Jeffrey Alan Payne - Doczine

7 – Rise and ShineJimbo and I worked through the weekend to prepare shows that would make us feel as ifwe met the high standards we imagined we were capable of. To us, that essentiallymeant not humiliating ourselves; in fact, our working mantra became “don’t suck”. Why ifwe were worse than our predecessor? Now that we’re here and he’s not, his show didn’tseem that bad after all.One revelation that had occurred over the last two years was a painfully realisticevaluation of my abilities and my position in the broadcast industry food chain. Making$180.00 per week will open your eyes to these troubling realities. Plus, getting a chanceto travel around to some bigger metropolises exposed me to some real radio talents.This only served to make my own fear of inadequacy even greater. There were somereally captivating personalities out there. We had to make this work.Couple that insecurity with results I garnered whenever I would occasionally get that“itchy resume syndrome”, as I called it. Once in a while, I would feel like testing thewaters to see if I could move on to a big exciting city, with lucrative contracts andexorbitant offerings of free stuff. I’d make an audition tape and send it to job openings inplaces like Miami, where I thought would be an excellent fit for my interest in sunnybeaches and tanned golden goddesses wearing little more fabric than a bandana.It later occurred to me that in the annals of NCAA football, the University of Miami isconsistently ranked among the top five teams in the nation. The reason for that is mostpeople you meet would like to live near a beach with warm weather year round. If you’rean eighteen year old high school graduate, and you’re ranked as one of the best footballplayers in the country, where would you rather live? You could accept the offer from aschool in the cornfields of Iowa, or you could vie for pleasure drenched South Florida,home of ubiquitous breasts, bodysurfing and beverages consumed out of coconuts.Major radio talents undoubtedly felt a similar affinity for such locales.Needless to say, I never got any responses from my methodically random job hunts.Furthermore, the preparation of an audition tape and the extensive listening andscreening of my own work drove me to the brink of self loathing. I’ve heard that mostactors and comedians have the same mindset. Many never watch their own movies, thecritical self analysis is too painful to endure.Outside of the self doubt issue, not the least of our challenges was actually being there.We would have to wake up at 4:00am equipped to expound rational cohesive thoughts.Our biological clocks were set for the opposite side of the time continuum, and as anafterthought, Ron had not been overly generous with our adjustment time. We hadbarely three days to change our chronological lives around.One other truism hung within the recesses of both our minds. It was unspoken, but wewere aware of the fact that we had just passed on from a rather leisurely carefreelifestyle. We now had jobs that carried more responsibilities and pressures. Gettingpeople to listen to rock n roll music at night was just a natural occurrence; however,those same people were not as prone to listening to the Scorpions, on their way to workin the morning. It was us who had to be a reason that people listened, and our successwould be closely monitored by management and empirically reflected by ratings.45