During Howard Hoffman’s 17 years or so as Radio Production Director of KABC in Los Angeles, he got tired of salespeople continually barging into the production room.
So he attached a wooden receptacle to the outside of the production room door, with a sign that said something like:
“Please do NOT enter to give me your paperwork. Please put your production orders and requests in this box. Thank you.”
I was at the radio station one day, collaborating with Hoffman on a project.
In the middle of our recording, a station account exec cracked the door wide enough to stick his head in and say, “Howard, I just wanted you to know that I left a production order in your box on the door.”
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Yeah, that guy works for us now…
No, Brian…. no he doesn’t.
I worked in Sacramento and was the PD and the morning guy. Salespeople developed an annoying habit of not being able to wait until 10am when I was off the air to ask me something. They would often ignore the “ON AIR” light (I know, hard to believe) and just walk into the studio in the middle of a segment. I mentioned this to the GM and he laid down the law. Stay out of the on air studio!! Did that work? No. His office was a log way from the air studio. So when they walked in, I would acknowledge their presence. “Look, it’s sales person Shari, good morning Shari, how can we help you?” She couldn’t run away fast enough. Too late, we were on the overhead speakers in the building. That seemed to solve it.
Weird, we have a sales department full of those types.
“The door’s closed and the ‘on air’ light is on? Guess it’s a good time to walk in!”
We went so far as to put a stop sign on the prod room door. It worked…..somewhat. Then the AE’s would stand there and stare through the glass. They now work for the NSA.
A more modern situation is them cracking the door in the middle of you recording to tell you they just sent you an email and ask if you got it…
I leave my mic on all the time and the mic near my head so when they peek through the window, it keeps many away!
“What the hell are you doing in here in the ‘no clothes area?’ Get your clothes off!!” …Or similar – That’ll scare them away.