• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

From radio to a "real" job - successful transitions?

B

blueboy

Guest
Just thought I would toss out this thread idea. I know a number of jocks who have been out of work for over a year and have begun to accept the notion that, perhaps, their career has unceremoniously ended. A few have fumbled along looking for a new direction while others refuse to give up the ghost. So, my question is do you have a success story of an ex radio guy/gal who have moved on to something outside of the business?
 
As a former U.S. President might put it, 'It all depends on how you define 'success.'

Is success being able to tell an industry to cram it before they shaft you? Maybe.

Is success being able to locate an air shift during which you can go through textbooks about physical sciences and architecture, without compromising the air shift task? Could be.

Is it a triumph to take a radio-years IRA and buy a fixer-upper house with it (with no early-withdrawal penalties) ..... say 'Thanks' to radio .... and then never work in radio again? Possibly.

Is success the ability to remember one line from a person you despise (in this case, 'People have to eat') and enter the food industry in all manners of that farm-to-market sequence? Perhaps.

Is perhaps the most satisfaction the ability and vantage point to be making a living in other fields -- while keeping lifelong radio buddies and checking in every so often to the radio forums as though it were nothing more than a peep show you enjoyed at age 16? There's a little of that compulsion, yeah.

Is success defined as being able to climb off a tarred roof with a suntan (having listened to a portable radio!), come home and have a martini, and unwind via an internet Oldies station to listen to, chat with, and enjoy the company of, the new demo called 'Teens 50-Plus'? I'd say so.

There are no colossal triumphs or vindications listed here. There was no 'ceremoniously' and no 'unceremoniously' involved in the decision. In 2012, at least here, anyway, the internet plus outside sources of income convince me that having some cake and eating it too is at least a leisure success.
 
I don't know about New York, but one story I always like is Providence's Big John Bina, who was a household name in the market for close to 30 years, and is now in year 2 or 3 of med school.
 
Now that's what I'm talking about. Nice one. Making the transition is a challenge especially when confronted with typical thorny hr questions such as, "Why did you leave your last job?". Or - and this my favorite- "If we contacted your previous employers would they describe you as re-hirable?". We can't simply blurt out the truth and say, "Well, I was FIRED from my previous employers so I don't think they would describe me as re-hirable". That's not going to work. What's a better way? Describe our exiting as similar to that of an actor whose tv show has been cancelled? My contract was not renewed? That might make connect with the hr interviewer on a level they understand.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom