So I am sitting here on Sunday evening and thinking about what a difference eight months make. As most people know on April 28th of 2009 my position was eliminated and for the first time in my adult life I was unemployed. What most people don't know is that despite the worries about how I was going to pay our bills, that on the inside I could not have been happier. Rumors of the layoffs had been circulating for months and I was secretly hoping and nearly praying that I would be on the list.
I had been in my current position for six years and going to work had become insufferable. I had been beaten down to the point that radio, an industry I had loved since I first was fascinated by it as a child, was now something I hated.
What I now realize is that radio wasn't the problem at all. Nor was it the company I worked for. It wasn't even the changes that had come about in the industry over the past several years. The problem was the management team that I had been working for. The people that lead by keeping employees in their place, by always looking for something to find fault with and telling you things like you are lucky to have a job.
Sunday nights were the worst. About three in the afternoon I started to feel my mood change. It was all about the dread of going back to work in the morning and facing another week. So when I was dismissed I decided no matter what I had to do, I was done with radio.
Thankfully a good friend of many years made me reconsider that decision. Now jump forward to tonight. It's around 10 pm and I am happily looking forward to another week. I have been back on the air recently filling in here and there and have finally had the chance to do some talk radio and on the legendary WHO no less. Yesterday during the show we heard from callers listening over the air in Wyoming and South Bend, Indiana. The mighty signal of WHO. Radio is fun again and I am having the time of my life.
Why, because I am treated with respect and my co-workers and managers actually care about my thoughts and opinions. I am fortunate to work for the best General Manager in radio and it has made all the difference in the world.
So tomorrow I will go in and prepare for a week that includes station visits from Uncle Kracker and Brandi Carlile. I will do the morning show tomorrow on Capital 106.3 and Saturday morning on WHO. And in between, whatever the week brings, I will be having fun and it will be at work. Life is good again.
