Video Killed the Radio Star?

Nope! Radio is alive and well. 

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. 

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.

One of the many phones we use, along with our call screen,
and our monitor with text messages listeners send in

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!

The End

   Even though EMRAP will continue till April, this will be my last post. I have had a great overall experience working at the St. Joseph Hospital here in Ann Arbor and I have definitely learned a great deal about medicine, research, as well as what it means to be a part of team. Our team is not only helping out the Emergency Department at St. Joe but we are also helping out many different areas in the hospital as well as enrolling patients for national studies that are taking place all over the US.

   I would definitely recommend this program or something similar to other students who are interested in medicine or medical/clinical research. This program gives first hand experience that might be hard to obtain elsewhere.

   I will remember my time at this hospital for a very long time and I think it will aid me in my decisions further down in my medical career starting with resumes and medical interviews continuing to the decisions I make when I myself become a doctor because of what I have learned from all the wonderful doctors that have talked to us and the different sources we have read and learned about.

More Speakers

   This past week we heard from one of the emergency physicians who also is a medical toxicologist. Some of his stories were pretty crazy and it just made me think about how much a doctor really sees especially depending on their specialty. Whether it be a sad event or an out of this world event, I guess that is what makes being a doctor so intriguing to some. Each day is a brand new day with endless possibilities of the type of patient you might be treating. Wanting to go into trauma surgery I think the possibilities of what I could see are endless and I think that’s what I enjoy. The fact that every single day I wont be stuck doing the exact same thing is an appealing factor. I don’t think I could ever see myself at a desk job doing the same each and every day. It would get very bored. 

    Also this week, a new study began. It was created by one the doctors we previously heard from so its nice to know exactly who is using our help.  It is fairly simple yet it gives us work to do since it must be completed almost every day. I am happy to be doing more work as well as improving many lives by learning through all of these studies.  

As Shifts Continue

As we head off for Thanksgiving break I just wanted to check in and let you know where we are at with the internship. With how fast the year is going it's weird to think that the program is only going to last for another 5 months. We began last May and will finish up in April when classes finish. It takes up so much of my time these days and I can't even imagine what I will do with all my free time without it. Hopefully it will lead me to another program or research project that I can take advantage of for the following year.
Recently a few more projects have been added to our workload and it seems that the upcoming weeks  in the hospital will be a bit more busier than previously. This is a good thing because I want to learn more aspects of the hospital. One of the upcoming audits will have us look at the time it takes for the services outside of the ER to respond to a call and come up with a plan of action for the patient in the ER. This is an important and interesting aspect because it shows just how much the ER needs to be able to work well with all the other aspects of the hospital. The ER physicians can't do it all and when a patient has symptoms outside of their expertise it is important to call the physician with that specific expertise.
I am also excited to be able to shadow in the operating room which I will be taking advantage of over the Winter Break. Since surgery is my goal it will be nice to see how the surgeons work and hear about their previous schooling and experiences.

Fun Times with the Program

The last few weeks have been pretty hectic with school midterms as well as my shifts at the hospital. But the program definitely knows how to let us have a little bit of fun. Instead of class one week they took us all bowling as a bonding activity. It was nice to hang out and get to know more about everyone in a more causal scene.
Also this past week we learned about fractures and actually got to wrap ourselves up as if we were the patients. Having hands on activities such as these are a nice mix from the shift work that we all do each week. Especially because when we have our shifts we are usually alone and we don't get to really connect with the other students in the program other than at the beginning of the Friday classes.

Hearing From Different Speakers

  Over the past few weeks, we have had some pretty interesting speakers come talk to us. A trend that I have seen with these last few is that they have talked about their lives outside of the medical field. This is nice to hear because it gives me hope that down the road when I want to have a family and continue pursuing my dreams in the medical field it is indeed doable. One of the key points that one of the doctors mentioned that really stuck with me is that you will need to ask for help and it is okay. I know that this may be a trouble point for myself because I am the type of person who wants to do everything herself to make sure its perfect.

   One speaker was an ER physician at the hospital who is actually the doctor in charge of the Crash studies we have been working on. He talked a little bit about his past research project on cardiac arrests and his work with the Huron Valley Ambulances. He also gave a very interesting presentation on his unique hobby - skydiving.  It is possible to have fun even with all the work you have to do!

   The other speaker that was really interesting was a radiologist from a private practice. The way she explained her practice really changed my perspective on what a radiologist actually does. They can specialize in a lot of different areas which I had no idea about.

    It is nice to hear about people working in lots of different fields because it gives me a better idea of what I may be interested in or not when I get older.

Learning to Balance My Time

From the first few weeks of school beginning I had to quickly learn to balance my time. Having this internship (10 hours) a week is basically like having a part time job. I felt like everything was happening at the exact same time! My first rounds of exams, rush, internship shifts, etc. I barely had time for the simple things in life such as grocery shopping or vacuuming.

I am thankful that the internship began at the beginning of the summer and we were able to become familiar with the ins and outs instead of having to learn that now when I have so much else going on in my mind.

Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to go into the hospital for my shifts or I hope that nothing happens while I’m there so I can work on schoolwork. This is one of the downfalls of having a non-paid internship; sometimes having little motivation to do it.

However, I have been enjoying the class part of it. We have had many more doctors come speak to us and they all have their own unique story, which I find so interesting. They have also briefly introduced another study that we will be starting hopefully in November.

Looking back

Look back, my experience in Jordan was priceless. I really enjoyed my stay over there. Quite honestly, I don't think I will miss Amman as a city, but I will deeply miss the people and the relationships that i have made in that city. I have got to know some of the most amazing people in my life, regardless of the devil that live has brought upon them.

Even though people differed greatly from one to another, there wasn't any discrimination. One of my coworkers, she comes from an extremely wealthy family background with a lot of money; the other one of my coworker comes from Gaza, and a impoverished financial background. In the States, one will automatically assume that those two people will not be friends, and that there will be a social hierarchy between the two of them, in which the one from the wealthier family would have a higher social status. Wrong. Everyone was treated equity in there. This was one of the best things I have witness, in which people are in complete harmony with no discrimination based on the skin color, origin, backgrounds, or financials. I really wish that there is something similar in the United States, and people can really put aside all the negative views on others who are not financial wealthy.

I also vividly remember my first day moving into the house with my host family. They were extremely welcoming with respect to my personal items. Over the 2 months that I stayed with them, I felt like as if they were my families- grandpa, grandma, sister, and brothers. They took care of me when I was sick; they cooked for me when I came back from work; they chatted with me when I needed someone to talk to. It was great to know that they took me in as one of them, and did not treat me as just another tenant.

Once again, looking back in Amman, I have learn so much and started to appreciate what I have a ton more. It is unbelievable to learn how people survive with minimal personal needs, but still maximizing their utilities. I have deep respective for all my friends, and I wish to reunite with them once more in the coming future.

I miss Jordan- just the people.

CEO for a day

If you were in charge of running this organization, what would you change and why? Have fun with this!

I think that I would create a more social working environment, but honestly I don't really want to change anything else. This internship was fantastic and I learned so much and was treated so well. I was very lucky to have this experience, and wouldn't have changed it.

Looking Back

How has your experience at UofM prepared you for your internship?  

My experience at UMich has definitely been helpful. I used a lot of my science classes for the work that I was doing, and it's always nice to know those classes are paying off! Other than that, the research experience I got working in my lab helped me adjust really quickly to my work here. My networking skills definitely grew during the internship, and building off of the little networking skill I had when I got here was something I think will really benefit me when looking into graduate school.

This is my third internship, so I wasn't very surprised by anything. If I had to pick something, I suppose the amount of independence I was given was kind of new, but I thrive in that kind of an environment, so it worked out really well. I guess that also comes with how much experience an intern has. Other than that it was all very straightforward, which was nice for me!

Changing Perspectives

I think my views of New England have definitely cleared up being on Cape Cod for a few months. I guess the only way I can put it is really white, really rich, and really privileged. And sort of rude. It was definitely a shift from Ann Arbor, and I'm not quite sure if I would want to stay there for longer than a summer. It's also really small and very tourist, which I didn't like very much. Driving to work every morning in tourist traffic is not a really awesome way to start your day.

Thankfully, my lab was really laid back and easy going, which was great. That's definitely the ind of working environment I want to be in in the future, I think that I got a lot more out of it.

Overcoming Obstacles

Well I have to say, making this blog post makes me super grateful for how amazing this internship has been.

·       Ask for feedback from your employer! Assess what you are doing well, and what could be improved.
I asked Kendra, my supervisor and mentor, for feedback and her only criticism was that I worry to much and am sort of a perfectionist. Other than that I seem to be doing really well. I always get my work done on time, usually ahead of time, I've got office etiquette down and everyone seems to like me, I always ask lots of questions. It felt nice to be told I'm a good intern.

·       Did you surprise yourself with how you handled a particular task? What was that task? Did you enjoy doing that task? Why?

ItI did sort of surprise myself with how well I handled an animal emergency when none of my superiors were around. Obviously I didn't enjoy the task because an animal was sick, but I was pretty proud of myself for handling it well by calling the right people and taking care of the animal. It turned out to be just fine :)

·       What challenges did you face? How did you handle them? What did you learn from the experience? Knowing what you know now, would you handle things differently? 
I didn't really have many issues at all. Mostly I would've tried to socialize more, it was challenging for me to be put into a brand new place full of people who were already friends. Other than that I think my experience went really well and I wouldn't change a thing.

CEO for a Day

If I were CEO for a day, I would mainly stick to the existing template that was already in place, but I would have a few changes as well.  First, having worked in the LA office and seeing my colleagues travel to Seattle or Denver to look at different real estate investments on a weekly basis, I would set up offices in those locations in order to cut down on travel costs.  Sure these markets may not stay attractive forever, but it is worth it since employees are spending their time there on a weekly basis.  In addition to this, I would hire outside consultants from real estate markets that we were looking at investing in in order to get someone from the area’s view on the market.  This would help the company stay a step ahead of the competition and form meaningful relationships with brokers that can give us additional insight.  Last, but not least, I would set up a formal internship training program, in which college students could be groomed for entry level jobs in the future.  The company needs to have the highest quality employees and there simply isn’t time for existing employees to mentor someone and be 100% focused on their tasks at hand.  It would drastically increase productivity and would attract higher quality candidates that are seeking a job in the real estate investment industry.