While I was at my home away from home, Caffe Aroma, this evening I ran into a guy I know from my radio days. He’s a great guy, always making jokes and is just very cool and laid back. I asked him if they had a recycling bin there as my departed friend and I each had bottled water and I held 2 empties in my right hand. He mentioned that they did and along with that I brought my dishes back to the counter and asked if it was okay to throw my trash in the trash can that he was just changing the bag on.
He thanked me for my consideration even though I wouldn’t have thought of it as such. If I threw the recyclables in the trash and left my dishes and trash on the patio, I would have been very upset with myself. That’s just how I am. After he thanked me for my consideration he must have remembered another time when I was considerate because he immediately went back to around 1999 when I was training him at WBNY FM.
In the later 90’s I was already a very experienced radio DJ. I had done several shows, hosted live broadcasts, interviewed numerous bands, mixed live bands for air, written and performed in tons of commercials, radio spots, sweepers, and knew the rules inside and out. I was fresh from a 1-year term as the station’s General Manager and I think during the time I was training new DJs I think around that time we were still training new DJs with the training manual I wrote. Regardless I was assisting in getting many of the youngsters ready for air.
Doing a show wasn’t too hard once you had some experience and knew how to follow directions. Doing a great show took more than minimal effort and I was part of some great shows during my time there due to all the extra work I did before and after the shows. But if what you wanted was to play songs and talk periodically for 3 hours, it wasn’t too hard.
Those first few sessions though when you had to learn the equipment and the basic rules of how to talk on the air, what to say, what not to say, when to say it, what logs to fill out, what music shouldn’t be played and more can be nerve racking. You feel so nervous you say the legal ID wrong. Then you forget to push a button or put the volume up. Then you push the wrong button and then when you talk on the air, your voice quivers a little. It’s really an exhilarating but tense experience.
My old trainee blurts out; “there’s my old radio mentor.” He then proceeds to remind me of the first time he ever trained, he trained on my show and I let him select and play a song and he said it had 4 curses in it. He said I tried not to look upset. I would certainly hope I wasn’t. While that would be a major violation, I’m sure I would have been aware that it was his first time, and that newbies always make mistakes. I said to him tonight what I most likely said that day; “It happens a lot. It happened to at least 3-4 people I trained.” I’m not sure if it did. I mean, I don’t know if I ever had a trainee play a song with that many curses in it and although the moment is long past, I still felt the need to be kind and nice about it. I suppose I offered a degree of consideration that day. I don’t remember it, but he did and it made my smile. Someone called me their mentor. Wow.
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