Showing posts with label Radio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Radio. Show all posts

Sunday, September 2, 2007

ACTING WITH VOICES


Well the GOOD news is that I do not think I will be "On The Beach" for a year. September 6th 2006 is the day I got laid off from Clear Channel Radio Raleigh. It was amicable for the most part, they gave me a six month severance to shut the hell up and go stand in the corner. They allowed me "resign" my position because they hate the word restructure which is what ALL of Clear Channel is doing restructuring, downsizing, cutting expenses...call it what you want but it is what it is and I got caught in the cross fire. It's funny when I think about the fact that Clear Channel Raleigh is no better in the ratings than when I was the OM "almost" one year ago. They switched WRDU to Country (which I advised against), they put John Boy & Billy on in the Morning and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Television advertising and the best that they have come up with is a 2.5 share 12+ Persons...only slightly better than the 1.9 share the Class A 6,000 watt "third" country station is pulling down...I think someone's head will roll on this decision, but it won't be mine, I'm already gone! The only upside is that G105 is now #1 12+, it's a terrible thing that they generated so much interest in the station during the Spring Book because the very popular Morning Guy revealed that he had a brain tumor---great..."The Brain Tumor Book". Clear Channel is a piece of work.

The picture at the top is my new LOGO for my Voiceover business and it was designed by Nancy Romness, a very talented Artist and friend who resides with her husband Mark in Charleston...I really like it and have already made up a whole bunch of business cards that also turned out very nice. The Voiceover business is very competitive. I will be starting Voice Coaching lessons (15 weeks) with Nancy Wolfson out of Los Angeles...from what I hear in the voice acting world she is one of the best. Had to cancel an L.A. Audiobook seminar with Pat Fraley, also a highly touted voice coach--maybe next year, he holds this workshop only once per year...damn!

By the next posting I should have GOOD News to share.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

What IF


There are days when I have too much time on my hands and I begin thinking weird thoughts like "What IF...?"

Then there are those nasty and evil thoughts of Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda that enter my mind....these can be very painful, very enlightening or just plain stupid.

I would have finished college if I didn't get bored with it.
I could have been a lawyer if I stayed in college.
I should have stayed in college and become a lawyer so I could pay for my kids to go to college and then quit.

OK I digress.

What IF I never went into the Army after High School?
What IF I played college football instead?
What IF I married my High School Sweetheart? (did not have one but hey what if?!)
What IF I never had any children?
What IF I became a roadie for the Rolling Stones and Keith Richards was my best friend?

You can really drive yourself nuts with the What IF game.

Maybe it's part of the "getting old" disease. This is a terrible affliction and if you begin to show symptoms get help immediately!!!

You begin to have a morbid fascination with reading the obituaries; you begin to care less about what other people think; you suffer silent pain; you begin to feel a sense of urgency about your life and the time you have left; you think about the things you have not yet done but want to do (and you think of these things often); you spend part of your day reflecting and taking stock of what you have accomplished in your life because it matters more today than it did yesterday for some reason; you appreciate things that have lasting appeal (great works of art, wonderful writing from gifted authors, music that moves your soul, true friendships, a great tasting wine); you yearn to travel the world because the stuff around you is...well...boring. OK, OK, maybe it IS Mid-Life Crisis.

Pathetic huh?

Getting old means you actually consider a face lift (Gene Simmons NEEDS a face lift---Keith Richards could use one...have you noticed lately that he resembles a chimpanzee? Look at a face photo of Keith real close---it's at the top---go back and look at it)--If Keith was my best friend I would tell him---hey you're looking like a chimp...better layoff of snortin' what's left of DAD. Getting old means you leak...wrap your head around that one. Getting old means becoming a VIP user at your local pharmacy. Getting old means you need to constantly carry or wear a pair of eye-glasses. Getting old sucks...where did that barnacle come from? What did you say? You're who? Are you sure I am married to you? What smells?

Thinking can be Exhausting.

I am thinking about getting a Real Estate License. Joy wants me think about it and then she wants to talk about it and most likely wants to worry about it before I actually sign up for the class...which is funny because she was the one who suggested I look into it. I have been fascinated with the idea of home selling...it's not about "selling" as much as it is finding a right match. Understanding what a couple or family or an individual person wants and needs in a home and a neighborhood and helping them find the right choice sounds interesting AND challenging to me. It's a LOT of work and I think one would need to be committed, passionate and very organized to do the job well. The upside is that you are in control of your own destiny--you are an entrepreneur--working for yourself and getting back what you are willing to invest of yourself...and it requires marketing skills which I can steal from my thirty plus years of doing radio.

Speaking of Radio...sometimes I get the feeling that I have reached that point where I am not willing to sacrifice for the sake of doing Radio. I realize it sounds selfish, maybe even stupid since Radio is my career and source of financial income, however, I am fairly certain that I am not willing to move to Cleveland or Detroit for a radio job. I am fairly certain that I don't want to work for programming types who don't have a clue but have some sort of status or position. I am very certain that I don't want to chase after a radio job that pays a paltry salary or to work for a radio company that thinks you are worth less because you are unemployed--it's just disrespectful to my craft and profession, yet radio is full of these types of people---looking to do everything on the cheap---and in essence that is what is wrong with Radio today...desperate times!