Inside Radio: Career Insights from an On-Air Host and Traffic Controller

Radio jobs,  on-air & traffic controller 

Ever wonder what it’s like to turn a love of music into an actual job? In this episode, Adam Schartoff shares his unexpected career as a traffic director AND on-air personality, at independent radio station WKZE. 

Adam talks about the magic of radio, the creative thrill of curating music, and the real connection that happens when you speak into a mic and someone out there hears exactly what they needed. Whether you're thinking about a shift into broadcasting or just curious about the behind-the-scenes world of independent radio, Adam offers great career insight and advice for breaking into the industry.

Tune in and hear how this radio guy found his voice—and maybe get inspired to find yours too.

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Music credit: Kate Pierson & Monica Nation

Transcript

Meeting Adam Shartoff from WKZE

Speaker 1 0:02

because it is kind of a coveted thing, right, people love the idea of being on the air. It's a it's a special way of connecting hi, welcome back.

Speaker 2 0:12

I'm a curious journalist that always want to know what people do for a living and how much they can earn. So here we are. If you're ever interested in getting into radio, this is the one to listen to. So so we are here with Adam Shartoff from WKZE, which is a station I listen to all the time. I love their music, I love their programs. They're fantastic. So welcome. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, murav. Thank you for inviting me. Of course, let's start by telling us what is it that you do here at the radio station?

Speaker 1 0:44

We're a very small operation, wkze that is, so I do a number of things, but I was hired to be the traffic director. And what the traffic director does? We have salespeople who get advertisers to buy ads on our station. They have a contract. You know the advertiser, so they may want a certain number of ads to run at certain times of the week or day, so I am the person who is responsible for making sure that those contracts are fulfilled correctly.

The Role of a Traffic Director

Speaker 1 1:16

So let's say, you want to advertise with us and you want to buy 10 spots and you want them to run throughout the week and you want them to run just in the morning, during the morning drive period. Right, with the software I use as the traffic director, I make sure that they go into those places and then it gets combined with the music and you know, and that's how it works. So it's called traffic. It's a lot more involved than I'm making it sound, but that's the in a nutshell.

Speaker 1 1:41

That's who they, what they needed when they hired me, and but it turns out that pretty much anybody that works here can be on the air. It may not be like a whole big shift from, you know, in the middle of the day, but they'll find a shift for you if you want to do it. So it may be on, let's say, a Saturday afternoon for a couple of hours. But it so happened that somebody left shortly after I came here who was in the middle, you know the middle shift of the day, so from 10 to 3 weekdays. So I got that shift and I've been doing it for a few years now, I guess so what, what kind of things you do on air?

Speaker 1 2:16

uh well, one thing is you. You let people know the songs they just heard. That's called for those listening. This is inside term back selling. So you know, if we're coming out of like four songs that played in a row, then I they just heard, that's called for those listening. This is inside term backselling. So you know, if we're coming out of like four songs that played in a row, then I would come on and say you just heard, and I would tell people the song they just heard.

On-Air Responsibilities and Features

Speaker 1 2:33

And then work my way backward to the last break. I may do the weather. I might talk about one of our advertisers, because that's part of a contract. It might be not just a recorded advertisement, but you may also, as an advertiser, you also may want the host to also talk about your business on the air as well. That could be part of the contract.

Speaker 1 2:55

And then I have some features that I do. One I introduced called the Film Club, which is every week. This is just my own invention, but I choose because I have a lot of film knowledge. So I bring every week a different film or theme at one o'clock every day and I'll play a song from the soundtrack, a different song, each of the five days of that week and then tell an anecdote about the film. People seem to like it. One way you know that it's growing in popularity is that one of our advertisers, or more than one of them, will sponsor it. So that's also part of a contract, so they may sponsor a feature. We have lots of different features, not just the film club. There's all sorts of other features. Rick, who you just met in the mornings, he has something called Good News where he talks about something back in the past on the same day that happened.

Speaker 2 3:47

Oh.

Speaker 1 3:48

With a, you know, a positive slant typically, and that's a feature. And then, like MK, who's our afternoon drive she's after me she has one I'm just mentioning one feature called Vinyl Vault, where she plays something you know from the past. You may not typically hear on KZE. Or she has one called the Ski Trail Report, which is talking about what's going on with the weather and the mountains and the ski. You know, if you're a skier you want to kind of know how good the skiing might be. So she talks about that. And those are sponsored by. We have two ski resort sponsors.

Speaker 2 4:23

So that's nice. Do you have total freedom to choose what you want to talk about in your shows?

Speaker 1 4:29

That's a great question, marav. Yes and no, we're a non-political station and I would love to be able to. That's why I like your station, okay, yeah, it's a break from that, it's true. I mean, at my impulses, I would love to be able to talk about what's bothering me or what's making me feel positive about, you know, things going on in the world right these days. It seems to be more the former than the latter. It's more of what's bothering me.

Breaking into Radio as a Career

Speaker 1 4:52

There's a lot to talk about, but that's not our station. We're a music station. You know, we have a very good general manager here and he said let your music, your choices of songs, speak for you. So I try to do that. So I'll play songs, obviously not every song, only a small portion, but I'll choose some songs which speak for my morals, my values, my politics. So we have to keep it more or less to the music side of things. However, I can certainly talk about what's going on in my life. I can talk about things that are on in my life, you know. I can talk about, you know, things that are on my mind, as I do.

Speaker 2 5:28

Is the on-air your favorite thing to do here?

Speaker 1 5:32

Yes, it has been, but it's sort of evolving. I loved being on the air. You know I'm still relatively new to it. I mean, I've only been doing it for about two or three years three close to three years so that I'm finding I'm getting to a place that I'm really enjoying, finding a very gratifying. On the other hand, another thing that I do here you know I've talked about the traffic responsibility and then I'm on there, but there's also a one other area that I am primarily responsible for, which is scheduling the interviews for everybody, not just me. I try to bring as many musicians that are playing in the community, you know, around the Hudson Valley and Berkshires, as much as I can. What I've really grown to love is the relationships that I have created. It's such an opportunity for me to support musicians in the community and that has really recently become something that I really love to do and realize what a gift it is.

Speaker 2 6:30

Yeah, do you remember the first time you were on there? Were you excited, were you nervous? I was nervous wreck.

Speaker 1 6:36

Yeah, I don't know what the heck I was doing, and then I went home because I pre-recorded it. What?

Speaker 1 6:42

was the show about oh it was just music, I mean, but I just introduced songs and I just I remember going home that night and turning it on and really being, wow, this is surreal. It's like you know. It was like who's listening? I have no idea. Like, are people listening to this? How many people? I have no idea. I still really don't know. Yeah, there's not really a way to know. No, no, we don't only have the FM airways, we stream to countless people all over the place. I mean, people listen internationally and anybody with an internet can, of course, listen.

Speaker 2 7:11

So if somebody wants to break into radio, what would be the best way for them to break in?

Speaker 1 7:26

Well, if you're young and you are high school even, I would say you can reach out to you, know whatever radio stations there are in your area and let them know that you would be interested in an internship. I think that's the best way for a young person who is either high school or college age to break into radio.

Speaker 1 7:37

That is for any job, but if somebody is dreaming of being an on-air talent or DJ, like you said, well, there's very few DJ jobs, you know, I mean, and much of the radio industry is corporate now, so it's not an easy business to break into, but that should not be a deterrent to anybody if there's something that they really want to do. I fell into it very late in life, not that I wasn't appropriate with my background. I have a lot of media background and I talk into microphones.

Speaker 1 8:05

Historically quite a lot that's the name of my memoir. I talk into microphones. You know, don't be shy to reach out to radio stations, no matter what your age. If you're at a college age, by all means worm your way into the college station that so many colleges have, and that's a perfect place to start. But you know, even podcasting, you get used to the microphone. You get used to how to talk into a microphone. You learn how to develop your on-air personality, which should be an extension of your authentic self.

Human Connection vs. AI in Radio

Speaker 1 8:38

If you're clever and if you are motivated, just reach out to your local radio station and let them know that if there's anything that you can do to be of help and connect, just start showing up. If they have events and sometimes it could be, for instance, at WKZE, where I work we have sales jobs that we need salespeople. Now, that's not an easy job. Sales is not easy. We support salespeople. They don't have to necessarily come, in our case here with lots of experience in sales. It helps, but it's not required, because we actually like the idea of training somebody from scratch. That's not a bad thing if they're really motivated.

Speaker 1 9:20

The difficult thing is that it's a basically like any sales job, a commission based type of job, right? So it's hard for somebody who's got a family, for instance, to transition into a sales job unless they have other sources of income. Right, it's better for somebody who's young and who still has some support system or retiree or something like that. However, if you have other ways of making money, maybe you do a part time, but what a great opportunity to be a salesperson here, because there are so many independent businesses and then if you're a salesperson here, you would get a shift.

Speaker 2 9:48

Right, so you come in in any which way you can, yeah, and then you get to know the people you can, yeah, and then you get to know the people.

Speaker 1 9:57

Yeah, sometimes it's a matter of just being open to and being more imaginative or or clever about how you break into a business you're interested in. It's not always like, just I want to be a dj because it's. It is kind of a coveted thing, right, people love the idea of being on the air. It's a, it is a special way of connecting. But I I let your listeners know I'm I'm 60, know plus, years old, and I only got started working in my 50s and so I was not a young spring chicken.

Speaker 2 10:24

So I thought you were going to say that, in order to be a DJ, you need to have a good voice.

Speaker 1 10:29

Oh well, it helps. You know things have changed a lot too and that way. You know there is that thing historically called the voice of God, that baritone. You know things have changed a lot too in that way. You know there is that thing historically called the voice of God, that baritone, you know, and that whole style, but nobody's interested. People aren't really interested. Nobody talks that way. I never thought that was cool myself. I like a voice with character, don't you?

Speaker 2 10:51

Yeah, yeah, I think listeners like voice with character definitely.

Speaker 1 10:55

I think listeners like voice with character. Definitely I think so. I think we've evolved as a culture and people now kind of want to be able to relate to a DJ and that's why they connect to a station, because they like the personalities of the DJs Right and they can relate to them on some level. When you're inside somebody's head, that's not a subtle thing, that's a big deal, and a lot of people really form relationships with DJs and it's again a gift. You know, it's a really lovely thing to be able to do, so I try to honor that.

Speaker 2 11:21

How much money can a DJ?

Speaker 1 11:23

make. I'm afraid I don't have a great answer. I would Google something like that. I could be serious because I don't know. I think there must be a really, really broad range. It's a good business to get in on the younger end only because it's not a big paying job necessarily. You know you can build a career and then if you're young you can move on to other stations If you're kind of more ambitious and where there might be more money. There is a huge range. We're a little. We are a very small independent station. We just happen to connect to a large audience because this area of the country is really into music, like it's a big thing up here. There's a history of it here, so we're very fortunate. I don't know that this operation would work just anywhere in the country, but it can work here and maybe a couple of other places. So I'm not sure. But you know you can. Once you're inside I'm sure you can make a living, but you may not get rich.

Speaker 2 12:13

You mentioned streaming. How did streaming hurt or help radio it?

Speaker 1 12:18

only helped. It's a benefit because, well, first of all, you're now, as audio content goes, we're competing now with podcasts, we're competing with audio books. Audio has just gotten so big in the last 10 years. But my sense and I don't know that, I'm an expert on this, but my sense is that streaming has only been help, it's broadened the audience and, yeah, it can only to me, be a help I suspect you're right.

Speaker 1 12:42

Anyway, I'd like to know what is the challenge you run into mostly well, I mean, I have just technical things, like I'm very detail-oriented person, uh, and it's it's the whole parts of traffic and also the there's an associated billing process that I am responsible for. Oh, that's a headache. It's a headache for me. I don't, I'm not an accountant. It's so detail oriented and every contract is different, so every billing can be slightly different, and keeping on top of all that is a it's a real job for somebody who, you know, is really good at it, and I just happen to be detail-oriented. So I'm not bad at it and I've gotten much better over the years doing it. But you know, if I wasn't doing it tomorrow, I wouldn't miss it. So, but that's probably the biggest challenge of the job. Yeah, and what's the biggest reward? Well, I said, uh, my relationship with the community of musicians is probably the biggest reward, I think.

Speaker 2 13:35

You know, many times I listen to articles that are read by AI. Newspaper articles are available. Is this coming to radio?

Film Wax Podcast and Closing Advice

Speaker 1 13:43

too, will you think, oh, I'm sure that there are companies trying to figure that out or have, or you know. But and there may be a way AI can support what we even do at a place like this, but that's not going to play a role at this radio station because, specifically, what we're offering is human beings. It's not like I'm against AI on some, just on a central level of some sort, I'm not. I mean, you know, I think we're in such an early stage of learning how to create a relationship with AI, so I think that we could get there. What we're doing here. We're not going to employ AI anytime soon. For that we have human beings and that's what people like about our station.

Speaker 2 14:25

Yeah, that's what I like about it. I want to talk about your podcast, Film Wax. When exactly did you start it? You have lots of episodes.

Speaker 1 14:32

I was an early podcaster. In a sense. I started in 2011. You know, at the time nobody knew how to do a podcast. I had to figure it out on my own. Tell us what the podcast is about. It's an interview-based show.

Speaker 1 14:44

Well, it's there to support independent film primarily. You know, whether it's a director or an actor or a cinematographer or an editor, or maybe it's a film festival director, you know, it might be a producer or it could be an author of film book, of a film book, or there's all sorts of people in the film industry and it's but it's primarily non Hollywood, non studio film people that I have on. There have been exceptions. I also can't occasionally bring on a musician, not just a film score or somebody who's written music, for I'm talking about just a musician I like or I'm interested in talking to, or an author or somebody, an artist I just want to like, occasionally talk to somebody outside of the film world, but it's primarily film people.

Speaker 1 15:31

I mean, you know, if you really listen to like dipped into my show, you could. It's like going to film school. You know, if you really listen to like dipped into the my show, you could. It's like going to film school. You learn, like I have. Like when I started I knew some things, but through doing the show I'm like you know, I have expertise, you know, on film.

Speaker 2 15:44

It's all into you. What is your favorite interview so far? Oh my God, You're off. That's a hard. That is so hard, if you check out my podcast.

Speaker 1 15:54

There's like really getting 800.

Speaker 2 15:57

Yeah, 900,. I think I read.

Speaker 1 15:59

It's getting there. No, it's not at 900 yet, but it's at 840 or something. And then often there's multiple interviews. It's insane.

Speaker 2 16:08

I saw you have some really good people on your, oh yeah.

Speaker 1 16:11

So you asked me what my favorites. I mean you know I've had on some real heroes. You know I always bring up like Werner Herzog.

Speaker 2 16:17

Oh, that was great I listened to that.

Speaker 1 16:19

No, you did. And you know as prepared as I'd like to be, you really have to ramp it up for Werner Herzog, and I wasn't quite prepared that he had as much time as he had, and so I was like just asking questions I wasn, he said he wasn't. I'm not in that I should ask me something.

Speaker 2 16:39

And then but I thought, oh, no, oh my God, you're imitating him Great. Yes, I can do a little bit. Yes.

Speaker 1 16:49

And oh my God, I mean I don't even know where to start with in terms of. And then you know, just sometimes it's a first time filmmaker who you know, nobody's heard of per se. But it's a special conversation you know I just had on the actor Griffin Dunn.

Speaker 2 17:05

Yes, I saw that yes.

Speaker 1 17:06

Which is such a nice thing to be able to have that kind of relationship with people and to support their careers.

Speaker 2 17:12

Yeah, okay. So if you're a music lover, listen to WKZ. It's a fantastic station. It really is. They play great music. By the way, I love Women of Note on Sunday. Oh yeah, what a show. Therese. Therese Baptiste, she's great, she's fantastic. And her husband after that is also very good. Ex-husband.

Speaker 1 17:31

Oh, ex-husband. But yes, Paul, he's got Nightshade.

Speaker 2 17:36

So if you're a music lover, listen to Wkze and if you want to get into film, interested in indie films, you should definitely listen to film wax. That's the podcast. You can find it anywhere. Podcasted broadcast. That's right, all right wow, thank you adam, thank you so much, that was so interesting.

Speaker 2 17:53

I'm glad you, glad you reach out now, when I will listen to kze, I'll have a picture in mind. Yeah, but just you know again my, my last words, I want to say to people again who want to get into Now, when I will listen to KZ, I'll have a picture in mind of what the place is like, yeah, but just you know.

Speaker 1 18:01

again, my last words I want to say to people again who want to get into radio, because it's not an easy business to get into, but people are generally friendly and willing to talk to you. So don't be shy. Whatever you want to get into, you have to get over being shy, you know, that's my last bit of advice. It's not easy because so many people wanting to be on air talent, you think. I think so. I think that everybody thinks they're, you know, got the greatest taste, that they're and that they're entertaining and, um, and many people are. You know, it's just a very romantic kind of job, isn't it? I mean, yeah, just to talk and talk about music and I mean it's a great job.

Speaker 1 18:38

Again. I mean, you know, it wouldn wouldn't hurt if my salary was a little higher. So yes, I'll be doing this when I'm 90 years old.

Speaker 2 18:48

All right, thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, that's a wrap for today. If you have a comment or question or would like us to cover a certain job, please let us know. Visit our website at howmuchcanimakeinfo. We would love to hear from you. And, on your way out, don't forget to subscribe and share this episode with anyone who is curious about their next job. See you next time.