todayiamadaisy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
todayiamadaisy) wrote2006-11-14 03:29 pm
todayiamadaisy) wrote2006-11-14 03:29 pm
Entry tags:
Radio daze
I've been thinking about giving up my volunteer radio job recently. I keep thinking, "oh, that's right, I have to go there today", which seems a little less than enthusiastic. A few weeks ago, it occurred to me that as a volunteer, I don't have to go at all - all I need to do is finish this roster and ask not to be put on the next.
I can't pin down one single thing that's causing this; it's more a fitful, fretful feeling of dissatisfaction caused by a number of smaller things. Individually, I could just roll my eyes and ignore them, but all together they're exacting a toll. It's sad, because I enjoy putting the news together - what do you know? I'm good at being orderly and on time! - and to my great surprise I also enjoy being on air. I've always been a behind the scenes or orchestra person - I used to have panic attacks at the thought of appearing in public or playing solo, and I'm shy to the point where even I can see it's a problem - but radio? No worries.
I took a month off in the middle of the year while I sat exams, and I think I got used to not going. When I went back, the new station coordinator had started. She's competent and nice and all that, but it just seemed that everything was new and not like how I'd left it. Our local news program is based on strict guidelines sent from the main station in Melbourne - there is a lot of freedom within those rules, but if we don't follow them we could lose our broadcasting licence. Some of the other volunteers think they're too strict, others think they're too vague, and whenever the old station coordinator said, "We had an incident the other day", it was never too hard to work out which of the troublemakers it was this time.
When the new coordinator started, some people, including the troublemakers, asked for, and were granted, permission to develop a new, non-news, program. That's a good idea, because starting from scratch they don't have any existing station rules to follow. Credit where it's due, too, because the previous coordinator had several attempts at starting a second program, all of which failed for different reasons. This time round, the readers developed it themselves, did a few pilots and fiddled about until it worked. So all should be well, except... it isn't.
The new program is called "Past and Present", and it's recorded in two halves. The Past half is done by our old beardie friends, Alan and Bernie, and, surprisingly, they're not the problem (on this at least). They occasionally ask for a fill-in reader if one of them can't make it, but that's all I've heard from them. The problem is the Present.
The Present is put together by a clique comprised almost completely of women in their late thirties or early forties, and, with one exception, of new volunteers. The exception is Irena, the producer. There was another experienced volunteer involved at the start, but she has since returned to the news program, saying she found it all a bit stressful. Hmm. Anyway, the show is mostly prepared and recorded on Tuesday (although it apparently takes three days to do it, which is why I didn't sign up in the first place). Tuesday is the day I do the news, so they are in the second prep room or on air while I'm in the main prep room. A couple of times my co-reader (with Liz on holiday I've had a different co-reader every week lately) has also been involved in the new program, so I've done all the prep (which I don't mind) while she goes back and forth (which I do mind), giggling madly (which I also mind). "We call ourselves 'Irena's Radicals'", today's co-reader told me. "We're going to shake things up round here!" Honestly. It's so... so like high school. I predict it will end in tears.
In the meantime, the Past is obviously not keeping Alan and Bernie busy enough, because they still do the news on occasions, and are full of bright ideas about Enforcing Uniformity that are sapping my will to live. So I feel harangued by people who want to tear down the old regime on one side and by people who want to enforce it at all costs on the other.
Finally, amongst the recent influx of new volunteers (which is a good thing), there was one man I didn't like very much. He was an unemployed high school English teacher, one of those skeevy "groovy" teachers, and he made my skin crawl. In fairness, I have to say he's done nothing to deserve that assessment and he's never been anything other than polite and professional. He's just... off-putting. And he's also been accepted as a paid employee of the station, as the roster manager. Sigh.
Anyway, I've got another two-and-a-half months to decide.
I can't pin down one single thing that's causing this; it's more a fitful, fretful feeling of dissatisfaction caused by a number of smaller things. Individually, I could just roll my eyes and ignore them, but all together they're exacting a toll. It's sad, because I enjoy putting the news together - what do you know? I'm good at being orderly and on time! - and to my great surprise I also enjoy being on air. I've always been a behind the scenes or orchestra person - I used to have panic attacks at the thought of appearing in public or playing solo, and I'm shy to the point where even I can see it's a problem - but radio? No worries.
I took a month off in the middle of the year while I sat exams, and I think I got used to not going. When I went back, the new station coordinator had started. She's competent and nice and all that, but it just seemed that everything was new and not like how I'd left it. Our local news program is based on strict guidelines sent from the main station in Melbourne - there is a lot of freedom within those rules, but if we don't follow them we could lose our broadcasting licence. Some of the other volunteers think they're too strict, others think they're too vague, and whenever the old station coordinator said, "We had an incident the other day", it was never too hard to work out which of the troublemakers it was this time.
When the new coordinator started, some people, including the troublemakers, asked for, and were granted, permission to develop a new, non-news, program. That's a good idea, because starting from scratch they don't have any existing station rules to follow. Credit where it's due, too, because the previous coordinator had several attempts at starting a second program, all of which failed for different reasons. This time round, the readers developed it themselves, did a few pilots and fiddled about until it worked. So all should be well, except... it isn't.
The new program is called "Past and Present", and it's recorded in two halves. The Past half is done by our old beardie friends, Alan and Bernie, and, surprisingly, they're not the problem (on this at least). They occasionally ask for a fill-in reader if one of them can't make it, but that's all I've heard from them. The problem is the Present.
The Present is put together by a clique comprised almost completely of women in their late thirties or early forties, and, with one exception, of new volunteers. The exception is Irena, the producer. There was another experienced volunteer involved at the start, but she has since returned to the news program, saying she found it all a bit stressful. Hmm. Anyway, the show is mostly prepared and recorded on Tuesday (although it apparently takes three days to do it, which is why I didn't sign up in the first place). Tuesday is the day I do the news, so they are in the second prep room or on air while I'm in the main prep room. A couple of times my co-reader (with Liz on holiday I've had a different co-reader every week lately) has also been involved in the new program, so I've done all the prep (which I don't mind) while she goes back and forth (which I do mind), giggling madly (which I also mind). "We call ourselves 'Irena's Radicals'", today's co-reader told me. "We're going to shake things up round here!" Honestly. It's so... so like high school. I predict it will end in tears.
In the meantime, the Past is obviously not keeping Alan and Bernie busy enough, because they still do the news on occasions, and are full of bright ideas about Enforcing Uniformity that are sapping my will to live. So I feel harangued by people who want to tear down the old regime on one side and by people who want to enforce it at all costs on the other.
Finally, amongst the recent influx of new volunteers (which is a good thing), there was one man I didn't like very much. He was an unemployed high school English teacher, one of those skeevy "groovy" teachers, and he made my skin crawl. In fairness, I have to say he's done nothing to deserve that assessment and he's never been anything other than polite and professional. He's just... off-putting. And he's also been accepted as a paid employee of the station, as the roster manager. Sigh.
Anyway, I've got another two-and-a-half months to decide.