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Having worked in the salt mines of broadcasting (before regaining my senses and embarking on a military career), I can assure you this is 100% accurate.

The worst owner I worked for was the last one. Little jerk who inherited the station from his father (his brother got the better deal, he was given the local cable TV franchise).

Our station owner couldn’t manage a fart after a baked bean dinner, but he was in charge. Allowed our morning guy (local institution, but ratings had been dropping for years) to come to work with a sack of beer under his arm each morning. Morning host proceeded to consumer that beer on the air and when nature called, he took a leak out the door of the transmitter room adjacent to the studio, because it was too far to walk to the bathroom. Never mind that the exterior door was visible from the highway, and we’d often get honks from passing motorists as the morning guy answered nature’s call. He was also rude and nasty to other members of the staff, but that was okay, since he’d been hired by the owner’s father, and was “practically a member of the family.”

Apparently, the host needed more beer money (or the owner wanted to boost his profits), because I got the axe about a year into the job, along with the sports guy and the evening DJ (I was a news anchor and reporter). Got the usual stuff about “moving in a different direction” and that was fine by me. Drove to the Air Force recruiting station and the rest, as they say, is history.

I know a few guys who tried to stick it out in the broadcasting business, and for most, it’s been a hard slog. Automation, voice tracking and the emergence of huge radio companies have eliminated thousands of jobs, and the rush by many of them to go private generated billions in debt and put even more pressure on stations to deliver.

My alma mater asked me to serve as a “mentor” for communications students a few years ago, based on my “success” in the military and higher education. My time in that program was brief, because my first word of advice to the students was: change your major to something that’s marketable and actually has a future. If you still want to give broadcasting or journalism a try, take a few courses to acquire basic skills, or make it your minor. Needless to say, the dean of the college of communications wasn’t very happy with my advice.