Biggest break:
With no training or experience I was hired by CBC Radio to work on a network music program. I not only learned on the job but CBC also sent me on development courses. The most valuable course being an intensive week in Toronto with interview master John Sawatsky. It was an exhilarating and career changing experience on how to conduct interviews. We watched and listened to terrible and terrific interviews. We interviewed and were interviewed. I’ll never forget how it felt being questioned by someone who just wasn’t hearing what I was said. Sawatsky has solid rules (#1 is concise open ended questions) that produce results. I love interviewing and 25 years later still draw upon what I learned from him. If you conduct interviews I urge you to look up John Sawatsky and learn from him too.
Worst mistake:
I’ve made many mistakes and this blunder was frightening. I was working on the Vicki Gabereau TV talk show. I had booked Riverdance or a similar huge Irish dance phenomenon. They would perform on the show and required a plywood dance floor for which they provided the specifications. I had the carpenter construct the floor. He called to tell me the dance floor would be an inch or two, I can’t remember, short unless he purchased another sheet of plywood. With budget in mind I told him to forego the additional plywood. Riverdance is now in the studio trying out the dance floor before the audience is seated but something is wrong. They run or dance across it diagonally but stop each time. They can’t figure out the problem. Finally their leader gets out a tape measure. I’m told they can’t perform because of the undersized dance floor. Their appearance has been promoted. The audience is waiting and we’re counting down to show time. I immediately call the carpenter, beg him to get to the studio, enlarge the dance floor and don’t worry about the expense. It was a costly lesson that helped teach me the importance of details. With the proper sized floor, the show thankfully went off without a hitch.
