"And I Thought Men and Women Didn't Understand Each Other"
from Holly Buchanan, Bi-Partisan Creative Director, WMXB-FM, Richmond, VA
Sales, as described by Programming: A well-dressed snake, excuse me, person, driving a nice car (don't forget the car phone), who never works weekends, who'll do anything (including making programming's life hell) just to make a buck.
Programming, as described by Sales: A jock who waltzes in one hour before his or her airshift, hangs out spinning records (like any station in the country still uses records) then bolts out the door 20 seconds after his or her air-shift. (And don't forget those appearances where they make $100 an hour just to shake hands and kiss babes...excuse me, babies.)
But...
Look past the nice clothes and Programming would see...a salesperson getting beat up by management saying, "We're number one! Get higher rates!" Getting beat up by clients who say, "I don't care if you're number one; I can get the same number of spots for half that price at any other station in town! So cut your rates, give me a free promotion, and don't forget two tickets to Springsteen. And why did all my ROS spots run after 8 PM! I paid 10 bucks for them!"
Look past the "I've fallen and I can't reach my beer" T-shirt and Sales would see... a jock with four fully produced spots that start that afternoon or tomorrow, one of which had to be re-done because the client wanted to change one word, twenty-second donuts with forty seconds of copy, and a twenty minute fight to explain why the client can't use I Can't Get No Satisfaction under his spot even though every other station in town is doing it. And that's before he or she gets on the air, deals with every crazy within a fifty mile radius on the phone, has four contests, news, traffic, and live call-ins, all in the same hour.
The grass is always greener on the other side of the studio door. Take a closer look and you'll find you both have the same indoor/outdoor carpet.
♦
