Working in Radio - Chapter 10

After coming home from Arizona I had a couple different jobs, which I am sure I will come back to. But the next job was one where I was able to grow up and become an adult with some of the craziest experiences to last a lifetime. So this might take a few chapters….

When I was 20 I started working for a group of (what was) eight radio stations. It has now grown into a much larger and more powerful conglomerate of radio stations.

People always ask me how I got into radio. It goes something like this…

While working at the car dealership a girl named Shana, who was also a morning DJ, started working there. We quickly became friends and then eventually roommates. She used to take me to different radio events with her and I met all the DJs – it was so cool!!! They got paid to party for a living!! (At least that was my perception).

Then one day I went to a Monday night football party with her and met Chip. He was a sales manager. Of what? Of commercials on the radio.

What????

Side note. Have you ever heard of a work position someone has and your like- Holy Shit! Yeah… I guess someone WOULD have to physically do that! That Would have to be someone’s job.

That’s me- I do this all the time. It’s freaking fascinating to me some people’s jobs that they have. Like… who, as a child, says to themselves… “when I grow up my job is going to be to dress movie stars! Who knew that was a real job???

So here we are- he is a Sales Manager of freaking radio commercials.

Me: I can do that! I sold cars and furniture. I could sell radio commercials!

Chip: Fuck yeah you could. Come over to the station and fill out an application!

… and so began a life-long friendship with Chip!  He is the kind of Manager that HATES to be mad at someone – I think it physically makes him uncomfortable.  He is a fun guy who constantly makes jokes, but then demands the numbers, and loves being the coolest guy in the room.  I recently hung out with him and realized that I get my management style from him!

He was not my direct sales Manager since there were three of them. But he was definitely a mentor. I was 20, wild, and of course knew everything. (smh emoji here)

I became close friends with all the DJs, got to go to all the concerts, games, Vegas trips, cruises, and night clubs. Oooooh the nightclubs! Since I have a 16 year old we will keep those stories under wraps for now.

Anyway… I used to party till three in the morning, but I was the first one in the office at 8am! And yes- this was before I turned 21 – but I was part of the radio station crew so I got away with it.

As a sales person.. I sucked! I was too busy trying to be cool, hanging out with the DJ’s, making commercials. I never hit my numbers! Chip should have fired me and my “know it all attitude” at least 10 times. But, I was always doing the crap work that no one else would do, the reports, the phone calls. I would always be on board for some new project. So he kept me around.

One of these times was sometime after he had risen the ranks to VP of Sales. We had s new girl on the sales team and she was telling me how she was taking Chip on a sales call with her. I don’t know why, but for some reason I felt the need to tell her that if he went with her he might piss off her client because he likes to always be right. I don’t know what possessed me to say such a thing but I did like a snotty teenager.

Anyway, my nemesis of the office, we shall call him Gary, went and told on me to chip. Very quickly I received a long email from him, letting me know how inappropriate it was to say things like this to anyone, especially someone brand new to our company. This came with a warning of being written up if I did it again.

Now, Chip and I had been good friends for a couple of years and he had always been very good to me. I felt so bad! I didn’t know what to do so I went straight into his office. He was sitting and writing something down and did not look up at me when I walked in. I told him that I had received his email and wanted to talk to him about it. Still did not look up at me.

I was dying!!! I sat in his chair, in front of the desk, and did not know what to say.

“Well, why would you do that?” Still not looking up from his desk. Still the pen in his hand writing something down.

I tried my hardest to think of a good excuse! Some reasoning on why I would say such an idiotic thing. All I could come up with was… “I don’t know. I guess I was just being an asshole. I don’t know why I did that.”

He threw his pen down so hard at flew off his desk and he yelled “I LOVE that fucking shit!” And he had the biggest smile on his face. That whole interaction scared the hell out of me and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to start laughing or what???

“You took ownership of that shit Murray! Now get the hell out of my office and go sell something.”

I never did! And I learned a valuable lesson that day. If you fuck it up, own it! People know when you’re making excuses. Your excuses do not make people feel better. Blaming it on someone else makes it 10 times worse.

Forever more I have owned my shit!