Radio besked og spørgsmål

Those of you who listen to the podcasts (or don’t listen at all) might not know this, but the official time for my radio show is Friday afternoons, 3-4. I’ve just been offered a new time -- a better time -- Mondays from 11 to midnight. However, I’m incredibly -- perhaps even notoriously -- bad at making decisions. I haven’t yet decided. PLEASE HELP ME.

This is very long, but I need to explain a few things. First, in addition to the webstream, KPSU broadcasts via two signals. The weaker of the two, which basically broadcasts only to the PSU campus, is 24 hours. The stronger, with a signal whose reach is city-wide, is switched on at 5 o’clock every evening and remains on until two in the morning. Obviously, then, my show in its current slot misses the wider broadcast; were I to move, I would be within the city-wide time frame. I don’t know how many -- if any -- listeners this would pick up, but it’s something to consider. (However, something else to consider is that an increase in listeners would mean I’d both have to do a better job and be more embarrassed on those occasions that I don’t.)

What’s more enticing than the better signal is the position of the show: switching to 11 o’clock Mondays would put me immediately following Sound Judgment, with Arya. (If you live in Portland, and you’re reading an mp3 blog, you’ve probably heard of Arya. If you haven’t, well, you’re really not paying attention.) This is cool enough in itself. Even better, though, this would make a fairly awesome block of time -- or, at least, a far better sonic match than my current one: right now I go on immediately after a hip-hop show. I can’t imagine we have much listener overlap. So this would be better programming -- which is better for not only KPSU and the DJs, but also for listeners.

However. The drawbacks. Three o’clock Friday afternoons is not an incredibly convenient time for me -- but, given the confines of my schedule, it’s a lot more convenient than basically any other time in the week. I like my time slot. It works well for me. Eleven o’clock on Mondays, on the other hand, is somewhat less convenient. To begin with, there’s the lateness factor, and I’ll let you take that where you want. But also -- normally, I work Mondays. The closing shift. Normally, I’m out by, at the latest, 9.45. Normally, I’m home within an hour of getting off work. However, due to the fact that I work in a retail establishment and rely on public transportation to get me to and from a workplace which is ridiculously out of the way, there are always exceptions.

Ideally, DJs are at the station an hour before their shows begin. Obviously (unless I change my work schedule -- more inconvenience) this wouldn’t often happen. If I can consistently be in by 10.30, I’ll be okay -- but I don’t even know if I can manage this. Assuming I decide I can… I’d hate to have things go wrong and be late, or rushed, or upset or any of those other things. Plus, even if I do get in time, if I’ve just had a horrid day at work, no matter what else is going on, that’s going to show. And I don’t want the fact that people were jerks to the cashier to cause me to do a rotten radio show, which is what will happen. I’ll already have one thing to make me want to go home and cry; I won’t need another.

Anyway. I’ll try to sum it up. I would like to shift my show. Other people at KPSU would like me to shift my show. I feel like I should shift my show -- and I’ll feel horrible about it if I don’t. (That’s another thing I do -- carry guilt.) I would benefit from a wider broadcast base and KPSU and I would both benefit from having a more appropriate show there to be segueing in from. However, I like my current time -- I like being at KPSU on Fridays -- and the new time is pretty inconvenient for me. I’m worried that a combination of negative factors will cause me to, in that slot, produce pretty low-quality radio shows, which will be unpleasant and upsetting for both me and anyone who happens to listen. I’ve been doing radio for three and a half years, but it still takes very little to cause me to make enormous mistakes; I tend to snowball.

I feel that if everything went right, this arrangement could work out very nicely -- but if anything went wrong, it could really backfire and things would get bad fast. Please also keep in mind that this is one of the only things I enjoy doing, and if I start dreading it, or even just disliking it, my quality of life takes a sharp downturn.

Anyway, maybe you’ve never even heard the program, or maybe you don’t care either way. However, I already know that -- in one way or another -- I’m going to let somebody else make the decision for me. So you might as well weigh in on the issue. Email or comment. Please. And thanks.

Here also is Friday’s playlist:

1. Strange is the Night – Moneybrother (SV)
2. Where Do You Go To – Peter Sarstedt
3. Split of a Second – Tiger Baby (DK)
4. Kind of Better – Mono Taxi
5. Here – Pavement
6. Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo – Jens Lekman (SV)
7. Lazy Feet 23 – Earlimart
8. How I Broke My Foot and Met Jesus – Pelle Carlberg (SV)
9. Sundown – the Jesus and Mary Chain
10. Death in Her Room – Bertine Zetlitz (NW)
11. All Is Swell (ONBC remix) – DAMPFBAHN! (DK, DK)
12. Earl Grey With Honey – Loveninjas (SV)
13. You Don’t Dance – Lupus (DK)

…My god it’s horrible. I really cannot make decisions. I’m going to cry. Yeah -- I’m pretty miserable now. Every time I think things might be starting to fall into their places, a little bit of reflection and I realize everything's only gotten worse.

--DL--
Ashtrays Podcast (11-2-2007)