I Really Did Learn From My Mistakes

When I get around radio friends, the stories start to fly, embellishment becomes the norm, and there is non-stop laughter to the point of tears. In the early years of every air personality, there is always that one announcer who seems to do everything right. It makes you shake your head and wonder how they do it. In my case, that person's name was Les Smith and yes, it was his real name. By the way, he dated a girl whose last name was Jones, but that's another tale involving a disbelieving motel manager. But, my story is about his ability to read any copy put in front of him perfectly without pre-reading; even if he had "one too many."

I Figured It Out ...

I was in college at the University of Missouri and fortunate enough to be working part-time at one of only three commercial stations in town; -- KFRU, a News Talk/Sports/MOR (father of AC) format and was privately owned at the time. My weekend shift was Saturday overnight/Sunday morning, midnight to 8a. One of my duties was ripping and reading a five-minute newscast at the top of every hour. Well, I was struggling to learn how to read copy and sound as good as the seasoned veterans on staff, especially Mr. Perfect, Les Smith. In my quest, I spent countless hours practicing in the production room and then I came up with the idea of pre-taping my casts and airing them. I was determined to air a flawless cast and eventually get to the point I could read live the same way. A couple of the veterans on staff knew I was pre-taping and never offered any guidance.

Whoops...

It worked like a charm for a few weeks until one summer night I was filling in on an earlier shift while the full-timers were playing in their weekly softball league. I was in the middle of airing one of my taped newscasts, heard glass breaking and I looked up to see the GM, who was also the owner's son, in his softball uniform and his arms covered in blood. Unfortunately for him this was the one time I followed company rules and had locked the backdoor; he had attempted to shove the door open and his arms went through the glass. He was screaming at me because he had come back to pick something up and could see from the backdoor I was not live on the air reading the news. While still screaming, he told me to be in his office at 9 on Monday morning; he left and I still had two more hours before my shift was over.

The Long Wait...

It was a long, anxiety-filled weekend and on Monday I headed in as instructed. When I got to the station I found the owner, the GM's father, sitting in his son's office with the GM nowhere in sight; apparently junior was too embarrassed by how he handled the situation. I explained myself; his dad acknowledged he understood and explained I should have asked permission to pre-record the newscasts.

My Takeaway...

The one positive from the situation was how the owner handled me. He was calm and put my mind at ease. I might have not gone into the radio business had he treated me like a brainless nincompoop. I do believe things happen for a reason and the experience put me on a path to always help co-workers and future employees. It was probably the catalyst for becoming a radio coach.

Conclusion:

This is an egocentric business with a lot of diverse personalities. The common thread is the desire to succeed behind the mic. However, no school can prepare anyone for the realities of money radio, as I call it. Things still boil down to human kindness and developing skills. If you have success navigating the radio or audio media business, remember to help others along the way.