O’DAY’S TRAVEL WOES #27: Dan O’Day vs. Kenny Loggins

October 1994 (continued):

Upon arriving at the hotel in Seattle, I pulled my luggage cart onto the escalator to take me from the street level up to the lobby area. Just I reached the top, the straps to the cart somehow became undone, and my suitcase, tote bag and computer tumbled all the way down the escalator. (No one was hurt, and my belongings did not seem to be damaged.)

As soon as I got to my room, I went to sleep. The next day began early: At 6:30AM, Eric Kirchner picked me up and drove me to KCMS, where at 7:00 I began an air talent seminar for the staff there.

We ended at 2:00. Eric drove me back to the hotel, where at 3:00 I conducted THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MANAGEMENT for the Public Radio Program Directors’ Conference.

As I began the 2-hour session, we heard loud noises coming from the other end of the ballroom, which had been partitioned off into two sections.

It turns out Kenny Loggins was going to perform there, that night…for some other convention. This was his crew, conducting a sound check.

The hotel was completely unsuccessful in getting them to stop the noise, which made it very difficult for both me and the audience to concentrate.

This situation did, however, lead to my best remark of the trip. At one point, the sound check guy kept repeating into the microphone, “Duh…Duh…Duh…Duh…”

To which I responded, “Oh, isn’t that cute. Kenny Loggins is practicing his ad-libs.”

(I like Kenny Loggins, but his crew had not been given permission to use the room then, and everyone thought they were quite inconsiderate.)

After my session, I grabbed my bags, gobbled down some happy hour food, and returned to the Seattle airport. I flew to San Francisco, changed planes, and caught the red-eye to Washington D.C. The flight was sold out, so I spent the five hours trying (without much success) to sleep in a tiny seat between two big snoring guys.

Upon reaching Washington, a limo was waiting to drive me the hour or so to Gaithersburg, Maryland, where Ozzie Sattler had arranged for me to conduct a seminar for managers of the Group W radio stations. To my delight, when I entered the hotel lobby I encountered Paulette Carpenter, who handed me my room key. (Checking in can be almost as exhausting as getting there.)

I slept for two hours, ate breakfast, and went downstairs to conduct the seminar.

As soon as I was finished, the same limo drove me back to the D.C. airport, where I caught a plane to Hershey, Pennsylvania.

On the following day (Sunday; my trip had begun Thursday evening) I conducted a full-day version of my AIR PERSONALITY PLUS+ seminar for Rich Wyckoff and the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters. Nearly 200 people attended. The big turn-out added to the energy of the seminar.

As soon as it was over, a couple of the attendees drove me right back to the airport, where I caught a flight to Chicago and then another one back home to Los Angeles. The box score: Four different seminars in three states in two days.