Mike - you're obviously quite right about being in the right place at the right time.
This business is 360 degrees different than it was when I entered it as a big-eyed kid of 16. Unfortunately it was then, as it is now, something I harbor such a love for that I would do it for free if I had to, just to still be in it. I'm sure I'm not alone in that sentiment. However, the "salad days" of Magic in Charlotte when I made what is, to me anyway, an obscene amount of money are, I'm fairly certain, never to return. I have had to adjust to making a fraction now of what I did then and I am, for the most part, quite a bit happier than when I had a big mortgage and spent money like water.
Add to all of that the fact that radio - either on air or in a production studio cranking out commercials - is pretty much all I know how to do!
As 9.9 people out of 10 will agree, corporate radio has been the ruin of this business. Ask anybody who worked for Bill and Sue Dalton and they'll tell you the night-and-day difference between how they treated their employees versus how the new owners did.
I worked for one fairly large company (not CC, tho the same holds true for them) and have never been more unappreciated or under-valued in my entire career. I would craft a commercial for a sales rep who would tell me verbatim that the client bought a 70,000 dollar schedule on the strength of the ad I put together for them, and the next day they would pass me in the hallway and not even offer so much as a "hello."
At the risk of sounding vain, since the geniuses blew up Magic in 2004, I've been up for more jobs that I was thiiiiiiiis close to getting that I didn't wind up getting, that it makes my head spin to think of it. I've flown to Tampa, Dallas, St. Louis and a couple of other places for sit-downs that went nowhere. The only thing you can do is pretty much chalk it up and move on to the next opportunity. You also have to develop a certain sense of spirituality about it; namely that God (or whoever you choose) didn't want you in Boise or Newark, but - hey, lookee here, a door opens and here's where you go.
Or you leave the business and become a CPA or something. I would if I could, but I can't, so I won't.
Thus endeth my soapbox. My apologies for rambling.
eggman
