pt. 6: your eye on austin
Shortly after I began work as the assistant to the director of the Advertising and Promotion department at K-EYE TV, I realized I was surrounded by a lot of great people. In particular my enthusiastic and funny boss Lori, who would sleep in her office in order to meet deadlines as K-EYE became a CBS affiliate and required new branding and new promos, along with a new set of anchors. I remember giving her chocolate-covered espresso beans to help with the task, which only seemed to fuel her frenzy of non-stop ideas.
One idea Lori came up with was to have a giant "TV" built to use at promotions, where people could climb inside it's dark interior and then sit down on a bench to tell their deepest thoughts and ideas to the camera awaiting them. The hope was that we could use some of the footage in station promos.
This cartoonish giant television was designed by an artist who may or may not have had a bit of a problem with drugs, so while the TV looked great, we did wonder if it was structurally sound. Joanna, the art director for K-EYE, had the daunting job along with myself of taking the television out of it's storage unit and placing it onto a trailer. We would then transport it to places like the rodeo, or really anywhere we thought we could get people to climb into it.
On more than one occasion, Joanna and I got our husbands to help us load the television onto it's trailer. Steve saw his life flash before his eyes as Joanna's husband Kevin backed the trailer into the storage unit and we lost hold of the television, almost pinning Steve to the wall.
We did have some fun with it at the rodeo parade. On one side of the television was a huge color photo of our anchors. After one anchor left the station, it was up to us to make a new photo and we lovingly affixed it to the side of the television with a special spray adhesive. Then we invited the anchors to sit on the trailer around the television, on hay bales. They were all in their semi-western attire, looking great. All was going well until the winds picked up and the photo began to peel off from the giant television. The anchors watch horrified as their images were torn in two by the wind and some of them jumped ship.
Working with the anchors was part of what I loved about my job; getting them to autograph their 8 x 10 glossies, or having to have little informal meetings to tell them their suits were getting a bit tight and to maybe explore a bigger size. My desk was in a nice private cubby under a loft, and several times I would come to work to find an anchor sitting at my spot having a private conversation on the phone, their feet up on my desk.
My boss dreamed big and thought up more than one great promotion for us to breathe life into. During the holidays, we turned the K-EYE break room patio into a skating rink for viewers to come and use. We used a sort of plastic that substituted as ice, and decked the place out with lights and trees and much fake snow. I was several months pregnant with Syd by that time, and frightened my co-workers by setting up decorations on the "ice." It was a magical time.
One of my favorite jobs was to write a station newsletter and I assigned myself a column, "Ask Anne" in the vein of Ann Landers. I wore a black wig for my photo and answered silly and serious questions alike. I remember showing the newsletter to one of my brothers and he said, "This is what you do for a living?!"
I also ran a little K-EYE store which sold our custom sweatshirts and windbreakers, as well as coffee cups, pens, small radios shaped liked television sets - all to be sold to people who came to the station tours I gave. It was like my own private Gap, with little white shelving to be filled up with perfectly folded merchandise.
I left the station when I was about six months pregnant with Syd, excited to get home and nest for a bit. My co-workers thought I was going to put my feet up and eat bonbons, but I shed more than a few tears leaving this great, fun job and the people who worked there. Still some of the best people I know. I had no idea really back then that it would be seventeen years before I actually worked for a salary again. But I don't regret staying at home with my boys for a moment.
Next up, my scary interview at Cabela's and my 3 month job at the Gap where I can only plead insanity.
One idea Lori came up with was to have a giant "TV" built to use at promotions, where people could climb inside it's dark interior and then sit down on a bench to tell their deepest thoughts and ideas to the camera awaiting them. The hope was that we could use some of the footage in station promos.
This cartoonish giant television was designed by an artist who may or may not have had a bit of a problem with drugs, so while the TV looked great, we did wonder if it was structurally sound. Joanna, the art director for K-EYE, had the daunting job along with myself of taking the television out of it's storage unit and placing it onto a trailer. We would then transport it to places like the rodeo, or really anywhere we thought we could get people to climb into it.
On more than one occasion, Joanna and I got our husbands to help us load the television onto it's trailer. Steve saw his life flash before his eyes as Joanna's husband Kevin backed the trailer into the storage unit and we lost hold of the television, almost pinning Steve to the wall.
We did have some fun with it at the rodeo parade. On one side of the television was a huge color photo of our anchors. After one anchor left the station, it was up to us to make a new photo and we lovingly affixed it to the side of the television with a special spray adhesive. Then we invited the anchors to sit on the trailer around the television, on hay bales. They were all in their semi-western attire, looking great. All was going well until the winds picked up and the photo began to peel off from the giant television. The anchors watch horrified as their images were torn in two by the wind and some of them jumped ship.
Working with the anchors was part of what I loved about my job; getting them to autograph their 8 x 10 glossies, or having to have little informal meetings to tell them their suits were getting a bit tight and to maybe explore a bigger size. My desk was in a nice private cubby under a loft, and several times I would come to work to find an anchor sitting at my spot having a private conversation on the phone, their feet up on my desk.
My boss dreamed big and thought up more than one great promotion for us to breathe life into. During the holidays, we turned the K-EYE break room patio into a skating rink for viewers to come and use. We used a sort of plastic that substituted as ice, and decked the place out with lights and trees and much fake snow. I was several months pregnant with Syd by that time, and frightened my co-workers by setting up decorations on the "ice." It was a magical time.
One of my favorite jobs was to write a station newsletter and I assigned myself a column, "Ask Anne" in the vein of Ann Landers. I wore a black wig for my photo and answered silly and serious questions alike. I remember showing the newsletter to one of my brothers and he said, "This is what you do for a living?!"
I also ran a little K-EYE store which sold our custom sweatshirts and windbreakers, as well as coffee cups, pens, small radios shaped liked television sets - all to be sold to people who came to the station tours I gave. It was like my own private Gap, with little white shelving to be filled up with perfectly folded merchandise.
I left the station when I was about six months pregnant with Syd, excited to get home and nest for a bit. My co-workers thought I was going to put my feet up and eat bonbons, but I shed more than a few tears leaving this great, fun job and the people who worked there. Still some of the best people I know. I had no idea really back then that it would be seventeen years before I actually worked for a salary again. But I don't regret staying at home with my boys for a moment.
Next up, my scary interview at Cabela's and my 3 month job at the Gap where I can only plead insanity.