Sunday, June 29, 2003

Behind the scenes - Local Live Ad Insert


Why are my co-workers such idiots??

Going on about 1 hour's sleep trying not to oversleep my responsibilities in the morning, I went over to my friend Dan's house to play cheaufer for him AGAIN. His air shift was going to start right after mine at 12 Noon when I was done with the Grace Lutheran Church service. We were going to do what we in the radio business call.. "a local drop" - meaning that instead of the usual commercials, we were going to play an on air person live from some "stupid" location trying to drum up interest in what a business was selling/doing. Anyway, you remember my 'ol friend Kevin Nelson, right? Well, he was going to go on the air between our FOX Sports national show for 2 minutes at a time talking about these hot tubs that a company was trying to sell. This is the most expensive commercials we or any other radio station offers. You might have heard a station in your area do a live broadcast from a car dealership. Okay.. enough with the need to know information.

First of all, Kevin shows up at the station late. How professional! He makes one of the new sales girls Dena "total babe but married" H. worry about getting to the site and setting up with all the equipment. So, here is the four of us, Dena, Me, Dan and Kevin standing in the hallway of the studio talking about how we were going to do the "live drops". Since I am the only one who gives a crap and is familiar with the station's format of when the commericals regularly run, when they stop, and how they work, I had to tell the three of them when it when Kevin was expected to be on. Here's a clue, Kevin and Dan... IF YOU ACTUALLY F---ING LISTENED TO THE F---ING STATION THAT YOU F---ING WORK FOR, YOU'D KNOW WHAT TIME THE F---ING COMMERCIALS COME ON!

I have to say this again, because I feel this bears repeating.

Why are my co-workers such idiots?

The frustrating thing is that me, struggling as it is with no money, have to go the extra mile, and work for minimum wage for these people when 'experienced' people like Kevin and Dan get to half ass it all the time?

Dame Broadcasting on-air people (WRSC, QWK Rock, Hot 107.9) get $75 dollars for the first hour for 6 minutes of work. I get $5.25.

Money well spent, Al Dame!

Friday, June 13, 2003

Don't Cross the Boss!

I decided that it was indeed close to time that the WRSC's morning show with Jeff "Ironhead" Byers and Kevin "I'll steal Mikes jokes" Nelson. I decided to stick around and hope that I could contribute to the program in some way. Kevin had mentioned on the air that he was looking around the studio for chocolate chip cookies, but none could be found. I decided that the comment was my big chance to make an impression on the guys by running down the street to the Super Wal-Mart and picking up some cookies. I brought them back within 15 minutes and Kevin was appreciative of me making the efforts despite mentioning his "not so strict" diet. The funniest moments of today's program was when he ate a cookie on the air and commented that he didn't see any members of the Swedish Bikini Team around implying I can just make them appear too! Ask and you shall receive, Mr. Nelson. Kevin and Jeff's Webpage.

Then, I decided to sit around the studio and wait to talk to Casey "the girl next door" the Promotions Manager. I heard that she was "getting voted off the island" so to speak and I wanted to find out if I could get her position and what it would entail. She arrived late, 'round 10 AM but had enough time in her busy schedule to devote just 2 minutes explaining the process of what she does and who to talk to for getting hired. I had to submit a resume to my General Manager Joe who currently hates my guts. Looks like I'm s--t outa luck.

Then, the Owner, the guy who writes the checks, Al Dame of Dame Broadcasting walks in with his wife. This is the big time. The mere mention of his name brings shivers of intimidation to the managements spines (if they had any). That was my cue to leave. I didn't want to talk to my boss Dave "mike's cigarette smoking man" Shannon or run into the GM Joe, who is expected back from recovering from surgery soon. When I went out to the overcrowded parking lot, I found a hot looking metallic silver Jaguar blocking me in,. parked about a few inches away from my rear bumper. So, I went back in to talk to the front desk lobby secretary to inquire about the Jag blocking me in. Bambi (yes, our secretary is named Bambi) told me that the car belonged to none other than AL DAME. Oh S--t! How do you tell the owner of the station and millionaire businessman to move his car? Bambi told me that it would be no trouble at all. Mr. Dame is a really nice guy and very approachable. He was in the GM's office. When I got to the door, Mr. Dame found me standing there and a rare rush of confidence came over me. I asked if he was the owner of the silver Jag and explained that it was blocking me in. Mr. Dame could not have been nicer. He had been shifting some boxes around in the GM's office with Mr. Shannon's help. We walked out together and had a little talk. He sincerely asked what I did around the station and genuinely took the time to listen to what I had to say. Bambi was right. Al Dame was a very nice guy! I pondered the idea of maybe scheduling a meeting with him to "squeal" on my bosses and how they were treating me, but I know he's busy, so, I chose to just leave with a wave goodbye and a firm handshake.

WOW, what a morning!