No More Excuses

Gonna keep it short and to the point this week: Don't be an a-hole.

Okay, let me elaborate. You've read about the situation at Ellen DeGeneres' show, right? It's funny: If you know people in the circle of TV writers and comedians, the ones who tend to populate TV talk show writers' rooms, you've heard countless stories... well, not quite stories per se, more like intimations that some hosts and showrunners and producers are, shall we say, difficult. Some of the people who tell you about this are properly disgusted by the situation. Others take a more traditional position: Suck it up. Don't complain. It's just the way things are, the way they've always been. Maybe it's YOUR fault. Survival of the fittest. You want to work in this town in the future, don't you?

Radio has its share of those people, too. WAMU's issues, and the staff revolt, are an example. I've worked and/or dealt with people who, um, had issues. Anger. Temper. Sexism. Sexual harassment. Or just garden-variety tendencies to treat people with contempt and disdain. Sometimes, it's attributed to the creative mind, excusing nastiness or explosive temper tantrums as the way a particularly creative person works through issues. Sometimes, especially with management, there's an aversion towards having to address any of those kinds of issues. Even HR departments often want nothing to do with disciplining people who arguably are more valuable on a dollars-and-cents basis to the company than the complainant. A stern warning, maybe, but anything more? Don't want THAT agita.

To be sure, most of the people I worked with were and are good folks. Yet we all know of the yellers and the sexists and bigots and nasty people, and we know how many are tolerated because they might be hard to replace or there's an "oh, that's just how (INSERT NAME OF OFFENDER HERE) is."

It's 2020. That stuff should never have been tolerated, but let's not tolerate it now. If someone, no matter how important or big-time they are, treats you wrong, call it out. Tell them off. Fight back. It's time. I'm not just talking about #MeToo, though that's important. I'm talking ANY abusive behavior, in ANY situation. And if you suspect that the way YOU treat others might be perceived as offensive or abusive, chances are it IS offensive or abusive. Apologize and do better.

I know, that goes without saying, right? That's the problem. I can think of situations when things DID go without anyone saying anything, and the problems persisted. Even today, there are people who think being nasty towards their subordinates or sexually harassing others is acceptable behavior; if they didn't, we wouldn't be reading those stories in the news. So, again, cut this off at the pass. Treat people you work with better. Treat EVERYONE better. Wear a mask. Don't be an a-hole. This isn't hard.

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Are you a nice person? Good. Then please take advantage of the many things about which you can talk on the radio at Talk Topics, All Access News-Talk-Sports' show prep column. Locate the loads by clicking here and/or following the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item. (Bad people can use it, too. We can't do background checks on everyone.) In addition, don't miss "10 Questions With..." Todd Hollst, who has been on the air and behind the scenes in Dayton radio for ages and happens to do a very cool and entertaining show on WHIO that fits my criteria for the kind of cool non-political but still relevant talk show we need more of these days.

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Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a busy weekend in store. Much complaining about the Phillies bullpen and the Sixers' fourth-quarter non-defense in store. My work is never done.

Perry Michael Simon
Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports and Podcast
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