockey, which has become totally acceptable with the passage of time.
But remember one thing; no one knows what the term Radio Jockey or RJ means beyond the shores of India.
(The writer is a renowned radio personality with a wide radio experience of 17 years in India and abroad. He is running Radio Buzz besides, being a voice trainer and an international broadcaster. He is also the Founder-CEO of Academy of Broadcasting, the premier brand in Radio Jockey training since 2003—www.aofb.in) hardeep@aofb.in
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