One of the things I enjoyed most about working at a radio station that had satellite programming was that I got paid more than I did at KZZO-FM to do a whole lot less. Because almost everything was automated, I had plenty of time to run around the station, go downstairs and talk to the cute woman who worked the same shift at KHOW-AM, eat, talk on the phone, oh, and get some production done.
One of the things I had to do every once in awhile was come in and get critiqued by the Program Director. I had heard stories about my former co-workers moving to larger markets and getting their butts chewed out at least once a week by their Program Director during the aircheck review. This Program Director wasn't like that, but I did think a lot of his criticisms just seemed to exist just so I would try harder. All I could really do was the weather. I really couldn't try harder than that.
Everything was going fine for awhile. However, I had one night in which the woman who worked at midnight didn't show up. It turned out she had covered for one of the full-timers earlier that week and he was supposed to come in. I tried calling him, but I only got his answering machine. I guess he forgot to come in. At first, I thought, "No problem, I'll just do this until 6am." But around 2am, I started feeling REALLY tired and it was hard to keep my eyes open. I resorted to calling up the Program Director. He told me that I could get the cute woman from KHOW-AM to watch both stations at the same time since she was working overnight that night. I have no idea how much trouble that full-timer got into.
I guess around this time, my job at Phone Survey, Inc. had me working 9am to 5pm on Saturdays and 1pm to 9pm on Sundays. I requested that my shifts change to Saturday night and Sunday morning. The Program Director didn't express any problem with this and was able to make this happen.
Everything seemed to be going okay. Then we had an air staff meeting early in November. The Program Director discussed some upcoming promotions. He also announced how things were going to go for getting Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's off. We were all supposed to write down which two holidays we were willing to work and which one we wanted off and he would try to accommodate, but made no guarantees. Up to this point, I had always spent my Christmas with my family. (Up until the previous year, I had spent every Thanksgiving with them, but Marz wrecked that streak for me.) The schedules came out, but I did not get Christmas off. I asked the Program Director if something could be done. He said he would work on it.
A few days later, he called me at work at Phone Survey, Inc. I thought he was going to ask me to cover someone's shift. He said that he was going to have to take me off the regular schedule and put on the stand-by staff. This meant that I would only work when they really needed me. I was stunned. He said he couldn't accommodate my Christmas request and my working Saturday nights and Sunday mornings was causing problems with the air staff. He had already made up his mind and hired someone to take my place. However, he said I could still come to the KHOW/KSYY Christmas party.
In my mind, this made him a worse boss than Crad. I mean, things were stressful under Crad, but he would let me know right away when I was doing something he didn't like. He gave me a chance to correct things before he was going to fire me. But this Program Director gave no indication that my schedule requests were going to lead to me being let go from the regular air staff. If he had said something about me not working the same shift on Saturday and Sunday, I could have just quit Phone Survey and found another job.
Even though I was the low man on the totem pole at KZZO, I always got Christmas off. It was never a problem. I didn't expect it to be a problem at KSYY. When I told the Program Director I couldn't work Christmas, he could have said, "If you don't work Christmas, you're not working here anymore." I would have immediately told him, "I'll work Christmas. Don't worry about it." I never expected him to be passive-aggressive.
I needed that radio job more than anything because, at the time, I felt like that was what defined me. Later, my life would just take on new definitions.
So, I went to that Christmas party. It was held at Union Station on board the Altschul train cars. These were private cars used by the Altschul family for various trips across the USA. It was a nice party, plenty of good food. I was glad I went. The Program Director was there, but I didn't talk to him.
I did get called back in a couple of time to cover shifts early in 1989. And if I wanted to, I could make use of the production studio to create airchecks for future radio applications. But I never did that.
A short time after that, the new owners took over the operations of the station. Then the Program Director announced he was leaving the station. After this took place, I came to the station, went up to the third floor and spoke to the General Manager. I asked him, "Do I still work here?" He shook his head, "No." That was it. I no longer worked in radio and wouldn't for another 16 years.
One of the things I have to consider is that, even if I continued to work regular shifts there, something else probably would have come along to screw things up for me, like when the station changed owners again later in 1989.
When that happened, KSYY-FM became KHOW-FM. It has stayed that way ever since.
The Program Director went to a country/western station in Phoenix, where he worked for 22 years. He doesn't appear to be doing radio now, but runs his own voiceover business. As far as everybody else I worked with, I don't really remember all of their names, so I can't look them up.
Ever since then, I stopped putting so much importance on seeing my family for Christmas. As it turned out, I would only be with my parents for Christmas in 1988 and 1989 (both without Loyd), but never again after that. There's a part of me that wishes I had chosen my job over being with them, because it was a choice I wound up making many more times in the future.
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