Video May Have Killed the Radio Star, but Radio Disc Jockeys Killed the Radio Dicc Jockey...

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Video may have killed the radio star, but the only thing that killed the radio disc jockey was radio disc jockeys. In the early days of music based radio, the disc jockeys developed characters that became synonymous with the songs they played. A well designed and produced radio show made the fans plan their week around the DJ's air time. Listening to these radio shows was a community event. True, people were listening to them in their own homes, cars and at work, but when people got together they takes about their favorite DJ every bit as much as they talked about the songs. Then somewhere in the late 70s, early 80s disc jockeys changed. They just wanted to "be themselves". They didn't think they should have to develop characters or do a show. They became song introducers and many didn't even bother announcing the song. They made themselves an interruption of the music, almost an annoyance. Especially when they talked through the intro of the song. They gave the listener no reason to care who was playing the records, so we didn't... And still don't.