Wednesday, January 24, 2007

I have a good radio face.

I spent some quality time working in radio so these are funny to me. To you? Maybe not so much...

You know you're an Aging Radio Guy/Girl when...

You were first hired by a GM who actually worked in radio before becoming a GM.

Radio stations were no place for kids.

You excitedly turn the radio up at the sound of "dead air" on the competitor's station.

Sales guys wore Old Spice to cover the smell of liquor.

Engineers could actually fix things without sending them back to the Manufacturer.

You worked for only ONE station, and you could name the guy who owned it.

Radio stations used to have enough on-air talent to field a softball team every summer.

You used to smoke in a radio station and nobody cared.

Engineers always had the worst body odor, not because they worked too hard, but because they just didn't shower that often.

You know the difference between good reel-to-reel tape and cheap reel-to-reel tape.

Religious radio stations were locally owned, run by an old Protestant minister and his wife, never had more than 20 listeners at any given time, and still made money.

You have a white wax pencil, a razor blade, and a spool of 3M splicing tape in your desk drawer - - just in case.

You can post a record, run down the hall, go to the bathroom, and be back in 2:50 for the segue.

You knew exactly where to put the tone on the end of a carted song.

You only did "make-goods" if the client complained. Otherwise, who cares?

You can remember the name of the very first "girl" that was hired in your market as a DJ.

Somebody would say, "You have a face for radio", and it was still funny.

Sixty percent of your wardrobe has a station logo on it.

You always had a screwdriver in the studio so you could take a fouled-up cart apart at a moment's notice.

You always had a solution for an LP that 'skipped'.

You would spend hours splicing and editing a parody tape until it was "just right", but didn't care how bad that commercial was you recorded. Hey, I can only work with what they give me, right?

You still refer to CDs as "records".

Your family thinks you're successful, but you know better.

You played practical jokes on the air without fear of lawsuits.

You answer your home phone with the station call letters.

You used to fight with the news guy over air-time. After all, what was more important: your joke , or that tornado warning?

You knew how to change the ribbon on the teletype machine, but you hated to do it because "...that's the news guy's job."

You know at least 2 people in sales that take credit for you keeping your job.

You have several old air-check cassettes in a cardboard box in your closet that you wouldn't dream of letting anyone hear anymore, but, you'll never throw them out or tape over them. Never!

You can still see scars on your finger when you got cut using a razor blade and cleaned out the cut with head-cleaning alcohol and an extra long cotton swab on a wooden stick.

You still have dreams of a song running out and not being able to find the control room door.

You've ever told a listener "Yeah. I'll get that right on for you."

You have a couple of old transistor radios around the house with corroded batteries inside them.

People who ride in your car exclaim, "Why is your radio so loud?"

You remember when promotion men brought new LP's to the station – and you played them the same day.

You have at least 19 pictures of you with famous people whom you haven't seen since, and wouldn't know you today if you bit 'em on the ass.

You wish you could have been on "Name! That Tune" because you would have won a million bucks. You even REMEMBER "Name That Tune".

You were a half an hour late for an appearance and blamed it on the directions you received from the sales person.

You've run a phone contest and nobody called, so you made up a name and gave the tickets to your cousin.

You remember when people actually thought radio was important

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:35 AM

    OMG. Love it!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oof...this hit very close to home. I was a producer not all that long ago. Worked my way through j-school by writing morning news run and researching/interviewing for the lunchtime news and public affairs show.

    Happy sigh. Love your blog!

    ReplyDelete