Interview with Virgin Radio

What is the hardest part of being a radio programmer and streaming live?

Being “interactive” is the most important. You should keep yourself up-to-date. It is not like any other job. You should be reflecting your lifestyle to your job. You reflect what you live to your program. You should be getting a lot of information, especially in this technological era. Nowadays, it is very easy to have access to information. That is why, we try to enjoy it, get the information and transfer it through the radio. Nowadays, everybody can download songs from everywhere. Accessing music became the easiest thing on earth. Anyone with a cell phone can listen to music and almost everybody has a cell phone. I am guessing there are more than 80 million cell phone users in Turkey. That is why, the style of the DJ/programmer/host, however you want to call it, is more important here, rather than the music. The DJ’s choice of music shapes up the style. My style is generally foreign and commercial songs, I usually prefer playing foreign songs. That is why, I shape my life accordingly. I shape my clothing, my lifestyle, the things I eat and the books I read… Everything! At the end, you reflect these to your program. The system basically works like that.

· Virgin Radio exists for many years around the world. However, it started to stream quite late in Turkey. Why?

Actually this is all about the owners of media. For example you can ask the same question as, “Why Burger King did not open up in Turkey 40 years ago instead of 20 years?” ‘’ It is the same thing. You have to see whether Turkey is ready or not for that brand. It seems that the media owners thought that Turkey was ready for Virgin Radio. That is why Virgin Radio started to stream in Turkey two years ago. Now there is a brand called Virgin Radio Turkey.

· What is the most enjoyable part of being a radio programmer?

As I mentioned before, you should be interactive. You should always be connected with people. I always tell this to people. When I cannot talk, I start not expressing myself. And that troubles me a lot. The people who love expressing themselves and sharing their opinions, like me, enjoy being a radio programmer. Being a radio programmer should be seen as a style, more than a regular job. Although it is the same situation in many jobs, being a radio programmer has a different pleasure. It is a style. Anyone who sees this job as a style can be a radio programmer.

· How do you pick the songs you are going to play in a radio program?

It is about the background of the radio company. For example, Virgin Radio plays the hit categories and songs in foreign music. That is why the audience listens to that kind of music. The songs change according to the radio company. For example, if we were aiming to reach for a less amount of audience and play Turkish songs, we would be picking songs and advertisements accordingly.