Shining Shores Of Steve

There is a saying, “One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure,” and mostly that comes down to one thing. The beholder has no concept of the value of that which lies in their possession.

In mid-2015, I arrived in Nashville to program the Way-FM Network and my new boss, at the time, Faron Dice, laid out my first task, which was to replace the guy who sat in the APD position. I arrived on a Friday and began the interview process for that job on the following Tuesday. I knew Stu Gray from New Orleans’ radio, and he had recently left Way-FM’s night position, so he became my first prospect; except for one thing, he had no desire to return.

Without posting the position online, I decided to put so much pressure on the current APD, that he’d either show me what I’ve been told about him, or he would crumble from all the applied weight. So, I began loading his plate with music test song lists, new music selection, daily music logs and clock changes in Selector, production needs, power point presentations and even some engineering tasks that would be far outside any job description, if one existed for his present position.

There was a game I played as a kid, The Last Straw, a game with a camel on wheels and the object was to load this camel up with so much weight its legs would give. I was about to witness this, in a human being, and this would have made the upcoming transition, quite easy.

Diamonds Are Made from Pressure

Except for one thing, my newly acquired APD hadn’t even shown one sign that he was burdened, but instead, day to day, EVERY task given to him the day before was completed, and to my surprise, with unexpected high quality.

My boss worked in Colorado Springs, but we checked in with each other several times a day, and not even a week and a half into this job, I said, “Faron, I feel like you have some bad information on this guy.” I proceeded to tell him of my attempt to overload him with the purpose that at quitting time, he’d find a corner of the room to lay himself down to rock back and forth, because of all the pressure. The other thing I noticed was his sense of purpose and the pep in his step and his cheerful approach to everything I had given him. He understood his job was on the line, as long before I took the job, he had been told that his days were numbered.

One day, not even three weeks in, he had a box as he entered his office, and he, with humor, said loudly, “I have my box, so I’m gonna get my stuff and go.” While he was being funny referring to the upcoming day of his dismissal, there was so much truth underneath his statement, with a hint of pain, that I acted like his boss for the first time and demanded that he never talk like that again.

I’ve had some amazing people assist me in creating quality on-air product before, from J. Love in Greenville, Stacey Brady in New Orleans and Will Calder in New York, but in this Christian space of CCM, I have to be honest and say I didn’t expect anyone to come close. But one did.

You Will Know My People By Their Fruit

And when Way-FM began to grow by leaps and bounds from market to market, even posting Top Five and Number One success stories from Nashville to West Palm Beach, Louisville and Huntsville and beyond, I know without any doubt that those successes would not have come as fast, if not for the focused diligence of Steve Shore.

Although, not as quickly, the organization began to recognize this gentleman’s value, as after only one year from being told he was going to be let go, Steve Shore was given the honors of Nashville’s Employee of the Year. And one more year in, he was named Employee of the Year for the entire nationwide network with radio stations from Florida to Oregon.

Next time you hear of that person who paid a couple dollars for something at a garage sale that actually contained a value of millions, think of Steve Shore, whose end was once as imminent as the garbage bags on the curb awaiting the truck’s drive by, taking them out of view once and for all.