Question Of The Week

What routines or habits do you have right before going on the air?

Billy The Kidd/KHKS: I drink a sugar free Red Bull at 5:15pm and then work on my show sheet and get pumped up to do my thing.

Kasper/WAKS: Have to hit the Starbucks for a coffee grande!

JT Bosch/WHKF: Grab a bottle water, headphones and show prep and head to the studio.

Mistress Carrie/WAAF: I always look at the local news Web sites right before I go in so I know if there’s a breaking story. Also, the first thing I do on the air is a feature called the “Grunge Plunge” which is 15 minutes of deep tracks, demos and acoustic versions of Grunge stuff, so I’m always looking through the library for Grunge Plunge music before I go on the air too.

The Dawg/WQLZ: Three cups of coffee, four cigarettes, and it’s on!

Maynard/WCPR: Pop open a Monster Energy green, and call my six-year-old son and tell him I’m going to be on the radio.

Dawn Cox/WKLC: Alone time. I have to have alone time to get in the right frame of mind.

Cutter/WZOR: I eat lunch, smoke a cigarette, collect my thoughts, and then get in the studio and look for Rock news and prepare my giveaways. 

Maxwell/WNCI: Besides bathroom habits? I like to take a half hour before my shift and update the website.

Skywalker/WSPK: I always have Lipton Pure Leaf iced tea.

Brody/WDCG: Since reality is a lot more boring than pretend, I have a shot of Jose Cuervo, a trip to the men’s room and I kiss my rabbit’s foot.

Tim Rainey/WNOU:  I get all my show prep together.

Curt Kay/WDHA: I rearrange the studio my way. The computer keyboard has to be in the same place. I’ve become like Rain Man in my old age

Stiller/WBYR: I fill up my coffee cup and smoke a cigarette.

Jessica Lee/WDYL: I check all the gossip web sites.

Mase/WKZQ: I scramble to find my Cover Song of the Day.

Greg Rampage/KFMA: I’m always late. And I always have to untangle my headphone cables.

Don Kelley/WAQX: I stop what I’m doing at 1:00 and spend an hour on show prep.

Capone/WHRL: I use the bathroom at 2:37 pm every day.

Sparky/KIBZ: Smoke a cigarette.

Frank Pain/KEYJ: Coffee, the newspaper and a ham & cheese croissant.

Dave Hanacek/KJEE: I drink my RockStar energy drink.

Leslie Scott/WFXH: I fill up my bottle of water.

Twisted Todd/WTPT: Get my prep work done.

Mel Flores/KRZQ: MySpace, green tea, Cracklin Oat Bran…then I plug in my “cans,” turn up the radio and sing until two seconds before I turn on the mic.

Bob Patrick/WXLK: I use the men’s room, get an ice cold diet Pepsi and eat a ton of Pez from my Tweety Bird dispenser.

Keith Allen/WQEN: I try not to do the same thing twice.

Chris Reed/KSMB:  I leave the building for thirty minutes. It’s good to get some fresh air and clear your head.

Chase Murphy/WFBC: I smack the “Play Like A Champion Today” sign in my office before I take to the studio.

Kelly K/WKRZ: I have a very specific OCD way of doing show prep. I make sure I have four talking points for each hour I’m on the air in the following categories: four station talking points, four ‘what’s going on locally’ talking points, four gossip talking points, and four main personal talking points.

Tony Waitekus/WIXX: I write up the weather and go to the bathroom.

Hollywood/WERO: I have my habits, like arranging things a certain way in the studio so everything’s in its proper place. But if you want habits, check out my APD/MD Beaver! He has to Lysol all the counters and the mic, he has to have the keyboard sitting a certain way and the light has to be a certain way. It’s a riot!

Jeff Hurley/WLAN: I get a cup of fine coffee!

Kobe/WLDI: From when I was doing nights…the PSS (if you know me well enough, you know what that means!)

John Foxx/KKMG: Compiling my show prep from the fifteen different places I leave myself notes like all of the emails I send myself from the night before and the day of my air-shift, and all of my little one-sheets of paper. I just write notes everywhere.

Billy The Baby DJ/KHTT: I try to wake up.

Mike Rossi/WSTW: I wish my office mate, WDEL’s Alan Loudell, a good broadcast day.

Jon Zellner/XM Satellite: When I was on the air, I made a point to read that day’s local newspaper in its entirety, because I always wanted to know what was happening outside the radio station.

Stan Priest/WKSS: I self-purge a great deal…but seriously, I do an old school routine that I learned years ago, and that is to bring a photo of something that makes me smile into the studio. It serves as a reminder to me to keep a smile on my face while I’m on the air.