Prospects

So I made my way into work today with plenty on my plate. Thankful, I got good portion of it done, enough so that I can almost say that it was a most productive day as I sit here and type.

First were the podcasts, as I had to post 6 new ones from last week so they could go on the radio station's webpage. The thing is, we aren't allowed to just post the audio as it appears n the show, there are actually rules against that stuff. For instance, we aren't allowed to post commercials as part of the podcast, so I have to go in and edit out all of the commercial break. It actually goes back to an FCC ruling a while back regarding internet streaming and royalties paid to musicians. See, stations pay a fee to such outlets as ASCAP and BMI in order to play an artist's work on the air. Well, in their infinite wisdom, they determined that if a station was streaming their audio, then in fact, they were playing the song twice, therefore they should get double the royalties. Some of you that are fans of internet radio will remember that for a small amount of time, many stations just pulled their streaming altogether, rather than pay double fees. Ah, but the allure of losing money on the internet was too great (though stations will tell you they think they can make money on the internet, a claim I highly doubt), so many of them bellied up to the bar and dropped the coin to air music twice. Then along came voice over talent, and they said, well, if you air the same commercials on your webstream that you do over the air, you are in fact playing us twice as well, and therefore we demand to be double paid as well. That led to stations instead offering spots on their stream as well as over the air, so now it is entirely possible that when a station goes to commercial, those people listening on the web are not hearing the same thing as those listening over the air. Usually, because of the small audience that listens to steaming audio, those breaks are loaded either with PSAs (public service announcements) or are sold at a much cheaper rate than those over the air.

Podcasts luck out in that, while they are deemed another form of broadcasting (and therefore would be possibly open to the same rules and regulations as both over the air and streaming are), nobody wants to buy commercial time in a podcast, at least not yet, and since a podcast is not required to keep time with a radio clock, it is just easier to cut the commercials out entirely, and I would also add, probably to the listeners benefit. That being said, the audio for the radio show I save in one long file, but that is not practical for those that would try to download it, the file would just be too big, so I also have to break the show down by hours, so a three hour show is actually three podcasts, usually about 45 minutes in length each. On top of that I had to take one of the audio files and copy a show segment (each hour has 4 segments in it) and one of the live reads (where the air talent reads a spot live during a commercial break) and make a copy for one of our sales people who was pitching the show to a potential client. I also had to record a business report and do show prep for a three hour show and all of this had to be done between 5am and 9am, plus I had to call walmart back and say that I wasn't going to be there this morning because, lo and behold, I was working as I was talking to them.

I managed to knock out 5 of the 6 podcasts, get the business report done, find enough material that we actually didn't run out of things to say today, and it really was a slow news weekend, there is only so much you can do with Tony Snow dying, and Miss America falling down for the second straight year at the Miss Universe pageant (insert your own walking and chewing gum at the same time joke here), it really was a reach to decide just what we would do to occupy three hours of radio time. Plus, I managed to push back the Wal Mart orientation until Saturday morning, contacted a book author about being on the show, and scheduled the three days that Lynn would be off at the end of the month for foot surgery, and much like the Marines, I had accomplished more before 9am than some people will do all day.

After the radio show, I made my way ho,me, where I sat down for a few minutes, actually I dozed off for about 30 minutes, as my sleeping pattern at night has been atrocious, I just can't get my eyes to close and me actually rest until it is just about time to be up in the morning, so a brief catnap and I was off to the grocery store where I scored some marshmallow creme on sale so I can make fluffer nutters (though I bought the Kraft Jet Puffed Marshmallow creme) and once again scored some serious boneless skinless chicken breasts, as they were Buy One, Get One Free which meant I got over 9 pounds of chicken for $7.88. Yes, me all kind of savvy grocery shopper, there goes my man card. Throw in some other goodies, such as crinkle cut french fries, pasta, sauce, hot dogs, cream of mushroom soup, frozen veggies, bread, hot dog buns and for desert a oreo cookie parfait, and all told I spent $20. I made my way home and there was a message waiting for me, I have another job interview tomorrow at 1:30pm with Southside Steaks. They are looking for someone to work 3 nights a week. On the plus side, it would be closer than WalMart, and three shifts where if I have to I can walk to work, versus taking two buses and I figured Ican at least sit down for the interview. Worst case scenario I have a job Saturday, best case, I have a job tomorrow.

Woohoo, Charlie Rose came on and they are talking politics and one of the guests is Chuck Todd from NBC, who I have thought is pretty bright on such issues.

I found an empty 24 pack of Pepsi on the way home from the grocery store, that is a quick 4 points for me, since a song is only 5 points, it is a big grab on my part. All told, I have the Pepsi account back up to 29 points. By the way Rich, if you are reading this, if Cindy doesn't want any of the Pepsi caps laying around the house, you can send them my way, I won't mind. I also have caps from Coke, Dr Pepper and Mountain Dew to enter online, I have been leaving them pile up on my desk rather than enter them as I find them, so this evening is my chance to catch up a bit. In all of the time I have been scooping these caps up while out and about, I have only found one cap that when I entered it online, it had already been redeemed. That's okay, more for me, I don't mind.

I have managed to get a decent chunk of my book read. So far it isn't what the cover would have indicated, not that the book is bad, just not what I would have expected. It is the story of Joe Beyrle, who is the only man to fight for both the United States and the Soviet Union during World War II. The book started out promisingly enough, Joe was a member of the 101st Airborne, which was the first group on the ground at Normandy, having parachuted in behind the German lines, looking to create an opening for the Allied troops to land to begin the liberation of France from Nazi rule. The problem was that Joe was barely there when he was taken captive by the Germans. He managed to escape, but was quickly recaptured. After being transferred to a few different prison camps as the Allied forces made their way across Europe, Joe makes a second escape, only to be recaptured by the Gestapo, after the train he hopped ended up in Berlin. The book lets you know what is going on with Joe's unit while he is in captivity, but fr a book that is supposed to tell the story of a guy who fought for both the United States and the Soviet Union, he hasn't done all that much fighting to this point, and we are up to the Battle of the Bulge. It reads as more of a historical book regarding Joe's unit than anything else. It talks about Joe's days in captivity, but I'll admit, that wasn't what I expected when I first bought the book. Maybe he will see more combat with the Sovie4ts, but so far he has spent the majority of his time in prison camps and being tortured by the Gestapo.

Well, I better spell check this and try sleeping again as it is getting late.