A little ditty 'bout time

This morning my brain was brewing a clever li'l post about time. And then I realized I already wrote a little ditty about time in the fall.

Spring Forward!

I did want to mention the switch to Daylight Savings time this weekend. We lose an hour, ugh. And it seems so early this year, no?

Time was really important in my on-air radio career. When struggling for what to say at the next break (which was often) I'd start with the time. “Q-9 5 5, Susan Cruise at 10:52 with the latest from Matchbox 20 there….”

Time became a crutch, so I was told. It wasn't so important in midday's. (10am-2 or 3 pm shift) as it was on the morning show, where time checks were given all over the place, in several different forms...digital..."It's 10:52”...old school…"It's about 10 minutes before 11:00."

You also had to be on time for work. People really really noticed if you were late for your shift, so there wasn’t any excuse that was good enough. If you were prone to tardiness, it was great when you didn't have a talk break right away at the top of the hour.

But usually that was not the case. Nothing like racing to the station and hearing someone else do my first break. AND they're telling the world they are doing it because you are late. Oh yeah, I wasn't sneaking into the studio without getting yelled at after that.

The time changes also messed up the playlist. Playlist? Oh yeah, the top secret playlist “civilians” aren’t suppose to know about. Long story short, every hour has a list of music. So when a shift has an extra hour, (like during “Fall Back” in the fall) I had to make sure to add an extra page of music. I'd also have to remember to tell the idiot night jock that there actually WAS an added hour of music, so they didn't play the same hour twice.

Although, truth be told, I’m sure not that many people noticed that.

Recovering DJ props to Paul Harvey

Just a quick Paul Harvey tribute, who died over the weekend. He was a true radio pro in a biz full of posers. In several of the small markets I worked at I had to run his show, and what started as an annoyance (he was taking time away from MY show) turned into a comforting habit and lessons learned in consistency and loyalty.

Whether you agreed with him or not, he had longevity and CLASS in a business that has very very little of either. Unless you're a syndicated douche blowhard taking jobs away from everyone, than you might have some longevity....(snark, snark)

At any rate, there are few old school radio peeps left these days that I respect. Anyone who has persevered as long as Mr. Harvey had deserves a standing "O".