On the Radio (almost)

Original image courtesy www.bnnrc.net

When I was younger, I took a series of lab-classes in RTV-xxx (a common college abbreviation for Radio & Television course-names in American schools' course-catalogs).

In fact, I was the TD (Technical Director) on a fair number of taped shows that appeared on local television...nothing fancy, but I did get to meet popular TV-News anchor Kate Kelly during the taping of one show. (She's still a "Total Babe", BTW...an assessment made by my instructor 20 years ago)

I was prepared to launch into an RTV-career, and even transfered to a university that was locally-known for its RTV-program...and as a result I was forced to take certain courses that really opened my eyes...not classes every newly-graduated high-school student is likely to select (but I quickly noted that the quality of the ORGANIZATION of those course-catalogs made a genuine difference in the TYPE of courses I selected).

Then I realized how much LEGAL-STRESS goes into every nudge of the wand (that's the little control-stick that performs any number of functions) and pressing of a button in television and radio...and decided I'd rather do something less stressful.

And ironically enough, I ended up becoming a fast typist...so I wound up becoming a clerk in even more stressful occupations.

But I never lost my cool, and I think that more than anything kept me employed long enough to pay into my Social Security from age 16 into my late 30's when I became disabled (a solid 20-years of work by anyone's reckoning, so I feel I at least EARNED my disability-income).

PLUS...AS AN ADDED BONUS you get all these ridiculously-free insights on everything from immunology to renewing faith in the U.S. Postal Service, so I figure that's gotta be benefiting SOMEONE domestically. ;)

Anyway, all of that started as a result of pursuing a career in radio. Strange how Life turns-out. I'm probably the fastest one-handed typist-TD you've ever read...but there's no hiding the fact that my brain is awfully damaged.

You can hear it every time I brush against anything (NOT hammered down) as it falls to the floor.

Addendum 10:15 P.M.:
Okay, the course-instructor was the TD on the show that featured Kate Kelly (I was a lowly camera-operator at that time)...my later TD-work actually centered around editing TAPED programs, mostly as a "post-production TD" so I never really had to endure the stress of running the "switcher" during an actual live-broadcast.