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How to join the crew
WDFH-FM is powered by volunteers and is always looking for new people to work on all aspects of the station — music, news, promotion, web site, funding/underwriting, and all sorts of other fun stuff. As you will see by checking out WDFH's staff, our members range from professionals with decades of experience to people getting their very first taste of radio at WDFH. The first step in getting involved is to read through several pages on this site so you can get acquainted with WDFH:
If you live within commuting distance of Dobbs Ferry, where our new studios are located, and are interested in the kind of radio we do, please send us an e-mail and type "join the staff" in the subject area. The address is:
As an anti-spam measure, the address is not clickable, so please retype it into the address line of your e-mail. Thanks! WDFH also provides opportunities for students at Mercy College, including credit-bearing internships in the college's Journalism and Media and TV/Radio Production programs as well as non-credit-bearing volunteer opportunities to other members of the Mercy College community — students (whatever their major), staff, faculty, or administration. If you are a member of the Mercy community interested in getting involved, send an e-mail to the address given above and type "Join the staff — Mercy" in the subject line. OK — so you've read through this stuff and you're interested. What do people actually do at WDFH? MUSIC PROGRAMMING On-air music program host. Qualifications: solid knowledge of rock and roll and at least one of the following: folk, jazz, blues; ability to understand technical concepts (though specific radio experience is not required); clear speaking voice free of speech problems. The normal airshift at WDFH is four hours; volunteers with music programs are generally asked to additionally put in a roughly equivalent amount of time working in other departments. MUSIC DEPARTMENT Identifying music of interest to the WDFH community. Screening incoming music. Tracking and reporting airplay of new releases. Qualifications: solid knowledge of rock, folk, blues, jazz. NEWS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS Reporting, interviewing, generating story ideas and developing them into on-air news reports and public affairs programs. Qualifications: some journalism experience or training; solid writing skills; clear speaking voice free of speech problems. OFF-AIR PROMOTION Promotion of WDFH through channels other than the station's air signal, including work on web site, program guide, printed promotional materials, etc. Qualifications: some or all of the following: solid writing skills; marketing experience; desktop publishing and other computer experience; graphics and artistic ability. PUBLIC SERVICE Screen incoming press releases and request for public service announcements. Write them up for use by on-air staff. Track when they air. Qualifications: solid writing skills. FUNDRAISING Working on WDFH on-air membership drives. Developing local business underwriting as well as corporate and foundation support. REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL POSITIONS Basic qualifications:
WDFH is a non-profit, volunteer-operated business, but in the final analysis it is a business, and it must run like one. So: all WDFH volunteers must be willing to make a commitment to WDFH that is "job level" in its seriousness — the kind of commitment under which you tell your friends "Sorry, I can't go" if they invite you to a party at a time when you have a station work shift. In terms of the number of hours, we obviously don't expect anything like 40 hours per week; people working in most departments put in a weekly minimum amount of four hours at the station, though more time is always welcome, and in some cases people volunteer to put in far more than the minimum. The exception to the four hour minimum, as noted above, is that people who have a music airshift, which is normally four hours, put in up to four additional hours working in other departments at the station. All on-air positions require minimum one year commitment following training program. With all that serious stuff said, we should also tell you about the good things that come from working here. WDFH is a fun place to work. We are building a community, not just a radio station, and it's exciting to be part of the creative team that is doing that. Rather than sitting on the sidelines and merely being consumers of the media, we get satisfaction in giving back to our communities. We become active citizens contributing our time, energy, and talents to this interesting, alternative, and often quirky out-of-the-mainstream media outlet, and raising our listeners' — and our own — awareness of social, political, and cultural issues along the way. Though we have a minimum one year commitment for on-air staff, the reality is that people often stay much longer. Many of our staff members have been around for five years or more, and some even longer than that. We have an exciting, creative work environment at WDFH, with interesting, talented, and dedicated people and a beautiful new studio facility on the Mercy College campus. If becoming part of the WDFH community strikes a chord in you, we hope you'll consider joining up. As noted above, if you are interested, please send an e-mail and type "join the staff" in the subject line, or "Join the staff — Mercy" if you are a member of the Mercy community. |
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