Getting Fired (was "Black Monday" at WGIR-FM.)

[Dib9 <Dib9@aol.com>]

In a message dated 98-03-18 01:25:19 EST, Donna writes:

<< Speaking of WGIR-FM, that brings to mind the subject of being fired
 unexpectedly.  Do any of you good folks have a story about the first time
 you got fired, or a time when you got caught in a format change, or had
 great numbers but got fired anyway?  Surely I was not the only one... <g> >>

Someone told me when I was first starting in radio that you were not a pro
until you were fired at least twice.  I have been fired three times so I guess
I am now qualified:

October 1993:  I had been in radio ten years at that time and had never been
fired.  It was time for my luck to run out.  I was the producer of the morning
talk show on WGAN and was fired in a cost cutting move.  I had been at the
station nearly four years.  It was a surprise, even though it was one of a
series of such moves made around that time.  The station's PD produced the
morning show for a couple of months until they decided that they really did
need someone else to produce the show.  I suspect the guy they hired was
making significantly less than I had been making.  I am now back working in
the same building part-time for abour 50% more an hour than I was making then.
It is funny how things go.

February 1994:  I did news at WKCG for about three weeks before they
eliminated the position.  I was basically unemployed when I took the job so I
didn't feel that bad about it.  I wasn't really into the position anyway and
had just taken the job to pay the bills.  Though I did lose my job in a cost
cutting move, I was doing that could of a job anyway.  I ended up in a job
doing what I really wanted to do about three weeks later.

April 1997:  Fired from my third tenure at WCLZ after three and half years of
part-time work.  They were screwing around with me and I pushed back.  Pretty
much brought it on myself, but I do radio for fun now and only work under my
own conditions.  I ended up a few months later with better hours, at higher
rated station, working for a better company for 33% more an hour.

Every time I have been fired I have ended up in a better position both
personally and professional.  My firing from WGAN particurlarly helped me
because it allowed me to take a risk on a position that I would probably not
have taken if I was still at WGAN.  As a direct result of that job, I have
ended up in a great job outside of radio making much more than I ever would
have in radio in Maine.  I hate to sound like a naive optimist, but it is best
to look at getting fired as an opportunity.  At least after the initial shock
wears off.

Dan Billings
Bowdoinham, Maine 

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