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.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Thanks for turning me on.
Thanks for turning me on. Those were the words that Des Moines radio icon Dic Youngs used to close his radio program for over 45 years on KIOA.
Dic, or Youngsy as so many people called him passed away earlier this week. Today I attended the visitation service held in Des Moines. The feelings that I left with will be something that I struggle to completely figure out over the next few days.
Youngsy was a unique character. And I use that word because that is what he was. A character that was loved by so many that listened to him on the radio. First on AM 940 KIOA and then as music all but left the AM band on Oldies 93.3 KIOA.
Dic Youngs left a lasting mark on this community and every one that knew him. He was the embodiment of everything that is missing from radio these days. A person working for over 45 years on one radio station. I have been fortunate in my career that relatively, I have not had to move that much, but even with that my longest tenure has been six years.
But it was more than that. And I could write an entire book about the stories of this legendary man. The man who once went to a high school prom with a girl that did not have a date, that worked countless hours and devoted time to charity. That organized Rock and Roll Reunions and did it because he simply loved the entertainment business and loved being on the radio.
I don't know this for certain, but I don't think Dic Youngs died a wealthy man, at least from a money standpoint. He did what he did because that was what successful radio people did and people that just loved entertaining and making others happy.
A speaker at the service today summed it up better than I ever could when he said. "We grew up in the era where you used radio to effect good, not cause divisions."
I wish that there was the opportunity for radio to create the next Dic Youngs, but voice tracking and consolidation and greed have made that virtually impossible.
The second part of the equation for me was seeing some people today that I have not seen in over 10 years. In some cases much longer. People freeze in time and image in your mind. No one stops and thinks what John F. Kennedy would look like today. He is frozen in time the way he looked prior to November 22, 1963.
We are all getting older. I saw that in these long time friends and noticed how they had changed. Knowing full well that they were thinking the same about me.
It made me confront my own mortality.
I said earlier that I did not think Dic Youngs died a wealthy man. But if a measure of a man's wealth is the legacy he leaves behind, then he was indeed a very wealthy man. The people that turned out today to pay their respects were an amazingly diverse cross section of the population. Old and young, normal working folks and many dignitaries. They were all there. Plus his friends from the radio community. Many of whom will go back to competing fiercely tomorrow but today standing side by side to honor a legend.
So yes, Dic Youngs was a very wealthy man.
In the end the only way to bid farewell to someone like this, that brought such joy and friendship to so many, the majority of which didn't even know him personally, is to simply echo the words he used to close every broadcast.
Youngsy, thanks for turning us on.
Dic, or Youngsy as so many people called him passed away earlier this week. Today I attended the visitation service held in Des Moines. The feelings that I left with will be something that I struggle to completely figure out over the next few days.
Youngsy was a unique character. And I use that word because that is what he was. A character that was loved by so many that listened to him on the radio. First on AM 940 KIOA and then as music all but left the AM band on Oldies 93.3 KIOA.
Dic Youngs left a lasting mark on this community and every one that knew him. He was the embodiment of everything that is missing from radio these days. A person working for over 45 years on one radio station. I have been fortunate in my career that relatively, I have not had to move that much, but even with that my longest tenure has been six years.
But it was more than that. And I could write an entire book about the stories of this legendary man. The man who once went to a high school prom with a girl that did not have a date, that worked countless hours and devoted time to charity. That organized Rock and Roll Reunions and did it because he simply loved the entertainment business and loved being on the radio.
I don't know this for certain, but I don't think Dic Youngs died a wealthy man, at least from a money standpoint. He did what he did because that was what successful radio people did and people that just loved entertaining and making others happy.
A speaker at the service today summed it up better than I ever could when he said. "We grew up in the era where you used radio to effect good, not cause divisions."
I wish that there was the opportunity for radio to create the next Dic Youngs, but voice tracking and consolidation and greed have made that virtually impossible.
The second part of the equation for me was seeing some people today that I have not seen in over 10 years. In some cases much longer. People freeze in time and image in your mind. No one stops and thinks what John F. Kennedy would look like today. He is frozen in time the way he looked prior to November 22, 1963.
We are all getting older. I saw that in these long time friends and noticed how they had changed. Knowing full well that they were thinking the same about me.
It made me confront my own mortality.
I said earlier that I did not think Dic Youngs died a wealthy man. But if a measure of a man's wealth is the legacy he leaves behind, then he was indeed a very wealthy man. The people that turned out today to pay their respects were an amazingly diverse cross section of the population. Old and young, normal working folks and many dignitaries. They were all there. Plus his friends from the radio community. Many of whom will go back to competing fiercely tomorrow but today standing side by side to honor a legend.
So yes, Dic Youngs was a very wealthy man.
In the end the only way to bid farewell to someone like this, that brought such joy and friendship to so many, the majority of which didn't even know him personally, is to simply echo the words he used to close every broadcast.
Youngsy, thanks for turning us on.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The first time I met Ted Kennedy
One night recently when I was feeling somewhat depressed and wondering what the future held, I decided that instead of feeling blue, I would make a list of all the amazing and fortunate things that I have had the privilege of doing in my life.
Right near the top of that list was that I had on a few occasions, the opportunity to meet and talk with the legendary Senator Edward M. Kennedy. However, it is the first time that I talked to him that made a lasting impression on me and the moment is as fresh in my brain as if it was yesterday.
Most of my friends don't know that when I was a young broadcaster I spent a brief time working as a television reporter. It was not something I was especially fond of and as you know went with the radio side of broadcasting instead.
But as a young reporter, I once had the occasion to sit and interview the Senator and do a background piece on him. He was in Iowa to lend his voice to a colleague's campaign and on this particular trip had brought his entire family. His then wife, Joan, daughter Kara and son Patrick.
Of course, any discussion of his career at that point had to deal with the subject of the Chappaquiddick incident. As it came time to approach that subject I could feel myself begin to fidget in the chair, I started to ring my hands and felt a few beads of sweat form on my upper lip. As I fumbled for the words, I diverted my glance to his wife, then his daughter and finally his son. I didn't think I could do it.
He instinctively knew. And with amazing grace he reached his hand out, put it on top of mine and said, "Young man, do your job." I did. I will never forget the moment when he gave me the courage to do what some say is the hardest thing ever, speak truth to power.
His accomplishments are many. His compassion for his fellow man and his battle for "the cause of his life", health care reform are unequaled.
It is truly the end of an era. I don't think we will ever see another one like him. The last surviving Kennedy son. A man who left the world far better for his having been here. He will be missed.
God Bless Senator Kennedy.
Right near the top of that list was that I had on a few occasions, the opportunity to meet and talk with the legendary Senator Edward M. Kennedy. However, it is the first time that I talked to him that made a lasting impression on me and the moment is as fresh in my brain as if it was yesterday.
Most of my friends don't know that when I was a young broadcaster I spent a brief time working as a television reporter. It was not something I was especially fond of and as you know went with the radio side of broadcasting instead.
But as a young reporter, I once had the occasion to sit and interview the Senator and do a background piece on him. He was in Iowa to lend his voice to a colleague's campaign and on this particular trip had brought his entire family. His then wife, Joan, daughter Kara and son Patrick.
Of course, any discussion of his career at that point had to deal with the subject of the Chappaquiddick incident. As it came time to approach that subject I could feel myself begin to fidget in the chair, I started to ring my hands and felt a few beads of sweat form on my upper lip. As I fumbled for the words, I diverted my glance to his wife, then his daughter and finally his son. I didn't think I could do it.
He instinctively knew. And with amazing grace he reached his hand out, put it on top of mine and said, "Young man, do your job." I did. I will never forget the moment when he gave me the courage to do what some say is the hardest thing ever, speak truth to power.
His accomplishments are many. His compassion for his fellow man and his battle for "the cause of his life", health care reform are unequaled.
It is truly the end of an era. I don't think we will ever see another one like him. The last surviving Kennedy son. A man who left the world far better for his having been here. He will be missed.
God Bless Senator Kennedy.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
How could I have let this happen??
I did something today that I simply cannot believe. Something so out of character, something so disgusting that I just don't know how I am going to be able to show my face to friends and family.
In getting the house ready to sell and arrange for the impending move we have gone through so many boxes, had a garage sale and discovered so many things that I had forgotten. But today, something happened that is likely to set me back emotionally for perhaps years to come.
In a back corner of the garage, behind some shovels, rakes and a decorative outdoor fountain that we no longer use, I found two cases of beer. As near as I could remember I had gotten them about three years ago Thanksgiving when we had some friends over and they had since gotten buried and forgotten.
Three years in the garage. The heat and humidity of summer and the freezing cold of winter. This had to be some pretty skunky beer.
You can't sit two cases of beer on the curb for the garbage man to pick up because skunky or not, you got to know the neighborhood kids would have been all over it.
Sooooooo....... I dragged both cases into the back yard, painfully opened them one by one and wept openly as I poured out two cases of Bud Light. Enough good beer to keep a couple weeks of good football watching parties going, or my buddy Jerry happy for a few hours.
My only consultation is that I know that in the time it took me to pour out the beer, The Busch family in St.Louis probably produced 100 times as much as I dumped out.
But as Homer Simpson would say, "DOHHHH... my beautiful sweet beer."
In getting the house ready to sell and arrange for the impending move we have gone through so many boxes, had a garage sale and discovered so many things that I had forgotten. But today, something happened that is likely to set me back emotionally for perhaps years to come.
In a back corner of the garage, behind some shovels, rakes and a decorative outdoor fountain that we no longer use, I found two cases of beer. As near as I could remember I had gotten them about three years ago Thanksgiving when we had some friends over and they had since gotten buried and forgotten.
Three years in the garage. The heat and humidity of summer and the freezing cold of winter. This had to be some pretty skunky beer.
You can't sit two cases of beer on the curb for the garbage man to pick up because skunky or not, you got to know the neighborhood kids would have been all over it.
Sooooooo....... I dragged both cases into the back yard, painfully opened them one by one and wept openly as I poured out two cases of Bud Light. Enough good beer to keep a couple weeks of good football watching parties going, or my buddy Jerry happy for a few hours.
My only consultation is that I know that in the time it took me to pour out the beer, The Busch family in St.Louis probably produced 100 times as much as I dumped out.
But as Homer Simpson would say, "DOHHHH... my beautiful sweet beer."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)