Workiversary 30

 Today marks 30 years since I started working at the station.

So many changes over the past 3 decades. From the call letters (KFBT doesn't even *exist* anymore) to the network affiliations (the WB doesn't exist anymore either!) to the job that I do there (no longer a Master Control operator. My official title is Copy Coordinator). The technology, of course, has changed quite a bit - when I first got hired as a master control operator, the board was run manually, breaks had to be started, and the commercials were on big ol' hunky 3/4" tapes.

Now, I'm not in Master Control anymore, the breaks are all automated (there are still operators that have to monitor and watch over the airwaves, but so much of their job is done by a pre-arranged computer system instead), and there are NO tapes at all - everything we get is digital. 

The first 9 years were in Master Control, and so much of those years were simpler, but also ...less satisfying, maybe?  Although, really, when I look back, that's where a good portion of the memories I have from the job originate from. Which sort of makes sense. Master Control IS where the rubber meets the road, and ALL the forces of the station ultimately have to go through there. 

But, KFBT was so ...modest when I started, that it's absolutely laughable to think that it was even an actual station.  I started at the station making $5.25 an hour. (I think). Which is just INSANE. I know I started working on the overnight shift, and that there were times it was difficult to stay awake the entire night. 

Eventually - and pretty quickly - I got moved to the swing shift, because I was the "best switcher" (heh.) The owners didn't allow the operators to have keys to the building (which resulted in the hilarious time I got locked out of the station because I had gone outside to ...hit one of the satellite dishes with a broom in order to get it to tune in better.).  The equipment was all old and barely functioning a lot of the time. The 3/4" tapes had to have "tones" added to them in order to have the commercials be cued up by the machines. The white and chroma levels of the video were (to a degree) controlled by the operators. So, if we wanted to, we could change the video output so that people's skin would appear red. We had to set the audio levels of programs that we recorded as well. Which would often result in "Woodification" - a term we came up with whenever a show's audio levels (often recorded by Woody) were INSANELY LOUD.

That brings me to the in-jokes. Jesus. So many. I doubt I'll remember them all, and even if I just list the ones I do recall, they're not going to be funny to anyone but me (and, I guess, if any of the operators that worked with me between 1995 and 2004 happen to read this), But still. SO MANY JOKES.

Some of the greatest ones:
Fa, la, la, la, la, French Vanilla!

Yo. ...Why we in black?

Let SNYDER do it!! Get him to do it! Get him to do it nooooowwwww!!!!

Man's ability to use tools.

Hope we win!

Hey...mom's right.

What kind of Pokemon are you?

It's time to d-d-d-d-duel!!

Jennifer Lopez ROCKS!!

I'm sure that I'm forgetting at least a dozen others, but, as I said, none of them are going to be of interest to anyone else, and if I've forgotten them, maybe there's a reason for that.

After nearly a decade of master controlling it up, I switched positions, and made my way into the Programming department - becoming the Assistant Program Director. That job was way more ...corporate than the gig in Master Control. And while I detest that sort of attitude and lifestyle, I stuck with that job for 5 years, before transferring over to taking over as the Copy Coordinator when Robyn left. And been doing that ever since. Which means that pretty much half the time I've been at the company it's been doing the Traffic Department job of assigning copy to contracts in OSI. (And working with Master Control to ensure they have all their missing spots and that the logs run properly.) 

While that position hasn't resulted in nearly as many in-jokes or memorable moments as the time in MC, I've gotten fairly good at it. I mean, after 15 years, how could you not? There's been a lot of times when I've HATED the position I'm in - mostly, ironically, because of having to deal with ad agencies that do NOT know how to provide proper information....despite the fact that that is what they supposedly exist to do. But, for the most part, my job is ...really, pretty stress free, and I'm okay with it. I might even go so far as to say that I like it.  (I do wish, of course, that it paid more. But that's been the case from day one.)

I debated for a while whether or not I was going to actually post this, because so few people actually read my blog anymore, and because this isn't really of any interest to anyone who DOES read it. But I guess it's not hurting anything to publish it either. This, like most of my blog posts of yore, hasn't turned out how I intended it to, but it has brought back a lot of other work-related memories to my mind that I'll probably write about in my physical journal tonight. 

I don't know. I feel like having put 30 years of my life into the station I ought to have something profound and important to say about it, but I'm not sure that I do. But, I also didn't want the day to pass without at least SOME kind of acknowledgement, and thus, this blog post now exists, for whatever it's worth. 

So. 

Thanks, TV Station, for being there through all the myriad of changes and weirdness and stupidity and mundaneness and hilarity over the past 30 years. Here's to 30 more.