How did I get better behind the microphone? How do radio hosts get better? Criticism from peers is important. Positive or negative feedback from supervisors might work.

Sometimes, if you are honest with yourself, self criticism and soul searching is the best way to evaluate your performance.

What is an Aircheck

Would you stare at yourself for an hour in front of a mirror? What perceived imperfections would you find? An audio recording of an on-air musical DJ show, called an aircheck, is exactly the same process. You use your ears. What does the sonic glance reveal?

In the analog days of radio, an entire program could be recorded with ancient, silicone lubricated, acetate backed recording tape using reel-to-reel tape recorders.

This was a headache for long three to six-hour programs, unless the newer cassette technology was used.

Moving forward, thanks to the digital age, and some engineering magic, entire music on-air shifts could be 'scoped' into an aircheck.

A scoped program happens when the DJ-announcer turns on the microphone. Their voice is automatically recorded to a device along with any other audio that is happening live on-air. The recording stops when the microphone is turned off.

Now, all of the live segments are automatically recorded back-to-back.

It's getting better all the time

My ears stared at myself in this audio mirror after every radio program I did. That's why I have hundreds of aircheck recordings spanning every radio station that I worked for.

When I used cassettes, I would re-record on top of the old shows, if I didn't want to save them.

Checked out

The process is simple. You listen back to your show and analyze every element. You question your diction, speech, timing, creativity, relevance, audience engagement, artist mix, community references, and much more.

You write notes. You course correct. You tweak the hot air. You hopefully improve.

If you juxtapose a seventeen year-old college radio amateur against the same guy fifteen years later as an accomplished professional, you can hear dramatic differences. I'm him.

Where are the Airchecks

That's my story. That's how I used airchecks to my advantage. You may not have noticed the aircheck section on the Powerhouse Radio website. See the bottom of the page footer. Listen to them.

For the first time, I've also added an 18 minute multiple aircheck scan to our  PowerhouseRadioVideo channel on YouTube. Each station, featuring yours truly, is time indexed so you can listen to the station you want by selecting the time stamp in the comments section for the video.

The airchecks at Powerhouseradio.com are different from what you will hear on our YouTube Channel. Check them all out!

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