G. Thompson... Bill Watson was constantly telling me, "never let up on the jocks, ya gotta always needle for perfection." Lacking any idea of what people skills were, much less having them, I'm sure I made being part of a great-sounding station misery for more than one poor guy who I thought I was making a better jock. But the day it HIT me that that's what generally resulted:-- I was in the PD office at WHBQ, and realized I wanted to tell Jack Parnell something. Grabbed the phone and hit the first of the two-digit in-station number, when I realized Jack had just started a sweep talk-over. Whatever it was, it was freakin' BEAUTIFUL to hear. So I tapped in the second digit. When he answered, I gave him all the kudos for what he'd just done, that I later realized I wish I'd been giving more of, as at least some counter-balance to "needling for perfection." A few minutes later, Jack came into the office, and I remembered, "oh, by the way, when I called, it was to tell you (whatever it was--long since forgotten)." He gave me a kinda funny look and said, "you meant you weren't calling to bust my
chops when I screwed up that bit?" I'm not saying I became much better at my jock-handling ... but the look on his face, and the way he
asked the question, made me give a lot more thought after that, when there was a "reason" to ring-up the hotline (and the poor air-dude's
blood pressure and temper).
chops when I screwed up that bit?" I'm not saying I became much better at my jock-handling ... but the look on his face, and the way he
asked the question, made me give a lot more thought after that, when there was a "reason" to ring-up the hotline (and the poor air-dude's
blood pressure and temper).
