Hell Without Joe

May 11, 2007

Well, it's been a hell of a week. Those of you who are curious about what goes on behind the scenes in radio will enjoy my tale of the Week From Radio Hell. Joe Hardtke, our wiz-kid TD (that's jargon for technical director), got married last week (through no fault of his own) in an outdoor prairie setting with the wind blowing so hard it erased the minister's words and practically lifted the bride, veil and all, right off the ground. Or was that the groom. His obvious joy was contagious, as was his invitation to get all of us up on our feet on the dance floor, jumping up and down with him while we all screamed like three year olds,"I'm so hap-py, I'm so hap-py!"

Alas, that was the end of my happiness. All week long in Joe's absence we have been plagued by all manner of technical evils. The monitor in my studio started flashing like a strobe, I couldn't hear anything in my headphones, the guests were nowhere to be found, the music for the billboard was lost, the CD wasn't burned on time, and today, instead of a nice Italian version of Mama to roll meatballs by, we got heavy metal instead! or some scary thing I had to shout over in order to be heard at all! Joe, for God's sake, .....come home!!!! I promise I won't make obscene gestures at you for at least another week!