This is about the tsunami of layoffs of mostly programming people.

Everybody thinks I’ve been in sales and management all this time.

Truth of the matter, I started on the air at age 16, did it through high school, college and the first couple years out of school—12 years in all, growing to ever larger stations. Loved it. I did every shift, a couple different formats and wound up with an air shift and production at KMOX in St. Louis. It was the best, but all these babies started showing up around the house and the “guys with conventional wisdom” told me that the only way to make real money was to go into sales.

At first that was a repulsive idea because I thought most of our salespeople were (a) loudmouths (b) insincere, or (c) jerks, who (d) really didn’t care much about programming or the station. But having more bills than backbone, I gave it a shot.

How I went on my first couple calls was hilarious (I couldn’t have made more mistakes than I did), but I had a couple things on my side:

• I knew how to create a killer spot for a client—and most of the other AEs didn’t have a clue.
• Doing a presentation was much like doing a bit in morning drive. It was like doing schtick or a phoner bit.
• Without looking at Arbitron, I could tell you the highest listening hours of the station.
• I had no idea just how much I could make; about four times my jock salary

In the recent personnel chops, you haven’t seen many layoffs of salespeople, right? In fact, the same company laying off production people is actually hiring AEs. So, if you’re an out-of-work production type, consider going over to “the Dark Side.” And really, it’s not dark—it’s fun and profitable, and you make great new friends.

Start with radio, but also consider doing it in television, cable, print and the internet. Consider your local Google or Groupon organization. No, you might not be writing radio spots; instead you’ll be doing creative ad work. Besides those benefits, that extra experience made me a far better sales manager and GM. So consider coming back in around the back, if not at your former company—the competition. Instead of sending a tape and resume, consider calling on the sales manager. Play your best spots for them.

The bottom line: scores of the best known owners, managers and sales execs started on air. It gave us a wonderful world view of the business. It rounded us out.

The even better bonus occurs if you’ve been on the air in your market for a while, because you’re a known name. When you call on a client they think it’s kinda cool meeting someone “famous.” It’s true. That’s what happened to me.

Bottom Line: they’re looking for salespeople. You know how radio works from the inside, and you know how to listen and entertain. Sounds like great qualifications to me.

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Irony. I’m doing a few select consulting and writing gigs and, thus, have time on my hands. So now I’m trying to find a weekend gig on a local station—just for the fun of being back on the air. I’ll let you know how that goes.

"Worry never solved tomorrow’s problems. It only ruins today’s peace." – Seth Godin