There's a Wrong Way, Part II

Reading how David Steele was unceremoniously fired from the Baltimore Sun got me to thinking....

There's an old saying in my line of work: "You haven't really worked in radio until you've been fired."
If that's true, then I have indeed "worked in radio."
I've been fired from radio stations twice. Each time it had nothing to do with my work.

The first time, I was fired from a small station in my home state. I'd been there seven years and had figuratively helped build the station from the ground up. The general manager hired me away from another station because, as he said, "we want to start a Sports Department and you're the best guy to do it."

The GM let me essentially run my own shop. We did good work, had fun doing it, and had a Sales Department that was in our corner. Eventually, Sports became the station's most profitable department.

But, one day, as happens in radio, the station was bought out. New ownership came in and new managers took over. Among them was a new GM who took great pains to tell everyone that he had experience in Chicago and New York.
What relevance that had to running a small station in a small town in a small state, we were uncertain. But it was important to him that we knew.

(About that same time, my grandmother passed away. The day she died, I was down with a terrible case of influenza, so I couldn't make it to the hospital in time to say goodbye. That still bothers me to this very day.)

After taking over, the new GM made cuts -- of costs and people. He let go a bunch of part-timers, including those that worked under me.
As a result I was expected to be at the station at 5:00 am for the morning shift, and stay there until the evening news was done at 6:15 pm.

Bad Sign #1.

The new GM also called a series of "important planning meetings for the entire air staff," only to conspicuously un-invite me.

Bad Sign #2.

At one of those "important planning meetings" the new GM told the staff that he was thinking of eliminating Sports. However, we had already promised our sponsors a certain amount of games and related programming, and eliminating Sports would mean a loss of revenue. So the new GM swore everyone to secrecy until he made a final decision.

Bad Sign #3.

Soon after our sports broadcast season ended (about two months after my grandmother died), the new GM called me in for a meeting.
He started it by asking, "You recently lost a relative, right? Your grandmother or something? Must have been tough. How are you feeling about it?"
"Well, you're right, it has been tough," I said. "Especially since I was so sick on the day she died, and...."
He raised his hand and cut me off.
"Yeah, well, get over it."
(Get over it?)
While I bristled over his callousness, he explained that, in his experience in New York and Chicago, he found that nobody -- and he emphasized "NOBODY" -- listens to sports on the radio anymore. So he was eliminating the Sports Department and me along with it.
Effective immediately.
I sat there, shocked and saddened.
No thank you's, no pats on the back, no handshakes, no "hang in there."
Just a curt, "This meeting is over. You have 15 minutes to clean your desk and leave the building."
Quickly and quietly, I did.

The new GM promised me a severance package and a three-month continuance of my health insurance.
Three days later, he reneged.
Three days after that, after I'd filed for unemployment (with no severance to fall back on, I had no choice), he challenged my claim.
It got nasty.
He fabricated a story that I'd "made a statement harmful to the station's reputation" while calling a game. He also alleged I'd been "combative and insubordinate after being provided the opportunity to pursue other professional possibilities."
That led to an investigation by the state.
The new GM couldn't substantiate his allegations, because they were, well, a fabrication. An audiotape review proved I'd made no "hurtful" statement, and a state deposition of the station's internal memos revealed the GM had conspired to make up his story.
The state investigator told me "the plaintiff's allegations are unfounded ... and, between you and me, this is one of the easiest decisions I've ever made."

The station lost a lot of sponsors, and, with them, a lot of revenue.


The moral of the story is that I can empathize with David Steele.
Even when you can see your firing coming, it still hurts when it arrives.
It hurts even more when the person doing the firing adds to the pain.
There's a right way to fire someone, and a wrong way.