Story #3: Coffee in the radio console and a Full Moon

It's January 8, 5:20 pm, and I'm waiting for my lovely and awesome wife Shirley to get home. We're going to eat together tonight for my birthday. We ate with friends last night at the Cattleman, a 100-year-old steakhouse here in OKC. If you ever get the chance, go check it out. great food.

So while I'm waiting, it's time for another story.

I've decided to not name the radio stations in any of these stories, for obvious reasons. But this one--it may not be difficult to figure out. After submitting a resume with only two radio stations on it--one a college radio station and one a Christian talk station (I did do mornings there, at my first paying radio gig--not bad, huh?), and what must have been a lousy air check (a recording of me on the air, so they can hear me and see if I fit at the station I'm applying at), and several calls to the Program Director Mark Rider, and volunteering at the station--he finally gave me a 10a-3p Saturday air shift at THE Christian music station in Houston.

Man, was I stoked! First of all, I got hired to work at my favorite station, and I got to play some of my favorite music on the radio! (I found out over the years that if you wanted to work in radio, many times you took a job at a station where the music might not have been your "cup of tea.") And, I got to work with some great radio veterans, who taught me a lot while I was there (I came back and worked for them again in the 90's). With this awesome privilege came a lot of nervousness. Hey, let's face it--I was green. And unlike other jobs, your boss could evaluate your performance at work even when he/she wasn't there--they heard you on the air. So, needless to say, I listened to everybody on the air in Houston, and learned as much as I could from all the air talent on in Houston at the time. I eventually got to move to the Saturday 3-7p air shift, assist with the Christian rock show "Rock of Love," which was on 8p-12a Saturday nights--I did music news and production, artist interviews, etc., I filles in pretty often for the full-timers during the week, and did a lot of production work for the station during the week (at the same time I did full-time midnights at KRTS Classical 92--you can do all that at once when you're in your 20's). The Rock of Love was a very cutting-edge show--we played Daniel Amos, U2, Simple Minds, Kansas--everything cutting edge we could get that was made by Christians. I got to guest-host the show a few times. And I was also on Sundays 9p-1a.

We had a "Body Life Bulletin Board," a box of 3x5 cards with prayer requests to read over the air and ask listeners to pray about. It's always a good idea to pre-read what you're going to read over the air, but one Sunday night I didn't pre-read a card--and I pulled one out of the box about a husband and father who had been killed. I was completely caught off guard, and was doing the best I could to read it--when I glanced out the studio door into the volunteer room, only to see a co-worker, standing on top of the table-- mooning me!

It was everything I could do to keep from busting out laughing. I cut the microphone off for a couple of seconds, regained my composure, and then resumed, not without a quick prayer under my breath. When we played the tape back later, you could hear my long pause, but my voice didn't shake--I tell you, that was a miracle!

Most stations have a rule about not having beverages near the console (I'll refer to it as the "board" from now on--it's what we call it). One Saturday afternoon, I sat my coffee on the board over top of the board, where we kept our "copy" to read on the air. Then, true to my usual form, I knocked the cup down onto the board! The coffee was running down into the board! I don't think my volunteers ever saw me move so fast. I ran into the little kitchen, grabbed the roll of paper towels, and ran as fast as I could back into the studio. No problem yet--the song was still playing! Thankfully, the Autogram board we had easily opens up--and I quickly sopped up all the coffee in the board, praying and sweating buckets the whole time. It never stopped working! Praise God! I learned invaluable lessons--keep my coffee away from the board! And don't look at anybody when you have your mike open! :)


Fr. Francis