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Abandon Ship!!!!!

B

BroncoBobFan

Guest
Just talked to a friend of mine who programs over at CC. They're furious at PD from KHMX. He decided to take a "last-minute vacation" and leave town just before Ike hit. He's been gone a week. Now that's commitment to the product!! I'm sure the PD's at Cox and CBS wanted to leave town, but were brave enough to stand by their stations in the storm.
 
If the right systems are in place and everyone knows the plan, then the PD doesn't need to be there.
Same goes for any manager at any station.
 
Willis1000 said:
If the right systems are in place and everyone knows the plan, then the PD doesn't need to be there.
Same goes for any manager at any station.
Click to expand...

Agreed. And we don't know if any special circumstances caused him to leave, other than Hurricane Ike.
 
...gotta concur with "Willis" and "ilistentotheradio" - in my companies of radio work, the PD's, or the people serving as PD but with a different title, take vacations, sometimes two weeks in length.

But if you have the right people there you don't have to worry if something goes wrong and running to the PD.
 
While I'm not surprised that this ended up on the internet, I am surprised that any programmer would discuss the matter with anyone outside the building, much less someone who would make a beeline to the keyboard to post it.

There's another nautical cliche' I'm thinking of, but it has to do with what sinks ships.
 
BroncoBobFan said:
Just talked to a friend of mine who programs over at CC. They're furious at PD from KHMX. He decided to take a "last-minute vacation" and leave town just before Ike hit. He's been gone a week. Now that's commitment to the product!! I'm sure the PD's at Cox and CBS wanted to leave town, but were brave enough to stand by their stations in the storm.
Click to expand...

Not that I am condoning what was done, considering that Clear Channel has to divest of KHMX very shortly, I don't guess the PD at KHMX really cares what the other PDs at CC think about him. For all we know, he might be out on job interviews to try and make sure he has employment next month regardless of if IKE did or did not hit.
 
Although it is up to the decision of the management, it has always been my experience that the PD is at the station during the hurricane. I have been through several and every time, except one, the PD was on duty. Thus the reason I stayed at the radio station. I didn't think about it twice. It was automatic. By the way, the one exception was complete chaos. That PD did not show up as well as other members of the staff. Everyone abandoned ship. I heard the disaster on the air and went to the station to straighten it out and stay with it.

I feel the PD should be at the station. Employees look to leadership in situations like these.
 
There may be a couple of considerations. This may have been a pre planned vacation, or there may have been some family emergency that required his presence. Anyway, you have to figure the Market Manager had to approve the vacation.
 
Funny- I think the poster must be some disgruntled worker in the building. It always amuses me, when you have people say " a friend of mine" yeah you know what - I would jump ship too if I were him - Lets see sit with static on the air for 4 hours, then be obligated to go pass out bags of ice as a political statement...yeah sounds like a fun hurricane for him. Also Leslie B was on vaca, and yet no one slams her? There shouldn't be any slamming at all - you either are still bitter from your termination - or worried about the thanksgiving day massacre which is it... You should probably email the pd so he can explain himself to a nobody, that's my best advice
 
Why does anyone care about this? It doesn't matter, in the scheme of things, if the PD was gone or not. There are many more important things happening in radio, especially in Houston, that are of much more importance than this. If the PD was gone, so what? Does it really matter to the rest of us? Does it have any effect on the rest of us?
 
radioguyintexas said:
Why does anyone care about this? It doesn't matter, in the scheme of things, if the PD was gone or not. There are many more important things happening in radio, especially in Houston, that are of much more importance than this. If the PD was gone, so what? Does it really matter to the rest of us? Does it have any effect on the rest of us?
Click to expand...

I dunno...how do you usually handle it when, instead of speaking to you directly about any dissatisfaction with your job, your employers share the info with anyone off the street and you end up finding out about it on an industry forum? Just curious. I mean, yeah, I agree that the world wasn't going to come to an end if The Mix didn't have an onsite PD during the storm making sure Prophet didn't glitch, but I'm just wondering if the first post isn't a symptom of a much larger---in fact, epidemic---problem.
 
It doesn't matter if the PD is there or not, no matter what's going on outside. The PD is a manager, and if he/she is a competent manager he/she has competent subordinates to keep things running smoothly if he/she takes off for a day, a week, or a month.

One of the most important Laws of the Workplace says a person's importance to day to day operations is inversely proportional to their position on the organizational chart. The lowest people on the ladder are often the most important in keeping things going. And vice versa.

If the CEO-President-Station General-Manager-Program Director takes a six month vacation, his/her absence is hardly noticed. Nobody misses them. But let 3 DJs, 3 news reporters, or 3 people in spot-production or traffic come down with the flu work grinds to a halt and almost nothing gets done.
 
Nice use of the Inverse Square Law.
What happens when no one is left to reboot the server?
About the same thing as a felled tree in an empty forest.
 
I guess I was just used to the programming passion that people like Dene Hallam had years ago at KKBQ. I don't think that guy would've left his radio station during a hurricane.

But you're probably right about the KHMX PD. He knows the writing is on the wall and that he'll be out on the street when a new company (CBS) comes to town.
 
BroncoBobFan said:
I guess I was just used to the programming passion that people like Dene Hallam had years ago at KKBQ. I don't think that guy would've left his radio station during a hurricane.

But you're probably right about the KHMX PD. He knows the writing is on the wall and that he'll be out on the street when a new company (CBS) comes to town.
Click to expand...

I guess if he didn't realize it before, he does now. Thank God for the Internet.
 
As for the passion of radio - I believe it went out the window when ownership started thinking about the dollars and not looking at the commitmeutnt from their respective staff's..."You mean you want me to be there, during a hurricane, but you could terminate me tomorrow in the latest round of budget cuts"?

For me, that has always been my downfall - I remember a few years back I was at a station when a tornado warning was issued, and I was the only one there - of course, as the PD, I stayed on, took the stations (five of them) off the bird, and gave live updates - it was scary, especially when the tornado sirens started going off near the station - but that was me, that was the commitment I had...I would venture to say that I would do it again.

But, I understand completely, and don't fault them for it, as to why those in our industry no longer have the passion, drive, and commitment to radio.
 
". . . at _______, (fill in name of corportation) you are our most valuable asset. . ." hahahahaha....

This is a good thread, and the topic deserves discussing, and I dont care what the OP's angle is. So would you die for Clear Channel?

I dont stay for any corporation. I stay for the listeners and for my co-workers who are also weathering the storm. And besides that, its rather cool having your window blown out, climbing stairs, and sleeping on soundproofing foam.
 
Just ask the folks that just got canned by Metro even though some of them stayed during Ike just to be cut a week later.

Would they do it again? Probably.

I would agree with it's time...would probably stay if I thought it would be of help to my coworkers more than anything but also to relay info for the listeners that are sitting in the dark with a battery operated radio wondering is the worst over or still to come.
 
Yes...ask those former metro staff who stayed for days - both during and after the storm. Ask Roger Bateman, who is still with metro, what he felt like when his hotel room imploded the morning that Ike hit. All of metro's staff, including Ted Wallace who was just let go, were there during the storm - some of them sleeping on the floor at transtar. Ask those who walked down 39 flights of stairs in the tower because the elevators were shut down. These are examples of commitment from broadcast professionals - much unlike the commitment they have received from their now former employer.
 
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