By now, most of you must have heard through the grapevine
that I am a radio jockey. All of this started because my manager tasked my team
with an MBO(Management by Objectives). Each of us had to spend at least 5% of
our 40 hours a week - on something that was not job related. Obviously, I had
to exceed expectations in a non-job-related task - so I set out to become an
RJ. I finally did become one a while ago and am thoroughly enjoying it.
I have two shows and they are in two different languages -
Hindi and Telugu, or should I say three, because - English.
The shows are as different as night and day.
1. Like I mentioned earlier, to start with, they are in two
different languages.
2. In one I am joined by a Realtor. He is giving real estate
advise to listeners while trying to get some new clients on air
3. The second is one where I go all out in Telugu. When I
say all out, I mean all out. There is no particular theme to this one, which
means no reining my creativity so to "speak" (see what I did there!
:) ) I talk about the weather, traffic, politics and everything in between. I
like to think of myself as the 'Hassan Minhaj' of Radio.
PS - If you do not know who Hassan Minhaj is or what the
Patriot Act is - you have got to check them out on Netflix. The show is good,
the guy puts in a lot of work and the opening score is amazing. I am an RJ now
- so got to talk about music!
4. On both shows, I take calls on air. It is interesting to
interact with people that you absolutely do not know at all! I just realized I
defined being an extrovert, but there truly is something about sharing
unnecessary details in a light environment. It also helps when listeners give
you compliments like: 'Oh you take the pressure off of driving in
traffic", "You have good taste in music", "I like your
voice" - yes all of this is genuine feedback.
Being an RJ is refreshing because it is so different from
everything else that I do daily. The people that I interact with - other fellow
RJs etc., - come from different fields and have different perspectives. It has
been a while now and we have new MBOs, but I think I will continue doing this
for as long as I can - because honestly, I'm having fun :)