The Minnesota State Fair has ended, so has my faith in humans but we can get to that later. I was at the Great Minnesota Get Together for a whopping 11 out of the possible 12 days. Let that sink in for a bit....
I wasn't there 1 day, or 2, or 3, or 4, or 5, or 6, or 7, or 8, or 9, or 10. Eleven. In a row no less. I would compare it to the movie Groundhogs Day. Only this movie wasn't funny and no one learned a lesson in the end. Well I did. But I doubt it was the lesson that will help me in anyway. So it really doesn't count.
Anyway, the state fair...what can be said about the state fair? Let me first tell you a little bit about what I did for "work" for the past 11 days.
I work for Clear Channel Radio (those not familiar with what Clear Channel is it's basically just a corporation that owns a bunch of radio stations, Cities 97 (my "employer") KFAN AM 1130, K102, KDWB, Kool 108 and KTL) and only Cities 97 does not have a stand at the state fair. Reason? I have no idea. Something about a disagreement and finally someone realized that the state fair is not worth having a radio station at.
That means that I shouldn't have to work at the state fair right? I mean, the station that I work at doesn't have a booth so I should just focus on the various Cities 97 events that we had scheduled. Right?
Wrong.
Since there are multiple stations under one roof, all of the employees share working duties if possible (i.e. state fair). Now, this was my third summer working at the state fair, with the two previous coming while I worked at KFAN (one as an intern, one I got paid). Back in those days you got $10 per shift for food money since everything at the fair was ridiculously priced. Back in those days you would go get a beer after you closed down the booth. Back in those days the state fair was fun...
This year we got $5 per double shift we worked. This year people couldn't leave the fair fast enough. This year the fair sucked...
So what happened you might ask? Well the story doesn't start on August 27th. The story starts on a cold, dark, Wednesday in January of this year...
That was the day that half of the promotions staff at Clear Channel were laid off in a budget cut by the company. I was saved from the unemployment line and moved from KFAN to K102 (of all things, a country station. Yuck) and from K102 to Cities 97 in March (thank god). While at Cities, the summer interns, Linda (other assistant that basically does everything for the station and now is getting a full time job in Texas) and I bonded really well and it was the most fun that I have at while at Clear Channel. It's too bad that the state fair, something that I used to look forward to, is now something that i loathe.
Since we were short on staff because of the previously mentioned budget cuts, we (Cities 97) had to work at other stations during the state fair. My station of choice/no other option...KTLK. What is KTLK? Well, it's a conservative republican talk station with the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and local heavy hitter Jason Lewis spit out hate across their airwaves (I voted democrat).
Recently KTLK switched their format around to accommodate Jason Lewis's move to a nationally syndicated radio show. Also on the weekends, "corporate" decided to play rock music on the weekends. Now, if there is one thing that you should never do to old people, it's never take away their talk radio. Basically for 11 straight days I got bitched at for "playing that crap on the weekends". One lady even blamed me, because, of course, it was all my decision. I can't tell you how many people came up to me over the fair to complain and to bitch. It's basically all that conservatives do now that they are not in power anymore. They view it as a travesty that a God fearing man is not in the oval office. One guy even said "Pretty soon, because of Obama, you guys won't even have a stand at the state fair." Oh really sir? Is that so?
And don't get me started on all of the people that were upset that we didn't have any free things to give away. Like they were entitled to a free bumper sticker or t-shirt and when they didn't get one, they acted like children and starting blaming me. At least I had tv to watch the entire time I was getting bitched at. Also a guy named Chris Baker (KTLK Morning Show) was suppose to show up at scheduled times during the two weekends...well either someone forgot to tell Chris or he is just a big jackass (I'll go with the latter) because he was never on time and never stayed for the entire hour. Sunday he didn't show up at all after I told countless people that he would be at the booth from 2pm to 3pm. Hey Chris, thanks for making me look like a jackass for no reason. I appreciate it.
The only good thing about the state fair was that I completed the quest to work for all stations at the fair (is that a good thing?) and when it was over. See ya next year? Probably not.
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