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Ladies & Gentlemen...

R

Radknowski

<font face="times new roman" size="3" color="330066">
Are you having fun? Are you enjoying what you do on the radio?

Tell you why I ask.

A few days ago I was driving home from working "the contracting job from hell." I was full of crud and plaster dust. I looked and felt like 10 miles of bad road. It was a lousy day for me and the crew. A ceiling had fallen in at one of our buildings and had to be replaced because a water pipe burst. Plaster lathe is no fun to tear out.

While I was listening to a few jocks do their shows, I was thinking about how much more fun it is to be on the radio, inside a comfortable studio rather than pulling down chunks of mildew and mold encrusted plaster. One sounded terrific, two sounded good and two others sounded totally un-inspired. I'm not going to mention names because I have no axe to grind.

I know there are days when playin' the hits can feel as routine as running the checkout at Loblaws. (Just thought I'd throw that historical reference in there.) But for cryin' out loud, boys and girls, sound like you wanna be there!

I'll bet if you switched gigs for a day with some poor bastard who works the register at Wal-Mart or worked on a road crew, you'd kiss the control board when you returned to your gig in radio.

There are some guys and women who read liners and make them sound great. You can tell they're having a good time and took the time to customize and personalize something that often appears trivial. After all, who wants to be a liner jock when you can be a personality! Some jocks read liners so well, you can hear their personalities. They're not revved-up on caffeine and nicotine, they're just making that seemingly trite part of the format sound better. There are guys who can say more doing a 20 second backsell than other personalities do with a three minute story about how Eric Clapton fell off the stage in Vancouver in 1973.

I heard Jolene Baller doing a Saturday night show at WYRK about three weeks ago. She sounded like she was having a grand time. Why she's not part of a morning show someplace is beyond me. Maybe she is and I just haven't heard her. Anyway, she's a perfect fit for WYRK. The attitude, the charm and even the name.

Is corporate radio killing your spirit so much these days that you can't sound like you're having a good time. C'mon, it's radio! Show business! And it beats chipping plaster out of a ceiling with a 12 pound hand-sledge.

Enjoy yourselves!</font>

<hr>
I may make more money now than when I worked in the business, but there are days when a clean, dry studio beats the hell outta paint 'n plaster... naptha 'n solvents.
 
In-Solvent

> I may make more money now than when I worked in the
> business, but there are days when a clean, dry studio beats
> the hell outta paint 'n plaster... naptha 'n solvents.

C'mon Mike. Solvents can be FUN! As long as you don't mind brain damage, that is.

Come to think of it, brain damage may make you more valuable to The Corporation. Board-oping at Jack would be a lot less tedious that way. Staff meeting "attaboys" by the GM might actually seem believable. "We're here to help you do your best work" might elicit appreciation instead of skepticism. "If YOU win, we'll ALL benefit" might not provoke a reaction from the gag reflex.

Before you romanticize your former career too much, try to remember what it was like when you got out in the '90s. It's WORSE now. The money's the same or worse, there are fewer jobs, and it's most corporations are even MORE soulless.

Plaster and mildew wash off. Bullsh*t is more difficult to remove.

I do agree, though, that as long as you're taking the paycheck, you should do the job. You ARE an entertainer. That means that you need to put all the rest of it aside when you walk through the studio door, and put the LISTENERS in your mind. They're having a day like Mike, and they aren't tuning in to hear you whine about how "tough" your life is. For the few hours you control that mic switch, you're the captain of the ship. Yes, there are rules and regulations, but you have an opportunity to make life easier for a lot of people. Whether you're providing information or entertainment, do a job you can be proud of EVERY DAY. Otherwise, get out of the way and make room for somebody who would LOVE to have that opportunity.
 
Re: In-Solvent

MIKE!

Your job may be a living hell, but you left the words "No job security" out of your thoughts posted here.
I find it very disturbing that you would say the things you say without realizing the hell radio staff go through, not knowing if they'll have a job down the road...

When was the last time your job ever changed format? OR that you showed up for work and was told to go home because it's now automated?

HELL comes in many forms my friend.
 
Re: In-Solvent

> MIKE!
>
> Your job may be a living hell, but you left the words "No
> job security" out of your thoughts posted here.
> I find it very disturbing that you would say the things you
> say without realizing the hell radio staff go through, not
> knowing if they'll have a job down the road...
>
> When was the last time your job ever changed format? OR that
> you showed up for work and was told to go home because it's
> now automated?
>
> HELL comes in many forms my friend.
>

Good point, I concede. Hell is what you make it. As is heaven, I suppose. Could be the reason I chose to "book" before I was "launched." BTW, my job's not a "living hell," it's just like any other gig. Somedays you're the bat, some days you're the ball. "Living hell" would be Kashmir after the 'quake, or New Orleans and Mississippi after Katrina.

That said, I stand by my initial points and believe that Sir Roxalot's post re-inforces my initial contention.

Every business hold perils. If my company overbids on a job, we don't get it and about a dozen people stand half a step closer to not working. If an architect or engineer miscalculates a stress point or designs a roof that is prone to standing water (or worse, ice) and we don't check the blueprints and rely on our experience, the company stands to lose money and business.

Life's tough all over. Just ask the men and women at Delphi or the airline industry. You're on the radio? Sound like a pro and inform and entertain the audience to the best of your ability. No disrespect for your job or your work intended. It's more about work ethic.
 
Re: In-Solvent

Yeah. I would agree with you Mike. Radio is not a special case when it comes to job security. Sure, formats change, and people lose their jobs. But it happens EVERYWHERE today, "Radio Friend." What about the waitress who shows up at the restaurant she works at, only to find that the owner closed it? What about the manufacturer with 50 employees whose owner decides one day he can no longer compete in the global marketplace and shuts the doors forever? You point to the Delphi example. The days of working for a company for 50 years are over. "Radio Friend," I'm just saying job insecurity isn't unique to our industry.
 
Re: In-Solvent

> MIKE!
>
> Your job may be a living hell, but you left the words "No
> job security" out of your thoughts posted here.

Radio has always been a precarious gig. They fired Alan Freed for God sake when he owned NYC. Having a radio job is a good deal and should be enjoyed while it lasts. My contention is that Corporate America caught up to the ways of radio (insecurity) about 10 years ago (maybe longer) in regards to security and length of employment. The days of the vagabond DJ who never really unpacks his bags are near gone. He just voice tracks now.
 
Re: In-Solvent

>
> I do agree, though, that as long as you're taking the
> paycheck, you should do the job. You ARE an entertainer.
> That means that you need to put all the rest of it aside
> when you walk through the studio door, and put the LISTENERS
> in your mind. They're having a day like Mike, and they
> aren't tuning in to hear you whine about how "tough" your
> life is. For the few hours you control that mic switch,
> you're the captain of the ship. Yes, there are rules and
> regulations, but you have an opportunity to make life easier
> for a lot of people. Whether you're providing information or
> entertainment, do a job you can be proud of EVERY DAY.
> Otherwise, get out of the way and make room for somebody who
> would LOVE to have that opportunity.
>

This is one of the better posts on the board and the "In-Solvent" title is absolutely hilarious, especially as it applies to Radknowski, who I sometimes disagree with but with whom I concur in this thread.

Along with the above stated opinion of Sir Roxalot, there are two weekend guys on WHTT that bring their "A-game" and seem to have the spirit of this thread firmly in grasp. Brian J. Walker (the sometimes excitable boy formerly heard middays on WPHD) and Tony Venturoli (formerly of WGR55) always sound like they're having a good time on the radio. They fit the format, especially as it's being broadened with more 70s and 80s music. These two guys know the game and play it with gusto every weekend.
 
Re: In-Solvent

This thread is a little like Buffalo itself

* First we try and bring our selves up by our boot straps "radio is fun, sound like it" (which I agree with)

* Then we take what I refer to as the treaded but inevitiable "Buffalo turn", as in "better than my job" or "my life sucks worse"

* Oh but wait radio still sucks "don't know if I'll have a job down the road."

* We try to be sunny again "there are some guys who always sound happy on air"

* But we realize its really all just cloudy and gray "what about the restaurant worker who shows up for work to see the doors locked" (Buca de Bepo anyone?)

Look, radio...its pay, its job security hasn't really changed (note the Alan Freed point). Corporations have made it more tedious but the pre-corporation "sense of family" for the worker was a myth.

Radio is a job but as Mike points out, your job is to make it sound fun (the fun of it is why all these ex radio people still populate this board). And if you're smart, no matter WHAT your job is try and make it fun. If you can't, get a new job. If you can't find it here, go elsewhere. Just take ACTION, be POSITIVE!

EDITORIAL
And if you don't want to move so you can stay with family and friends and can't find a different job...you've set your priorities...now live them...quietly and withour complaint.

Life is short enough, let's focus on what we can change and do it.

Signed,
Anthony Robbins
The biggest human head on the planet
<P ID="signature">______________
PETER
www.audioconnell.com
World Wide Voice Over Talent</P>
 
Re: In-Solvent

> Life is short enough, let's focus on what we can change and
> do it.
>
> Signed,
> Anthony Robbins
> The biggest human head on the planet
>

Yes, and such nice teeth!

BTW, I post because I believe I have as much (or little) to contribute to this board as any of the posters who are still "in da biz." Dave Barry, I'm not... but we all have dreams, dammit!
 
Re: In-Solvent

> BTW, I post because I believe I have as much (or little) to
> contribute to this board as any of the posters who are still
> "in da biz." Dave Barry, I'm not... but we all have dreams,
> dammit!
>
(Spoken as "Grasshopper's Master" in Kung Fu): And you should, dreamweaver!

;)
Signed,
AR<P ID="signature">______________
PETER
www.audioconnell.com
World Wide Voice Over Talent</P>
 
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