I suppose we should start at the beginning. Not the very beginning because that is a long and fairly boring story. Let’s go back a few months.
In October of last year I officially joined the company that i had left 7 years prior. I really like what it had become. It was a chance to join an AMAZING team of people. It was close to home and I fell in love with the station. A little different than what i had been used too, but my head was full of determination and big dreams. I had ideas of building a station that rocked, people loved listening too, and wanted to be involved with. Thanks to the help and hard work of the AMAZING people I spoke of, we were doing that. Or at least that’s what it felt like. I fell in love with Indianapolis and couldn’t wait for summer. My head started filling up with dreams of the Indy 500, summer concerts, and a really cool 93-9X show. It’s not often that we get the chance to hit the reset button and make sure things are done right. Somehow, I hit the reset button and things were falling into place. I had something to prove and a middle finger to give to those that ever doubted my ability. At the end of February, I went to a conference in Vegas, heard about people quarantined on a cruise ship, and thought that disease will never mess up our way of life. A few short weeks later, the NBA stopped playing, people were getting sick, all sports ended, and life as we all know it changed. Welcome to a new world. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
People were living a new normal. From their homes. Business stopped. Places closed. Restaurants could only do carryout. The world was not the one we recognized. You know this. I shouldn’t be rehashing. People started talking about how it was like 911. I don’t see it like that. I remember people being afraid to travel, but not everything shut down. This was different. You see radio is meant to be an escape. We play music and hopefully you like it. Everyday we try to provide content. Some you might have heard before and some you might not. We don’t repeat. We find new things to try and entertain you with daily. We try to avoid it, but sometimes we say things you don’t like or agree with.If we are lucky, you call in or respond to something we post on social media. It was different now. We couldn’t go into our studios. We had to try and do this from our homes because we were affected too.
Many of you lost your jobs, took pay cuts, and learned about things called, “furloughs.” We could all relate. Suddenly we couldn’t go to movies, grab drinks with friends, or get hair cuts. We were all more alike than ever before. It didn’t matter what our color, job, or relationship status was. We were all quarantined. It became more difficult to entertain you. If we told a joke, did it mean that we didn’t have sympathy for your plight. We wanted to meet you in person at up coming shows and now those are cancelled. We wanted to bring artists in to sing for you, but they can’t travel. Like you, we too were living in a different world.
We logged on to unemployment sites because we too will furlough. The music will still play. Much like you, we have to adjust. We have to take time off so that we have something to come back to. Many of you are doing the same. It is not suppose to be like this. I am supposed to be a sarcastic idiot who shares stories of dumb criminals who usually reside in Florida.I carry around useless knowledge so I can share with you regarding a song or tv show. I am supposed to give you an opinion on what you should watch in theaters. Well that is easy to do these days. Nothing. It wasn’t supposed to be this way..
In some strange way. In between finding the balance between entertainment and informative, in between playing familiar songs and watching Tiger king, it feels like we got closer by being further apart..We all seemed to have more in common. We were doing the same things and sharing through social media. You have no idea how cool it is that you comment on our socials daily. It is cool when people message us just to share something going on in their lives. It is even ok when you send us hate because at least you are passionate enough to say something. You tell us what you are streaming, you tell us what songs you are liking. We are all sharing the same struggle. I wish i could do more for OUR community. I have talked to restaurants who struggled, but were still fighting the good fight. I saw good people like Scott Sutton, and his team at Kroger, doing what they can to help out. We got messages from you telling us who needed the help and we tried to give them some. We were truly in this together or at least it feels like it.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. It is though. Some big dreams might be on hold, but they will come to fruition. We will keep building a station that everyone keeps rocking out to and wants to stay involved with. I hope that we continue to talk nearly everyday. Maybe on socials, maybe on the phone, or at an event. We will have those again and probably appreciate them more. It might be tougher for us financially. We do not all make millions. Our world will be a little different for awhile, but there will be constants. We will keep trying to entertain you. We will play songs we hope you like. Some of those you will and others you will complain about. It’s ok. I hope we all find a new appreciation for each other. We might realize that we are not as different as we think. So if we come out of this standing on common ground, maybe we can call that some thing good from a bad situation.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way, but it is.
