Monday, November 18, 2013

Five Years Later.....


Five years ago this morning I was pulled off the air, escorted to the office of the bookkeeper, and in front of two witnesses, fired from the company which had employed me for a little more than 30 years. I was a few months shy of 59 years of age and had just a few weeks prior set a retirement date with the person who engineered my demise. A few minutes later, my longtime friend and morning show partner Glen Gardner was given the same treatment. Several other people were fired later in the day.

We’d both known it was coming for a week, tipped off by our sources at the top of the food chain, so our lawyers were in place, the litigation commenced, justice was done, and we were both eventually paid off for our investment in the company (both of us were long-standing shareholders), settlements were agreed to, and life moved on. 

There’s no sense minimizing the huge disruption this was in our lives, but we picked up the pieces, reinvested our payouts, and reinvented our professional lives. The station Glen and I had worked on eventually failed and was shuttered with another mass firing at the end.

After the litigation was settled, my wife – the world’s greatest support system – and I took a long vacation at Spring Training in Arizona. While we were soaking in sun and baseball, the person who had engineered our firing suffered a massive stroke and died a few days later. Ironically, our daughter was the unit coordinator in the neuro facility where this woman spent her last few hours on life support – a horrible and sad fate not to be wished upon anyone.

Having been business partners in broadcasting for many years, Glen and I had come to be good friends at and away from work. Some months after our abrupt dismissal, Glen started an online news service for which I became a contract writer, along with some other media friends from the area who were similarly “at liberty”.


If you’ve lived around here for more than five years, you’ll recognize most of the names above. The last half-decade has not been kind to the media business. 

I realized my future was as a contract (freelance) writer/researcher, and the first big project I accepted after joining the YourNews operation, was development of a huge website for the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Foundation. I did some contract work for wonderful non-profits like the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups, and a few years ago Glen brought me on board as a contract writer/producer for Public News Service, where I’m still cranking out Wisconsin-based stories. Glen has since left Public News Service and moved “back home” to the Boston area, where he operates a thriving consulting business and spends a lot of his time on airplanes cris-crossing the country. 



A year ago today, Glen married his childhood friend Lauren, giving us something to truly celebrate on November 18th every year! Glen and I are most fortunate to have such wonderful supportive spouses. Mazel tov, Glen and Lauren!

Five years out, I still have some bitterness about giving essentially my entire professional life to a closely-held private company, being a partner, investor, manager, and performer for 30 years – only to have friends and partners of long-standing dismiss my decades of service without even a thank-you. But for those of you reading this who’ve suffered similar fates during the ongoing media purges, know that there is abundant life after broadcasting.


As George Herbert wrote in 1651, living well is the best revenge.

13 comments:

  1. You nailed it again my friend. Upward and onward! You deserve all the happiness that's come your way.

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  2. I remember that time 5 years ago well. Although it is disappointing to not enjoy the banter between you and Glen in the morning anymore, it is clear the two of you are on the paths you were meant to travel. Wishing you many more years of happiness and success!

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    1. Thanks, Jennifer - very kind of you to say. Best wishes to you, too!

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  3. I for one among many am glad you are still in the "business" of news. Context is not and should not be assumed. Providing it is foundational work. Nice job.

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    1. Thank you most kindly, George. I remain astounded that a writer of your caliber takes time to peruse these blatherings.

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  4. Living well.. IS the best revenge! And thank you Tim-- for reminding me of this when I, too, suffered the same ridiculous fate from television news. My eyes were not wide-open to the fact it could happen, despite 3 rounds of lay-offs prior to the one including me. I'd just celebrated 20-years-6-months in TV, and worked around the country! You truly do live.. and learn.. thank goodness! Much love to you, and your lovely bride, and for sharing the story of a date, now with a happy ending..

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    1. It is funny how things can change, isn't it, Teri? Regardless, when it happens, it's a kick in the gut. It's how we pick up the pieces and move forward that really defines us. I'd be willing to bet that you feel now like I do: no interest in going back to work from the place that turned us loose. You see things through different eyes when you experience what we have.

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  5. I'm not in the news biz, but based on this post and the comments from those who are (or were) in the news media I'd say this is a cautionary tale for those ubiquitous, freshly minted, I-look-sooo-good on camera TV and radio news people that are all over the local stations: You are disposable and will be disposed off sooner or later, so it's wise to have a Plan B.

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    1. Great observation, and accurate. Also the reason there is so little perspective offered in nooz these days - the person writing it and the person delivering it have only lived here a few years, if that.

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  6. There's a lesson here for everyone, not just those in the news business.

    It's good to love your job and to be good at it, but at the end of the day, your job is not your life and your life should never be your job. Those who confuse the two do so at considerable peril. Your job will never love you back, your bosses will never weep over your grave, and you will never on your death bed mouth the regret, "If only I'd spent more time at the office."

    Glad to see you landed on your feet. We are poorer as a community for the loss of you and the many other experienced journos who used to cover this town. But news in the current climate is a fundamentally unsustainable product: you can't make money on a product that people expect to get for free.

    So be proud of the time you spent doing what you loved. And remember, as Teri said, living well is the best revenge.

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