Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Movin' On Up

October has definitely been a wild month so far! It started off on a big down note with the passing of friend and coworker, Jerry Wayne. The last post was devoted to this so I'll move on to the rest of the month.

The month kicked off with an amazing show at Unk's with Eulogy (a Tool tribute band). The guys were really cool and put on an amazing show! The night did have a strange undertone to it though.

I don't know if I ever went into detail in an older post but my most recent breakup was back in March and came after several months misery and fighting. Needless to say I had no plans on us being "buddies" afterwards. Well, she apparently thought otherwise and being the nice guy that I am I usually reply to her random texts with very short and emotionless responces. Not being a dick, just not being all excited or any of that crap. Well, long story short, her and the "new guy" spent 30 minutes hanging out 10 feet away from me at the last ECU game and didn't speak. Fine by me, but then she texts me later that week to see if I was going to a different show that night. I almost wanted to show up and be a drunken asshole but that's just not me.

Moving on, the next weekend was my first weekend off in months so I took full advantage of that. I spent 2 days sitting on my ass watching TV, playing Warcraft, and being totally useless. I did manage to get off my ass and go see Zombieland. The movie was fucking amazing and I got to hang out with a bunch of my friends (some of which I haven't seen in months) and had a great time catching up with everyone. A much needed quiet weekend.

This past weekend was the exact opposite! We did a Thursday midnight premiere of "Paranormal Activity" in Greenville. The movie was TERRIFYING!!! But awesome! Ended up getting home after 3am and had to be at work at 8! That night I passed on judging a bikini contest (which killed me inside) to get some sleep. Saturday was ECU Homecoming so we were out there all day tailgating, watching the game, celebrating after, and drinking the night away! I woke up around 2pm Sunday, ate some Hibachi buffet, and watched football all afternoon (attempting to drink the hangover away). Hectic but damn fun!

This week started off pretty normal... until yesterday. I generally meet with my big boss every Tuesday before my conference call. Well this time we walked in and it was just me and him and he shut the door. Shut door means really good or really bad news. It was great! I got a promotion to Assistant Program Director (which is what I applied for when I was named Music Director)! Needless to say I am honored and super excited.

And now we're here. Less than 2 weeks away from Halloween with no clue what I'm going to go as this year. Looking forward to the party we're throwing though. 7 different bars in Greenville that we'll be bouncing around between means a long night is coming!

One more month almost in the books, let's see if we can end it with a bang...

Thursday, October 1, 2009

R.I.P. Jerry Wayne

Yesterday was a rough day for a lot of people. Jerry Wayne (co-host of WNCT's "Breakfast Club" morning show, PD of WXNR) passed away due to complications from liver cancer. He was only 38 years old.

I first met Jerry about 5 years ago when I started interning here at The X. He worked out of our Greenville office, so at first I only knew him in passing. In January of 2007, he was promoted to Director of Programming and took over as Program Director of X (making him my direct boss).

Now I won't lie and say things were perfect. He had never worked in a new rock format and (having done oldies for 15 years) had a very different way of doing things than we were used to. We butted heads, disagreed on ideas, typical things coworkers do. But there was a lot of mutual respect. I knew he had years of experience in radio beyond what I knew and he understood that I knew the music and the format better than he ever could.

On a personal level though, he was a great guy. Always fun to bullshit with. Always had a wisecrack for every situation. Always very upbeat and positive.

He was a good boss, a great friend, and a respected and adored radio personality. He will be dearly missed by all of us here at WXNR, Beasley Broadcasting, Eastern North Carolina, and beyond.

Keep rockin my friend. We'll see you on the other side...