Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Freedom
Thursday
February 6, 2003
"There are two types of people out there -- those who've been fired, and those who are about to be"
-Former WEHT sports director Mark Asciolla, summer 1998
BREAKING NEWS: I've been released from WTSP Channel 10. I have my freedom. Believe me, this is a WONDERFUL thing. More later...
I've been hired to become the Head of Syndication for the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show based out of right here in Tampa, FL. It's a brand new opportunity, one that I'm very excited about. I'll talk about it at length tomorrow... how the chance came about, what it means from a career perspective, and what lead up to the move.
It's evening now. As I type this, the Michael Jackson documentary is airing on ABC. It's fascinating... yet also very disturbing.
It's amazing the feeling of relief I feel. Pure, sweet relief. What's the line from The Shawshank Redemption? "Andy Dufresne — who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side." That's the narration from the scene where Andy celebrates his freedom, shouting in the rain. That's the kind of release I'm talking about here.
I wasn't quite sure how I'd feel. Being as how the situation was so transparent to me, this is the end result that I'd known had been coming for months. When Lane Michaelsen e-mailed me telling me to meet with him this morning at 8 AM, I knew that we were one move from checkmate.
There's no need to recap the moment-by-moment of the meeting. But the result is what I wanted and what I expected. Yet, despite the inevitability and certainty of it all, there was a true thrill when it finally came to an end.
That's not to say that it's a totally happy situation. I won't get to work anymore with some people who I've grown to really enjoy spending time with and working with at WTSP. Actually, the vast majority of my co-workers fall into that category. There are some wonderful people and good friends who work there. I regret that I wasn't given the opportunity to say goodbye to all of them in person. But when you're told to leave the building immediately, that's not an option.
One of my last conversations there proved to be a happy one. My friend Shauna e-mailed me from Morgantown. Like me, she also transitioned from a career in TV to a career in radio. Anyway, we're both major fans of the Counting Crows. She wrote to tell me that the CC are playing in Tampa next month. This is great news... it should be an awesome show. I saw Carli right before the 7:55 cut-in and, knowing that the 8 AM meeting was pending, I showed her the e-mail print out and told her the happy news (she's also a big CC fan).
So what now? Well what's done is done. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I've survived a 13-month stretch that professionally I wouldn't wish on anyone else. But that's finished. And now a new, very different, and potentially much more lucrative opportunity begins. But... that's a story for tomorrow.
| 
