[BC] Big name talent and big egos

[Barry Mishkind]

At 12:37 PM 9/8/2008, Alan Peterson, wrote
>And two, we have a saying where I come from: Never tick off the one 
>guy who knows where the Off switch is.

         A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away
         from reality (Los Angeles), I was hired to
         do summer relief at a 50 kW brand name.
         I had just arrived from my life as a 20-something
         morning drive jock in Phoenix.

         I met and worked with a lot of great people
         at this station. I even got to do Lohman
         and Barkley for a couple of weeks. Wow!

         At the same station, one of the first "talents"
         that I worked for in Studio B was an ego
         the size of the San Andreas Fault.

         This idiot took one look at me and decided
         to walk the long way around the building
         to demand that the engineering department
         not stick him with the new guy. He wouldn't
         put up with it.

         A few minutes later, the shop steward came
         in the Control Room and asked me to let him
         sit down. When the next record ended, the
         "talent" opened the mic and started talking.
         When he was done and "pointed" to the CR,
         he looked up and saw the shop steward, sitting
         there with his arms crossed.  The mic opened
         again, and he babbled a while about something
         and closed the mic. It seemed to me they sat
         there glowering at each other for an eternity.
         (Heck, I just came from a station where
         dead air would suck the studio through the
         compressor and out the antenna.)

         Eventually, the shop steward started the
         stop set and the next cut.  He then got up
         and told me not to worry. The "talent" could
         talk until he ran out of air, but he couldn't
         force the engineering department to play
         his games.

         Now, I'm not the most pro-union guy in
         the crowd, but that shop steward definitely
         showed his "stuff" that day.

         The "talent" was last heard on the air in
         Phoenix - so far as I know he may even
         still be there. He may even be a better
         person than he was back in LA - one
         might hope so.

         However, I can honestly say that his
         on-air style was not, and is not today,
         compelling enough for me to bother
         listening to him, except when I was
         forced to do so while working.