Nope! Radio is alive and well.
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| 955 wall decal in the hall by our studio |
This fall semester I have had the immense pleasure of interning for WKQI Channel 95.5's morning radio show, Mojo in the Morning. For those who are not from the metro Detroit area, or are just unfamiliar for whatever reason, Mojo in the Morning has been a 5:00am-10:00am staple in many peoples' lives for nearly fifteen years now. While many may believe that the world of traditional radio is on its way out thanks to things like satellite radio, smartphones, and television, that couldn't be farther from the truth when it comes to Mojo's show.
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| From L to R: Slim, Producer Rachel, Mojo, Shannon, & Spike |
Though Mojo in the Morning is broadcasted out of Farmington Hills, Michigan, it is now nationally syndicated on radio stations around the country such as 92.9 in Tucson, Arizona and 101.1 in Panama City, Florida just to name a few. Besides the live show and its syndication, Channel 95.5 and Mojo in the Morning are available on iHeart Radio as well which is a worldwide website that allows users to listen to radio stations and shows for free. Other ways to listen include their website, www.mojointhemorning.com, and the iTunes podcast page. Though it can be hard to track just how many listeners they have with all of these mediums available to listen to and subscribe to Mojo in the Morning, the viewership is in the millions daily.
Set up as a morning talk show, Mojo in the Morning is hosted by Mojo, Spike, and Shannon, with help from woman behind the scenes making sure everything goes smoothly: Producer Rachel. Their shows run from 6:00am to 10:00am weekdays, and from 5-6:00am they replay the show from the previous day which is called the "Mojo Warm-Up Show." Some of the show's popular and benchmark segments include War of the Roses, Spike's Phone Scams, Senseless Survey, Dirty on the Thirty, Second Date Update, and Throwback Throwdown, just to name a few.
Waking up to Mojo, Spike, Shannon, Producer Rachel, and the rest of the crew is a daily ritual for so many, and I am no exception. So, when I applied and heard back from Producer Rachel about the opportunity to intern for the show this fall, I was ecstatic. I couldn't believe that I would be working alongside a team that I had been listening to for years. For me and many metro-Detroiters, these people are local celebrities, and I was honored to even be able to breathe the same air as them.
My first few weeks were crazy. Since the live show starts at 6am every day, Rachel told me to be at the station in Farmington Hills by 5:50am. My internship started at the end of August before I had moved back on campus, which made it only about a 20 minute drive to the station from my mom's house in Brighton. However, as I made the transition back to Ann Arbor, my commute would end up being 40 minutes from A2 to Farmington Hills. The plus side though: there was never any traffic on the road at 5am.
As a newbie, learning how to answer the hundreds of callers we get throughout the show was something that had a bit of a learning curve. You see, it's not just picking up the phone and answering a question. These are listeners calling to weigh in on topics we're talking about, and you have to have good judgment about who gets OK'ed to go on the air since there are so many callers and only a few opportunities to give your opinion. Not to mention, these phones are big and crazy with tons of buttons that you have to learn the uses for, like hold, picking up one line but not the other, putting them on the 'check mark hold' so that Mojo knows they are good to go on-air, as well as dialing in and out to call people.
Though it took a little while, I eventually picked up all of the things I needed to know to be an expert phone screener, which is crucial for your time with the internship. If you never understand the phones, or it just doesn't 'click' for you, many interns don't get to answer phones and instead have to work on more administrational duties for the show. While some people may like this, I find it a bit boring and like to be in on the action with all of the show's nonsense.
Overall, my first few weeks on the team were a bit crazy, a bit stressful, and a lot of fun! Throughout the semester I learned some valuable lessons that I can't wait to share with all of you. Stay tuned, and anyone who tells you radio is dead-- obviously doesn't listen to Mojo, Spike, and Shannon!
Set up as a morning talk show, Mojo in the Morning is hosted by Mojo, Spike, and Shannon, with help from woman behind the scenes making sure everything goes smoothly: Producer Rachel. Their shows run from 6:00am to 10:00am weekdays, and from 5-6:00am they replay the show from the previous day which is called the "Mojo Warm-Up Show." Some of the show's popular and benchmark segments include War of the Roses, Spike's Phone Scams, Senseless Survey, Dirty on the Thirty, Second Date Update, and Throwback Throwdown, just to name a few.
Waking up to Mojo, Spike, Shannon, Producer Rachel, and the rest of the crew is a daily ritual for so many, and I am no exception. So, when I applied and heard back from Producer Rachel about the opportunity to intern for the show this fall, I was ecstatic. I couldn't believe that I would be working alongside a team that I had been listening to for years. For me and many metro-Detroiters, these people are local celebrities, and I was honored to even be able to breathe the same air as them.
My first few weeks were crazy. Since the live show starts at 6am every day, Rachel told me to be at the station in Farmington Hills by 5:50am. My internship started at the end of August before I had moved back on campus, which made it only about a 20 minute drive to the station from my mom's house in Brighton. However, as I made the transition back to Ann Arbor, my commute would end up being 40 minutes from A2 to Farmington Hills. The plus side though: there was never any traffic on the road at 5am.
As a newbie, learning how to answer the hundreds of callers we get throughout the show was something that had a bit of a learning curve. You see, it's not just picking up the phone and answering a question. These are listeners calling to weigh in on topics we're talking about, and you have to have good judgment about who gets OK'ed to go on the air since there are so many callers and only a few opportunities to give your opinion. Not to mention, these phones are big and crazy with tons of buttons that you have to learn the uses for, like hold, picking up one line but not the other, putting them on the 'check mark hold' so that Mojo knows they are good to go on-air, as well as dialing in and out to call people.
Though it took a little while, I eventually picked up all of the things I needed to know to be an expert phone screener, which is crucial for your time with the internship. If you never understand the phones, or it just doesn't 'click' for you, many interns don't get to answer phones and instead have to work on more administrational duties for the show. While some people may like this, I find it a bit boring and like to be in on the action with all of the show's nonsense.
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| One of the many phones we use, along with our call screen, and our monitor with text messages listeners send in |
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