Ramblings after hearing a Radio seminar

For years I've been hearing senior announcers speak of a "new generation of disk jockeys" that will soon take over radio. Unfortunately, they weren't talking about it fondly.

With the emergence of the call centers - and their promise of larger salaries - luring established DJs and potential talent, the pool of appicants has been diluted with wannabees who never would have made the cut back in the heydays of Radio. But many now get in simply because they have the right look or accent.

Also these days, due to advances in technology, new DJs are spoiled by hi-tech equipment and become - right off the bat - lazy to hone their technical skills. Since they find it easy to simply "get by" with having the equipment do everything, and not push themselves to improve, they end up with little respect for the trade.

So in short, the latest batches of new DJs - so they say - consists mostly of kids with less talent and no genuine love for the medium. It doesn't take a genius to see that this is a recipe for disaster.

In my youth, I idolized guys like Sgt. Pepper, Joe d' Mango, Sonny B, and Jeremiah Jr (and I still do). Now that I'm becoming one of those senior jocks (at least at my station), I can see that days they were dreading are finally here. Philippine Radio could be at last going to the dogs.