Don't that beat all...

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07-15-2005, 09:04 AM
Treibenschnell

Don't that beat all...

I work at a TV station and have been combing through resumes searching for my new weekend director...

His last day with me was June 11... so I've been working since June 12 straight (well, except 1 day) without a day off. As of Wednesday, I thought I had found the perfect person... the right amount of experience, the asking price was correct, local, family, sounded stable..

Well, we offered this person the gig and they accepted... hell, we even offered more money than they had asked! Sent them off for their drug test and they apparently never showed...

The next day this person calls and tells us that they've had a change of heart and they don't like the schedule... (mind you, I made it crystal clear what the schedule was)...

Ugh... so what I thought was going to be maybe 3 to 4 weeks before I could have a day off again just increased by I don't know how much... the process begins again!

Just venting...
07-15-2005, 09:10 AM
sammm

Bummer Bean. :( Sounds like someone didn't want a UA performed.
07-15-2005, 09:17 AM
onething

You might want to give them the cup before the offer. :sunny:

I know it will cost more, but then again, it could save a lot of grief.
07-15-2005, 09:37 AM
Titus

Where is the job listed? Does the "weekend" gig sport a lot lower pay then primetime? I remember when I was working in small town radio, we had overnight/weekend DJs/producers/directors (me) making minumum wage while the drive time guys made 60k.
07-15-2005, 09:56 AM
ccage

Damn. That stinks, Bean. Wish I could help.

Chuck
07-15-2005, 10:05 AM
rx7gslse

I hope you're getting a big bonus for this...

more fo rthe miatafund :)
07-15-2005, 11:48 AM
Treibenschnell

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titus

Where is the job listed? Does the "weekend" gig sport a lot lower pay then primetime? I remember when I was working in small town radio, we had overnight/weekend DJs/producers/directors (me) making minumum wage while the drive time guys made 60k.

It does pay a bit less than the primetime shows... but it also depends alot on experience.
07-15-2005, 06:00 PM
ccage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titus

I remember when I was working in small town radio, we had overnight/weekend DJs/producers/directors (me) making minumum wage while the drive time guys made 60k.

I, too, did the overnight production grind in small-town radio. "Lite-rock" no less. When I was doing a significant percentage of commercial production work, I asked for a raise -- you know, something huge like $6/hr. instead of $5.25 or something -- to no avail. They knew there were a line of people behind me who wanted the experience.

Hey -- it beat "would you like fries with that."

The people were nice, though. They're the only people who ever threw me a little going-away party when I left (for better pay).

Chuck

(Sorry Bean, just doing my bit for thread drift. Don't have a roll bar in the Miata nor money for tires, so I guess this is the only kinda drift I'll be doing soon...)
07-15-2005, 06:20 PM
Titus

Quote:

Originally Posted by ccage

I, too, did the overnight production grind in small-town radio. "Lite-rock" no less. When I was doing a significant percentage of commercial production work, I asked for a raise -- you know, something huge like $6/hr. instead of $5.25 or something -- to no avail. They knew there were a line of people behind me who wanted the experience.

Hey -- it beat "would you like fries with that."

The people were nice, though. They're the only people who ever threw me a little going-away party when I left (for better pay).

Chuck

(Sorry Bean, just doing my bit for thread drift. Don't have a roll bar in the Miata nor money for tires, so I guess this is the only kinda drift I'll be doing soon...)

We had 3 stations ran out of one building... country, AC, and AM oldies (think pre-50's).

The worst part: 4am-noon, Sunday mornings running reels of religious shows. That really killed Saturday nights.

The best part: I was in charge of the board for our AM affiliate broadcasts of all Oakland A's games. Yes, I got paid to listen to almost every game. The only ones I didn't do where weekday day games, because they had to give me a day off and there was no way the Program Director was going to do a night or weekend game to cover me.

True hell: Fox in the early 90's tried Saturday night Baseball. 8:05 first pitch, with extra long breaks. Post game would run till after Midnight and I had my 4am religious shows to look forward to. It wasn't even worth going home for a few hours so I slept on the floor in the studio.
07-15-2005, 09:19 PM
Treibenschnell

When I did college radio we did a "Top 40" format... and I worked the overnight to 4am shift. I remember one late night I got a phone call from a drunk older female listener asking for Doris Day's "Que Sera, Sera" and I informed her we were a pop station. She insisted on hearing her request. I told her I'd try knowing full well we'd never have that record. After hanging up and having guilt set it, I went over to the music library (we were still playing some records) and, sure enough, found the damn song. I played the song after mixing out of a station ID... I hope that I made that lady's night.

Nobody called in to complain... I chuckled all night about that one.
07-15-2005, 09:37 PM
Titus

Funny Small town radio story:

We often got a ton of free concert tickets about 8 hours before a show if it hadn't sold out. The venue wanted the seats filled because they could still make money selling drinks. After calling all the big clients to offer them tickets, we would turn to giving them away on air. Often times we would be lucky to get 10 people to call in for a contest (pre-cellphones). We would get 2 or 3 guys working the phone and tell EVERY caller that they were caller 10. We would often have to do that 3 or 4 times that afternoon to get rid of all the tickets! :lol:

My wife and I went to 30 or more concerts with these throw away tickets. I can actually recall her telling me on the phone one afternoon, "We have seen Eddie Money the last 2 summers... I really have no interest in seeing 4000 drunks sing along with Two tickets to Paradise for a third time". :banghead:
07-16-2005, 11:13 AM
ccage

When I first got the job it was midnight-6a "board op." Overnight was satellite, but it was before we got the computerized system so they still needed some schmuck to sit there, load carts, and punch buttons twice an hour while trying not to fall asleep. That schmuck was me...

Anyway, you'd always get the freakiest calls on the overnight, and of course you'd take them when you're fighting to stay awake around 4a. One time a guy called -- obviously blasted drunk -- to ask me where he was. I ran tape of it and dumped the best part to a long cart for everyone else the next morning. It was sorta like:

Drunk: Where am I?
Me: You'll have to tell me.
Drunk: You're the DJ.
Me: No, I'm a board op.
Drunk: (long pause) I'm at a pay phone.
Me: Do you see anything around you?
Drunk: A phone.
Me: Anything else?

After about 10 minutes we actually "found" him. Sad but true.

I got into production accidentally. One of the other guys made extra money coming in and doing production on overnight, so I learned from him. I got my "break" when I found a new commercial for a local hotel's restaurant on the master reel, though it was the stupidest thing I'd ever found, and made a total spoof of it. I tagged it on the reel after the real one. A few days later I heard my spot on the radio. I figured somebody screwed up and I was gonna get fired. Actually, my boss (who made the original) found it the next morning and liked it. The salesman submitted it to the client and they went for it...

Chuck