Your Post-Broadcasting School Career: Interviewing the Stars

Part of being a DJ is combining the best qualities of a journalist, TV emcee, and improv actor — and you'll have to use all those traits when it comes time for you to talk to the stars. Although this likely won't be something you'll experience yet in broadcasting school, if your ultimate goal is to be a big-time DJ, it's probable that at some point during your career you'll have to talk to the talent on-air. Here are some tips on how to do just that:

1. Stay who you are. Depending on where you end up working after you graduate broadcasting school, you could be interviewing anyone from small-time local artists you've barely heard of to the types of celebrities who keep tabloid magazines in business. Whether you're a big fan or barely familiar with your interview subject outside of station debriefing and internet research, you'll have to maintain your cool and stay committed to your own personality. If you're the talk radio shock jock type, don't suddenly become a fawning fan throwing softball questions just because your favorite singer is in the studio, and if you're known for your friendliness and easiness to talk to, don't tackle tabloid topics when your interviewee is there to discuss their new record.

2. Stay cool. This isn't the time to let your nerves get to you, even if you're talking to your favorite band since you were a kid. While it's fine to get personal and let the artist know you enjoy their work, avoid becoming a jittering superfan, even if your bedroom walls were once (or still are) wallpapered with pinups and your CD collection includes all their records, singles, maxi-singles, and import singles. This doesn't mean you can't express how much you like them, but keep it confined to the green room — the whole radio audience doesn't need to know you learned every dance move to their first video.

3. Don't make them mad. Unless you're top tier at your station and willing to never see a guest again, when the publicist tells you to avoid a topic, listen. Aside from respecting a person's request to keep the focus on their art and not their personal lives, avoiding obnoxious questions means you're not risking yourself or your position at the station. Do you really want to be the reason a big star won't play a festival for your radio station? Broadcasting school may not teach you diplomacy, but you should definitely learn to follow directions.

4. Get some practice. Even if you're just pretending with a friend or talking to yourself in the mirror, having a rough outline of what to say before you do an interview can be a big help. A short list of questions written down will assure that you have something to say if the conversation flags, and you can ask for tips on questions from your broadcasting school mentor. This and doing research beforehand will help you be prepared, which is essential when you're going to be interviewing someone live on the air — even the newest artists likely won't be excited to explain the type of music they play to a clueless DJ.

5. Sit in. If you're really interested in this aspect of the job, consider asking your broadcasting school mentor if you can sit in the next time they have an on-air interview with someone. While you might not want to participate (or it might not be an option), simply sitting in to see exactly how the interview goes could be a great help, and you can get in extra practice staying cool if you meet someone you're a fan of.

Don't wait another day to get on the course to interviewing the stars. Broadcasting school can take you there! Visit http://www.learn-by-doing.com/ for more information.