Recently I had an email exchange with a radio station production director. For years he has expressed interest in coming to my annual Creative/Production Summit, but he’s never attended.
When he learned I was conducting a conference call for potential attendees who just weren’t sure this event is right for them, he (very politely) took umbrage at my warning, “Don’t bother calling if your problem is ‘my employer won’t pay for it.’ “
“I don’t understand why I should be spending hundreds and hundreds of my money to support the endeavors of a 26 Billion Dollar Corporation.”
You support your employer’s endeavors by just showing up for work. Any effort above & beyond that should be to enhance your career, not their coffers.
Most radio people have jobs, not careers.
What’s the difference?
A job is something you do for survival. It pays the bills. A career is an evolving, living thing that grows along with you.
A job is something that can be taken away from you. While you might lose your career (e.g., an athlete’s injuries prevent him from competing), no one can take it away from you.
A job is something you have to do. A career is something you want to do.
Should a radio station pay for its production director to attend an event that will improve the quality of work he does for them? Of course.
Should a station pay for continuing (or, actually, ANY) education for its program director? Definitely.
Do we live in a world in which most station owners and managers are willing to make such modest investments in its best people? Just a sec, let me look….Nope, no pigs flying past my window today.
My favorite example is the guy who paid his own way to PD Grad School. His employer said the company couldn’t afford to send him. But somehow it found the wherewithal to send its 40 salespeople to a retreat in Bermuda.
Yes, there are exceptions. God bless ’em.
While working at my third radio job in an unrated Florida market, I was offered a job in San Francisco. Rather than accept it blindly, I insisted upon flying in to meet the owner and PD in person. (They were kinda shocked at that. No, they didn’t pay for my airline ticket.)
I told my GM, Tom Thornburg (on the left, holding the microphone) about the job offer. I suspected he wouldn’t want to lose me as his PD, but I don’t think he really expected me to stay in Lake Wales forever
No, he didn’t pay my airfare. But when I told him that of course I didn’t expect to be paid for the days I’d be gone, Tom waved me off. “Don’t worry about it.” He knew I had a career ahead of me, not just another job. And he paid my salary even for the days when I was away, preparing to leave his radio station permanently.
(glissando swells as the dream-like memory fades)
Meanwhile, back in the real world….
If your employer doesn’t care enough about your career to invest in it, then I guess you’ll just need to find someone else who does.
Unless you’re happy having just a job.
