Days #100 - 1/22/98

You Just Can't Get Good Help These Days....

I'm so embarassed! I'm dangerous! If you're a radio veteran, you'll appreciate this. As you know, I'm doing some part-time work at Lite 98 here in Richmond. Lite 98 has something they call a "No Repeat Workday" where between 9am and 5pm and they don't repeat any songs. Simple enough, right? If they do repeat a song (by mistake), the 9th listener who calls in gets $1,000.

So.......I'm on today from noon to 3pm, filling in. The first hour is a lunchtime request hour. No big deal, right? I take the requests and play 'em. But, before I air a song, I have to check a printout to make sure the song I'm about to play hasn't played since 9am (and won't until past 5pm).

You know where this is going, right?

So, the last song I put on the air is "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys. I've checked the list. I don't see it there. All of a sudden the phone starts ringing and folks are telling me it's a repeat.

A REPEAT?

But, I checked the list....I think I checked the list carefully....I check the list again...and OH MY GOD: It's right there in black and white: "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys - scheduled at 10:50am.

CRAP!

All I can figure out is my eyes just missed it. And I was doing so well, too! I went thru Tuesday and Wednesday perfectly...but now I've really blown it. I go running into the PDs office and blabber something like, "OHMYGODIPLAYEDANOREPEATSONG!"

He's taken aback for a moment then gently says, "That's alright. Just get the name of the right caller. It's okay."

Boy, did I feel stupid!

As I'm leaving (no slinking) out of the station after my shift, I see the PD again and he says "don't worry about it. EVERYONE at the station has done it before." He's done it twice himself while doing his shift.

It's nice to work at a station where management is gracious enough to recognize that mistakes happen on both the employee and management side.