Over the past two years, as I watched two different people at the helm of WONY, I thought I understood what went into keeping this place afloat; there were parts that were fun, and parts that really sucked. I was able to see from watching the other general managers all with different styles what to do and what not to do, when to let people do what they want and when to bring down the hammer. And so far, after only two weeks of being officially on the air, I'm already seeing that there is so much more to the job than would be visible to even the keen observer.
That's not to say I can't handle the job: running a college radio station is a lot easier than, say, being a surgeon or flying a fighter jet, or even working in the cafe at Barnes and Noble. But the fact is there have already been so many incidents that have caused me frustration to a high degree, and the frequency of these problems has been much higher than I anticipated.
One of the most annoying was the fact that, for some reason, many of the DJs access cards somehow were not activated to allow them access to the studio. This meant that for the first four days of classes, I was woken up at 7:30am to have someone tell me they couldn't get in. After the second day, this became quite annoying.
Also, I really thought I would be able to trust the DJs here to use basic manners and common sense. Everyday, Studio A is a pigsty; CDs everywhere, magazines half torn up and strewn all over the place, and remnants of food dug into the carpet. And everyday, I clean it up, ask people to keep it clean, but it never happens.
But those problems pale in comparison to the sheer number of little details that have to be taken care of on a daily basis. I have a problem remembering things anyway, so the fact that I have to remember to call this kid to make sure he knows about the meeting, ask that guy to get that thing done he was working on, return the phone call from the guy who is hounding me about an interview I do not want to do, respond to the e-mail from the teacher who wants to bring their classes down here and show them around, etc. becomes maddening. Not that these are huge issues, but it is a lot to keep track of, and I've always had a problem keeping tabs on a million little things like this. It does sometimes feel like babysitting, where you can't leave someone to do something on their own without having to check up on them every half-hour.
Luckily, we have a number of people down here who have been surprising helpful in sorting all this shit out, and making it easier to deal with. I don't know if the majority of people who read this blog are people I know from Oneonta, from home, or whatever, so references to specific people might get lost on some, but a few who have so far been a really big help have been Feldman, Dustin, and Lip Ring. Feldman I think lives down here (probably to escape his living situation), and Dustin and Lip Ring I feel confident in asking to do it and having it get done without needing to constantly check on them to make sure its being worked on. If you are a member of WONY and not mentioned on here, don't get pissed; these are the people that just first come to mind, and I don't feel like sitting here and doing a Stewie Griffin Compliment Sandwich.
I'm not sure if I need to lighten up and not be so anal and overbearing in my pursuit to getting things done, or if I am just overreacting; both are big possibilities. But my mentality to accomplishing things is to get them done right away, and not have the 'I'll do it tomorrow' mentality, and this can cause conflict with people who don't do things the way I do. I'm not scared of conflict, because I think its will help the WONY e-board to figuring out solutions. What I'm scared of is apathy. I want to make sure the e-board isn't overlooking responsibilities because of laziness.
But like I said, this is only two weeks into the semester. Things could get easier. Even though I feel overwhelmed with it sometimes, I think we're on track to have one of our best years in a while down here; we had a fantastic station meeting yesterday, without any sense of subordination that existed last year. Hell, people were actually laughing and listening to what we were saying. We've got the new computer for Studio A which will make our shows sound a thousand percent better, and everyone is making the effort to erase the clique-iness and elitist attitude that flowed through this place last year.
And if things don't get easier, whatever. I'll try to make the most of it and not turn into Rob for his last months here, with the personality of a cantankerous old geezer, like one of these people you see in the old civil rights videos screaming at the black kids to not go to their school.
Whatever happens, WONY will live on.
Check out the WONY Website:
WONY.com
Listen to us online (when we pay the bill and they turn us back on):
WONY Webcast
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