During my Radio career I’ve been through 2 hurricanes, 1 blizzard, and countless heavy snows and ice storms.
Tonight, I’m camping out at the station because the forecast is calling for ice - enough to make traveling at 5 a.m. hazardous. Not to mention I live in a rural area on a very high hill and it is absolutely impossible to take a vehicle up or down my driveway under minimal ice or snow conditions. I would more than likely slide into the woods and be eaten by wildlife.
Okay, maybe not eaten. But, I’d still be in the woods and have hard time explaining to Triple A exactly where to find me.
So, I roam the empty hallways tonight waiting to get tired, intermittently watching television on the big flat screen TV in the conference room, making coffee and snacking on Underwood’s chicken spread.
It’s not exactly a glamorous picture. I just finished brushing my teeth in the men’s room and my bed tonight will be an inflatable mattress I purchased a couple of years ago at WalMart.
This morning during my show, with the impending weather, I mentioned I would no doubt be spending the night at the station when my partner and I were discussing how the weather would affect the next morning’s commute.
Then, I unexpectedly received this email earlier this evening from a listener: "Thank you for sleeping over at the station tonight for making my morning at work pass by a lot faaaster!"
I have to say, I was pretty surprised. Surprised that anyone gave the comment much further thought and even more surprised someone would actually write to thank me. It’s only natural that most of us take for granted the people we hear on the radio.
Radio, its deejays, hosts, and personalities are often viewed as utilities. The public expects the electricity to be there when it plugs something into an outlet, expects the water to flow when it turns on a faucet, and expects whoever they listen to to be there when they turn on the radio - as well they should.
As with any profession, when you choose to work in it you also accept the occupational hazards that go along.
I’ve always considered myself to be very lucky to have spent my entire adult life on-the-air. And, if sleeping on an air-mattress once or twice each winter is part of the dues, I still gladly accept that.
