Friday
September 6th, 2013 – Rockford, IL
Today was my last official day filling in on the air
at FM 100.5 WNTA in Rockford, IL. I have fun doing it whenever I get a call,
but as I’m saying much more often these days fun doesn’t pay the bills. It’s
not like I don’t want to chase all of my passion projects, but I have to make a
living.
As fun as
it is doing the radio show, I barely break even after paying for gas not to
mention the outlay of time it takes to get to the station. It used to be bad
enough, but now with the especially inconvenient ripped up road situation it
makes it almost impossible to say yes if they ask again.
I really do
like helping people out whenever I can, but right now I have to help myself.
There’s got to be a steady source of income out there somewhere, but I’m having
a hell of a time locating it. Every week is still a struggle, and after all
these years I thought I’d have it figured out by now.
I don’t,
but I’m still out here trying and at least the things I’m doing are mostly fun.
Today was a perfect example as circumstances worked out so that I could have
comedian Brad Tassell come to the studio and sit in for the entire two hours as
he was on his way to a show in Janesville, WI.
Janesville
is right up the road from Rockford, and it worked out perfectly. I had heard he
would be coming through town from Harry Hickstein, another act on the show.
Harry was running a bit late and couldn’t sit in, but Brad did and it was a
win/win for everyone. That’s how it should be.
Besides
doing comedy – which is more than difficult enough for anyone – Brad got his
degree in counseling and does workshops around the country for schools on
bullying of all things, and is also a published author of several books
including one about his comedy road stories called ‘Hell Gig’ which is
basically an early version of what I do here. It’s a peek behind the comedy
curtain.
Brad is
very intelligent and handles his business with an impeccable efficiency. He’s
one of the few road dogs who has done it right, up to and including the process
of becoming an LLC. I have always respected Brad, and he continues to flourish
when many of us are barely staying afloat.
His backup
plan was his degree, and kudos to him for getting it. The bullying issue isn’t
going anywhere for a while, and he does great work that helps people. Quite a
few kids have told him if it wasn’t for his program they’d have committed
suicide. Now THAT’S work that has meaning.
We were
able to keep it light and fun on the radio, but also delve into some deeper
issues and it made the time fly by. We had callers chime in, and for a while I
felt like an actual talk show host. Brad was an outstanding guest, and some of
the office staff at the station mentioned it as we left.
After the
show, I followed Brad to Janesville where we met Harry Hickstein for an
absolutely delicious dinner at the venue called The Armory. They have a top
notch restaurant, and feed the comedians as part of the deal. I volunteered to
host the show, and my meal was included as well.
They didn’t
have to do that, and I greatly appreciated it. They got a quality host for
their show, and I hung out with two really good guys and had fun. There are
worse ways to spend a Friday.
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