Embarrassed
It seems that nothing in my broadcast career ever
embarrassed me as much as things I said on the air.
Very early in my Disc Jockey experience, I worked at KCNY in San Marcos, Texas. The small wood-framed building was not air conditioned. There was barely enough room for the announcer’s chair between the console with turntables and the old Collins 250 watt transmitter. Because of the extreme heat generated by the transmitter, especially in the summer, I (we) worked in shorts and t-shirt with all the windows and outside doors open. Anyone who walked in the front door was virtually in the control room and anything said could be on the air without due diligence.
One time, I made the most common of all faux pas.
A fellow staff member entered the "control" room. I failed to turn
the mike off. Who hasn’t left the mike open with
a headset on? I berated him loudly
with excessive profanity.
When he departed, I noticed my error in horror and prepared
to get a call from someone in authority advising me of my eminent
termination. I worried until local
sundown, signed KCNY off the air, put the Collins transmitter on standby and
departed. I was more than relieved,
because no one, including listeners, called about my mental
lapse.
I never again used profanity after entering the front door
of a radio station.
To assure I would never "accidentally" leave the microphone
on again, I never placed my headphones over both ears at the same time, and I
never completely muted the studio monitor speaker.
If I couldn’t hear the monitor speaker, I knew my microphone was
on.
Then…there was the time I knew the microphone was on.
I was doing my regular WOAI talk show,
interviewing Dr. Zarita Zycheck about children sucking their thumbs.
It doesn’t take much imagination to
envision how badly one can misspeak "thumb sucking."
My engineer almost fell out of his chair.
I am so thankful that technology was there
to save me--thanks to a five second delay.
By the way, the good doctor didn’t even flinch!
Skinny Don Green
Don Green
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