Karaoke Host 101

As almost everyone in the known universe knows by now, I'm a karaoke junkie :-) I've been singing now for about twelve years and don't ever want to stop. Over those twelve plus years I have seen many shows and hosts. Some great,some mediocre, some downright horrid! Sometimes when a karaoke show is canned it can be because of many factors. The host has a drug or alcohol problem. The venue owner was a tax evader or drug dealer or because of the current poor economy the business was forced to shut down.
I have seen what makes and breaks a karaoke show. 75% of it has to do with the host aka "the kj" or "karaoke jockey" for those not in the know. To me what makes a great host is his/her personality. Are they energetic and get the crowd interested and grooving? Do they just sit in a seat in the corner of the bar and don't make eye contact with the crowd and just blend in with the environment?
The kj needs to make every singer who comes up feel like they are the star of the show and all eyes should move on them. Even if there is someone up who is a borderline professional singer and hits every beat, they should not praise them more than a patron whose singing skills aren't the greatest. If they do then the latter person will feel self conscious and likely will not sing again for the evening or perhaps again!
The kj needs to be able to project when on stage. Does everyone turn and listen when they're speaking or tune them out? Timid or shy people tend to make bad hosts. The main reason is they have no presence and the second reason is that they tend to let aggressive bar patrons walk all over them.
It's great to be entertaining as a host and interject your own personal humor and flare but don't tell a story that is drug out for ten minutes or make lude sexual comments about a person in the audience. This is very unprofessional and will hurt the bar in the long run. Don't be pompous hosts!!

The sound system and selection is a big factor to running a great show. Does the kj know how to set up and run his equipment? I've found that many don't and the sound and singers suffer because of it! There is a local company that has many hosts working under their banner but they fail to fully train their hosts and they give them shoddy equipment to work with- very bad business practice, even if they do charge far below the normal rate of a karaoke host.
It really helps if the kj has had previous radio experience. Most will know how to tune in a singer to make them sound their best and run the equipment at optimal levels.
Song selection is another biggie. A good host will have upwards of ten thousand songs to choose from with a wide variety of artists and genres. There are some shows out there that cater to country music or spanish and that's all well and good but if you are hosting a show at "The Groove-Thang" then you should have a wide range of tunes.
The digital age is certainly upon us and a lot of hosts are switching it up to a laptop setup with strictly digital files and no discs. This can be a good and bad thing. The good thing with digital is that a host won't have to worry about scratches on a worn disc and quick access to a song file. The bad things are that the computer can crash and then the host is up the creek unless they have a cdg machine as a backup with discs. Another thing is that because of the new digital format a lot of hosts are illegally downloading karaoke tracks and many advertise that they have one hundred-thousand songs. Nine times out of ten these are illegal.
Karaoke companies such as Sound Choice are starting to crack down on these hosts and fine them and the bar several thousands of dollars!
Going back to the hosts I find many hosts feel that since they work in the bar that they get to drink all night like the patrons of the bar. This is very unprofessional to be drunk. I realize that many hosts make very little money doing what they do, however do you see a cook at McDonald's sucking back a fifth of whiskey while working the fry station? I don't think so!
Don't bring personal drama to a show! Don't ask everyone in the crowd to put money in your tip jar because your pet iguana needs a liver transplant or your sister needs a new car. I have witnessed this ridiculousness happen and everyone in the bar was very put off by it and needless to say didn't put any money in the tip jar that night.
Keep rotations fair! If you have a large rotation of twelve or more singers make sure that the order stays constant. I realize throughout the night singers will leave or arrive late so rotations have to be adjusted accordingly. However don't let Sally keep singing twice to three times in one rotation because you think she's cute or can sing better than everyone else. Again it's common sense here.

If the rotation is extremely long then the kj should take themselves out of the rotation. They are being paid to be there...not the singers! This personally drives me nuts and I don't go back to these places.
I hope everyone has found this blog entertaining and maybe informative. I would love to hear comments from my fellow karaoke goers about this!

Cheers
Stephen