Wednesday June 26th, 2013 – Kenosha, WI
My
friend Jerry Agar rolled through town today on a cross country motorcycle trip,
and we had a chance to sit down and catch up over a delicious lunch at The Brat
Stop in Kenosha, WI. We’d originally hoped to have all the members of ‘Jerry’s
Kidders’ from WLS and WGN reunite for a party, but we couldn’t hook up
everyone’s schedules. People were out of town, so it was just us.
Jerry and I have been through a lot together,
and even more separately. We met in the late ‘80s when he was working at a tiny
AM station in St. Charles, IL and I was working for the new club Zanies was
starting in the Pheasant Run Resort at the time. It started as a one shot
interview, but we kept in touch from that day forward. Today we looked back on
all of our tangled adventures.
Both of us ended up moving all over the
country to pursue the radio dream, and that came with a heaping helping of
hurt. Rarely have we lived in the same town or even same time zone, but we
still managed to stay in touch by phone and email. We’d help each other with
various projects or radio bits, and when one of us got fired – again - the
first call we’d make would be to the other.
Jerry had the additional pressure of a
family to support, and his wife Ann should easily qualify for first ballot
sainthood for all she’s had to endure with this mine field of a business. They
have three fantastic kids who I consider to be surrogate nephews and a niece,
and every time they had to pack up everything and move one more time Ann would
hang in there and keep it all together.
That’s the kind of family relationship I’ve
always wanted – at least the together part. It’s not in the cards, and when I
really needed it it was never there. I was always of the mindset it was cruel
and unusual punishment to drag a wife much less kids through the treacherous
jungle of radio.
Comedy is no clam bake either, but at least
it’s a predictable instability. As a comedian, I know I will be somewhere else
each week. In radio, one never knows when the next time bomb will go off – only
that it will. Stations get sold, GMs and Program Directors move on, so who can
say if a job will be there tomorrow? It’s always been that way from my
experience, but now it’s worse.
Jerry is currently working in Toronto, and
he has really made an impact on the market. He does talk radio, and does it
extremely well. He’s found his niche, and few can do what he does with as much
skill as he does it. One would think that would go hand in hand with total job
security - but one could not be more mistaken. The planets could align against
him and he’d be out on his arse.
Jerry told me his station is in the process
of getting sold, and my bung hole puckered. That puts everyone at the station
on edge, and I’ve gone through it more than once myself. Two other pals in radio “Stone and Double T”
in Rockford, IL are going through the same hell. Their station just got sold as
well, and the standard company line is always “We expect there to be NO
changes.”
My war scarred testicles. I wish I had a
free lunch for every time I heard that splattering pile of verbal manure emanate
from behind the desk of some greasy radio snake - only to get shown the door a short
time later. Then to make it worse, they themselves are blown out a short while after
that and it was like none of us ever existed in the first place. It’s a vicious
never ending cycle.
It was great to hang out with Jerry, but I can’t
help feeling for him and his family. He’s settling in nicely in Toronto, but he
was doing the same thing in Chicago before he got axed for reasons I still haven’t
been able to figure out. If there is a hell, there’s a whole wing for radio management.
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