R-E-S-P-E-C-T

This, from my daughter's whiteboard this morning:

Today is May 4th.
• National Day of Prayer
• National Day of Reason
• Respect for Chickens Day

To which my wife added:
It then seems reasonable to pray for chickens today.

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"With all my schooling, this really isn't what I expected to be doing." The words of one of our interns some time ago as she scrubbed dishes after a cooking segment. It's been facinating over the years to witness the disappointment as young (and some not-so-young) people discover how ordinary broadcast television really is. Sometimes you see it in the eyes of touring junior high girls when they find out that Oprah's dressing room isn't just down the hall. Sometimes you hear it in the voice of operators who have just found out they need to drive the live truck twenty miles for a ten second weather shot. The magic is gone.

It's been 24 years since I came to work here. Back then we were in a shopping center, our main entrance across the hall from Baskin-Robbins. One night I stepped down the mall to grab some supper; I got back to find a half dozen girls camped out by the door, waiting for one of the "personalities" -- probably Bud or Rod -- to come out. They let me by, staring intently as I balanced my pizza and soda while trying to get the door unlocked. Finally one of them sniffed and said to her friends, "oh... he isn't anybody."

Of course, I had known that all along. Like several of my co-workers, I grew up in a family in which one or both parents worked in broadcasting, so we went in with few illusions of glamour. We were drawn to the business because we like the work. It's an interesting, constantly changing profession that can keep you thinking and learning... if that's what you value. If your expectation is that landing a particular job will make you "somebody", you will probably be disappointed.

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Lunch is finished: instant ramen noodles. Chicken flavor, of course.