Meeting The Muttons: A Guest Lecture by Justin Ang and Vernon A

With  the 987 Muttons!

Students from the Diploma in Mass Media Management (DMMM) were treated to a special guest lecture by the Muttons from MediaCorp radio station 987 on 2nd July. The Muttons, whose real names are Justin Ang and Vernon A, won the Best Radio Show for the third straight time at last year’s MediaCorp Radio Awards. They were very open and frank when they answered questions from students and gave insightful tips on how to make it in the radio industry.

Below are some of the questions we asked them after their talk.

Qn: What is the biggest error you guys have made on air?

Justin Ang of 987 Muttons

Justin: My biggest screw up was when I failed to read the full name of a football team captain properly. From that day on, I made it a point to remember his name in full, just in case I need to say it again anytime.

Vernon: I was reading the news once and Rod Monteiro decided to crawl through my legs while I was reading the news. I literally screamed into the microphone while on air.

Qn: Is it hard to get into the radio industry?
Justin: There are only 19 radio stations in Singapore. And each radio station can only have say, seven radio DJs at one go. That’s about the finite number of DJs at one time. Therefore, yes, it is hard to get into the industry. It’s not only about the talent, it’s also about timing and luck.

Vernon: 987 is really good because we have a competition called Radio Star. And it is really a platform for individuals like you guys, who are interested in becoming a radio DJ to realize your dreams. If you think winners of Radio Star won’t get to go on air, then you are totally wrong! Sonia and Kim from 987 are both winners of Radio Star.

Justin: To complete the answer to your question, I always tell people who want to make it into the industry, please don’t make radio your only choice in life, because you might never get in due to us being a small industry. Then again, (it) depends on your luck and on timing.

Qn: Do you guys ever get creative block when writing for a programme?

Vernon A. of the 987 Muttons

Vernon: We don’t write because we don’t know how. Hahaha! Just kidding.

Justin: Actually it’s true, we don’t write! Very often our brainstorm is, we literally sit down, we talk it through, and then we try to remember what we said. Hahaha. That’s really how it works.

Vernon: We’ll be very honest here, Different people have different ways of coming up with creative stuff. Unfortunately for us, we are very psycho Err… it’s kind of very easy for us because we are very good friends and we have been doing the show for nine years. So we second-guess each other. I’ve been married shorter than I’ve been with him (Justin), for my first marriage. So we are kind of on the same page for most things. We even complete each other’s sentences. It’s true! Ideas are not copyrighted and they are everywhere. Ideas from your friends, ideas from the Internet, etc -- just go online and see how others do it. Once you see the idea, something might materialize. If not you can tweak the idea. So ideas are everywhere and they are all not copyrighted.

Students laughing at the jokes and stories that the Muttons told

Paying close attention to what was being shared by Vernon

Our students found the Muttons’ candor to be helpful and insightful.

Lina Lim, a Year 2 Mass Media Management student, said “I felt that they were genuine with their answers and were really down to earth interacting with us. It was an enriching experience hearing from the pros themselves and we took home with us valuable knowledge of the industry.”

If you are interested and want to know more about what was said during the sharing session, keep your attention on NYPTV! A video on the sharing session will be released soon!

By Theophilus Kee Ern, Year 2, Diploma in Mass Media Management