I’ve been involved in WTBU since the fall of my freshman year. WTBU is Boston University’s student-run and operated radio station. After interning for a semester, I, along with my two Co-DJs, brought back the show time / space. Bringing back a show usually happens when the DJs of an established show don’t have anyone to keep their show going after they graduate. Luckily, one of my Co-DJs was a DJit (DJ in training) on time / space with its original creators and was able to bring it back. Follow me along on a day in the life of a college radio host at WTBU!
7:45 a.m. — The “Twinkle” iPhone alarm sounds off for the first time disrupting the solid 5 hours of sleep that I just got. I jolt up to immediately turn off the alarm and return back to sleep.
8:20 a.m. — I decide to finally get up and drag my feet over to my absolutely lovely communal bathroom that I share with over 20 girls. Here, I run through my typical morning routine and get ready for the day.
9:05 a.m. — After rushing out of my room at the last minute, I make it just in time for my North-South Relations class. I’m taking this class as part of my International Relations degree on the Latin American regional track, and I’ve really enjoyed it so far.
10:00 a.m. — On Fridays, I only have one class, so I usually head on over to Warren Towers for breakfast. Warren Towers isn’t known for being the best at anything, really, but it definitely has the best breakfast on campus. I put my bag down to secure a seat in the dining hall and make my way to the omelet station. I come here so often that I’m pretty sure the staff is starting to recognize me.
11:00 a.m. — After breakfast, I have a bit of a break before the radio starts. By this point, we will have most likely picked out a theme for the week, but sometimes last-minute ideas are the best kind of ideas. This week’s theme was “delusional girl spring.”
11:15 a.m. — Once I get back to my dorm, I start combing through all of my playlists, liked songs, recently played songs, etc., in search of songs to add to our weekly playlist. Finding songs for the radio always takes me a while because I am very particular about the songs I add. This semester, time / space has three DJits, so our playlists are bigger and better than ever.
11:40 a.m. — Before the radio, I usually grab a snack or an iced chai from anywhere on campus and make my way to the studio.
11:55 a.m. — The first thing I do when I get into the studio is pull up the time / space header. A header is equivalent to a show’s theme song. It lets the listeners know what they’re listening to and introduces the show. Second, I pull up Spinitron. Spinitron is the software we use to track the songs we play and ensure that the artists we play get paid. If we have an underwriting spot that week, I will pull that up as well. Underwriting spots are ads that we play on air from those who support WTBU. Lastly, I pull up our Spotify playlist and get ready to go on air.
12:00 p.m. — To introduce our show, I will fade out whatever song is already playing and play our header. After our header and underwriting spots are played, I read out our station ID. The station ID, similar to the header, introduces the listener to time / space as well as WTBU. The station ID also lets the listener know where they can listen to WTBU and how to connect with the shows they’re listening to.
12:15 p.m. — Usually, we set time / space up in 15 to 20-minute intervals of music breaks and conversation breaks. After each music break, we read out the artists and the names of the songs we played to let our listeners know what we’d been playing. During our talking breaks, we discuss our theme, how we came up with it, and why we picked the songs we did. At its core, time / space is a show about memories, so we always tie our songs back to our personal lives and experiences. With that said, we always delve into a bunch of other topics like pop culture, odd on-campus experiences, news, sports, and quite literally anything you can think of.
1:55 p.m. — As we wrap up our show, we make sure to post on social media. Social media is really important for us because time / space has a pretty curated Instagram aesthetic, and we want as many people to listen to time / space as possible. We will start by assembling a collage for our playlist that week and post it to our Instagram feed as well as our Instagram stories. With our Instagram stories, we attach a link to a recording of our show that week or a link to our Spotify playlist from the show. We always make sure to tag WTBU, so they repost our content and share what we’ve been doing with the rest of the WTBU community.
3:00 p.m. — After the radio, I have a short break before taking the bus over to West Campus and starting my shift at WBUR. WBUR is a public radio station and one of NPR’s Boston news stations. I have a great team that I work with, and it’s really interesting seeing the inner workings of such an acclaimed news station.
5:00 p.m. — After my shift, I make my way back to my dorm and take a small break before I jump into some homework and obsess over my Google Calendar as I plan out what I have to get done over the weekend.
7:00 p.m. — I usually grab dinner around this time and call it quits with any work I may have been working on (unless I have something due that night). After dinner, I’ll either get together with some friends or cozy up with a movie or some Love Island UK.
WTBU and college radio are some of my favorite things that I’m involved with on campus. The friendships that I have formed with my Co-DJs and DJits have been incredible, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Make sure to tune in to time / space on WTBU on Fridays from 12:00-2:00 PM and check them out @timespacewtbu on social media!
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