Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Social Distortion "Bad Luck"

I was hungry.  I was nervous.  I was alone.

I was waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

I've told you the story of my first radio station, and the long court battle that we waged to hang onto it.

What you don't get from one blog post, was the drawn out uncertainty of it all.

I was at WABN for 6 years.  And every three months (if not more often) for six long years, we'd have another court date.

"This could be it," we'd be told by our lawyers.  There was every possibility that the judge would take immediate and harsh action, either shutting down the station or removing us completely.

The family that owned the station would go to these hearings.  Dress up.  Look respectable and responsible.  Do their best to convey the sincerity of their desire to just run the radio station and live in peace.

It was my job to hold down the fort.

The four family members would go to court, and I would go to the station and wait.

I might do my shift.  Or I might let the automation system we had, spin its wheels.

Minutes ticked by slowly.  Hours progressed at a glacial pace.

Every time the phone would ring, I'd lunge for it, hoping it was the gang calling from their way home from court with some kind of good news.

Lunch would pass.  The many cups of coffee would sink in.  Tension would mount.

Eventually, I would get a call.  A brief overview of what had happened.  And a promise of lunch to be brought to me soon.

Relief, tempered by the notion that the court session ended with the promise of a reconvening within a just a few weeks.  And that we'd do this day all over again.

The night before each court date, I'd play "Bad Luck."  It was my idea that if I played "Bad Luck" today, it would mean good luck tomorrow.

Mostly, it worked.

I was thinking of this song earlier in the week, because I'm playing the waiting game right now.

We still don't know when our last day on 92.7 will be.  The signal is all but sold, just some paperwork has to be signed.  And then we'll be off.

Unlike the WABN situation, there is a future for WMVY.  We'll continue on the web.  I'll continue to work.  Stress about what is going to happen doesn't play a role here (just the "when").

Just waiting . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.


No comments:

Post a Comment