If you love music, being a DJ at a radio station, spinning discs, enjoying the beats and interviewing bands, is a dream job. Steve Harris, well-known disc jockey of XFM agrees: “It beats working in the office”.

Keen to find out more about working in radio, I was determined to get hold of the busy DJ to discuss the finer points of his profession. This was task that proved more of a challenge than I expected. I had left voicemails, and ended up at the station's headquarters where I tried asking to use the toilet as a cover to sneak into a DJ booth, to no avail. Determined, I stood outside of the office door for an hour and asked every person that walked out if they were a DJ – every single one replied no.

When my calls were finally returned, I was queing to enter the newly opened Primark on Oxford Street. I threw my bag, coffee, phone and other unnecessary items at my friend and scrambled for pen and paper, anxious not to leave this busy man hanging. The first words out of his mouth? “It’s my dream job.”

Every weekday at 7pm, Steve Harris connects listeners to new music in the UK. Despite the tough working hours and 6am wakeup call he maintains that the job is, in his words “just fun. I’ve always wanted to do it”.

For Harris, hanging out with rock stars, “comes with the job”. His new music features bands such as Jamie T, Klaxons, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The View every night. And it's not unheard of for stars to be less than sober while on air, which makes interviewing more difficult, but has a lot more amusement value.

But if you are looking for a work experience at a radio station, be aware that not all radio stations are as rock ‘n roll in their attitude. I was a DJ at a university radio station called KXUA in Arkansas where it wasn’t all fun and games. Arkansas University student Jordan Fisher expected an easy go of it at KXUA, but ran up against the technically challenging world of DJing. “It was 6am,” she recalls. “I went in doing my thing [not realising that] both microphones were turned down”. This meant “dead air” for at least an hour. Luckily it was early in the morning, she says, “so I was sure no one was listening.” But such a faux pas has no place in busy radio, where dead airtime means advertising dollars lost.

The best way to go about getting an internship as a DJ is going to the local radio stations and doing work experience. Attitude is key: it helps to be available, free and open to any duties heaped upon you. As for translating that work experience into a full time job in radio, Harris says that in the end it can come down to “who you know [rather] than qualifications”. This means it is crucial to make as many contacts as you can while you are interning to secure a route into your next spinning position.

Be prepared to work in the office, and to do your homework – being a DJ anywhere is hard work. While, as Harris says, “passion” is an important asset to being a DJ, it isn’t enough alone. You must prepare for the show and know what you are going to play for your listeners. As with most jobs, it takes commitment and drive to end up being successful. But becoming a DJ like Steve Harris at a major radio station in London doesn’t happen overnight. It takes trying out your luck at a local radio station, and like poor Jordan, making mistakes. The rock stars come later.

Talk the talk by learning some radio jargon before you go into your work experience interview

Ad Lib - The very useful ability a DJ must have to create impromptu chatter in the event that there is silence or "dead air".

Bed - audio that is used as a backing track when the DJ speaks, that instrumentation you hear while a DJ tells you what's on next

Fade in/out - When sounds become louder or quieter as songs switch or a advert break ends or begins

SFX - sound effects

PC - Programme Controller - the person the DJ answers to, his or her boss

Coming in with a CV is useful, but showing that you can fill air-time like a pro is an added bonus. Impress them with a demo tape. Check out the helpful tips on making a demo tape from longtime worker in the radio industry, Paul Denton here

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