People keep asking me: so how’s life on the dark side?

The dark side is looking pretty bright.

I don’t mind telling you that my first week in management I was a bit freaked out.  No union to back me up, the workload seemed nothing short of back breaking, and what if it didn’t work out?  Would I be out on my ass in three months?

But now I find myself enjoying it.  Oh sure, I’ve made a few little booboos so far.  But a couple of days in the management stockade soon straightens a fellow out.

What’s making it a little easier is the fact that the players are all the same, I’ve known most of them for years.  It’s just the context that’s different. There’s tons of work to be done and new stuff to learn but that’s what keeps life interesting.  And I would be lying if I said I didn’t appreciate the gold plated urinals in the executive washroom and the frequent joyrides in the departmental Porsche.

The best part is seeing how it’s all done behind the scenes.  It goes without saying that there’s a tremendous amount of effort required to make a national operation like CBC Radio work.  Had I ever stopped to think about it I might have had an inkling as to the extent of it.  Now that I’m in the thick of it I’m beginning to understand it viscerally.  It’s becoming pretty clear the calibre of thinking required.  How do you configure a studio from the ground up?  How do you make a new master control while the old one is still operating?  How do you allocate your resources?  What do you spend your money on when everyone’s clamouring for a piece of the pie?

The management team I’ve joined works quietly behind the scenes to make it possible for others to make the radio that Canadians enjoy every day.  I’ve had nineteen years of being able to make radio with the best gear in the best studios thanks to the line managers that came before me; now it’s my chance to pay it forward by helping create a stable, invigorating environment for future generations of radio makers to create their sonic magic.

And I have to tell you I’m into it.