One of the longest days at the station

Like any other day, I arrived at work 8:30am (even though I don't official start until 9am). Upon arrival, I started off with checking the voicemails for my department, my boss Taneka and the main boss Donyshia. I always like to arrive early so I can do this so when they walk in, I can give them their phone memos. With me doing this, they can see that I am a hard-worker and a person who likes to start work as soon as I arrive at the station. Also, I like coming into the station that early because I get to settle in before everyone else comes in at 9am or 10am.

Throughout the day, my main focus was making sure I distributed all of the tickets to the winners who came into the station to claim their prize. Today I knew it was going to be very busy because it was the last day to pick up tickets to the Asher Roth and Kid Cudi duo concert that was that night as well as the Rock the Bells concert that is this Sunday. This concert features Nas, Kymani Marley and many other artist as well as another Funk Master Flex bike and car show. It seemed like every 5 seconds there was a winner entering the station. The interns and I were in charge of distributing the tickets to the winners. Even though there were 4 of us, we were still busy. This is because, while giving out the tickets, we also had to take care of the phone lines, call the new contest winners to let them know there prize was there and ready for pick up as well as pack the equipment for the street team appearances that day and for the weekend.

While taking on our assignments for the day, I noticed that Taneka was very frustrated and upset. I didn't know why she was in such a mood but I made it my duty to stay out of her way. When 5pm reached all the interns left and I stayed behind because there was a lot of incomplete assignments and the deadlines for it is Monday. While staying behind, I was doing many assignments that the full time PAYING workers were supposed usually assigned to. However, I was doing it because by 7pm, all the of the full time workers left except for me Taneka and a part timer name Ashley.

After hours, I was in charge of conducting all of air checks. Air Checks is a process of validating when a contestant wins an on-air prize. I have to go to our recorded show records and jot down the exact time the person won and who show they won on. For example, Hot 97 is giving away Beyonce concert tickets. A winner won these tickets on the show on Wednesday. My assignment was to find out which radio joc was giving away the ticket and find out what time the person won the prize. In this case, I found out that the show the contestant won on was during the Angie Martinez Show (which is every weekday from 3pm-7pm). However, this person won at 5:06pm. I had to write the time down on their contest sheet and get it approved by Angie herself. I was very excited in doing this task because this job is usually for the full time workers and people they trust. Taneka than told me that I was in charge of doing this all the days I worked.

When 10pm hit, my boss finally told me why she was upset throughout the day. She told me people were stealing tickets and she didn't know who did it. She believes it was one of the interns because we are the only ones who are in charge of distributing the tickets. While she was telling this story I was furious because usually when one person messes up, we are all penalized for it. However, she said she knew that it wasn't me. I was glad that she said that because that means that she has some form of trust level towards to me. After that story, she said that because she trust me so much, I am charge of the ticket distribution. All of the interns have to report to me for every winner. I have to obtain the tickets from the safe and sign off on all of the prizes. I was excited about this because that means I was looked at higher than the other interns and most workers. However, I knew that the other interns were going to be upset about this because they all have been subliminally been competing to be the number one intern. Also, they would be upset because we all have the same position but I have more authority over them.

When 12am hit, I realized that I was still at the station. At this point we were almost finished completing our assignments. My last project for the night was to plug in all of her notes on all the part time workers evaluations she had with them that day. She also informed me that usually she does not let anyone see that because it is private information. When she told me this, I really felt that we were getting closer. To the point that I felt that when I come back to Hot 97 after I graduate she will be more than willing to hire me (hopefully, remember it is a recession).

Finally, 1am arrived and we were finally finished. I was ready to take the train home but Taneka insisted on taking me home. I was grateful for that because most people would have still made me find my own transportation home even after staying well beyond my assigned hours. I finally arrived home home at 1:30am.

In conclusion, even though my day was long, I was happy that I stayed. This is because of the informal relationship that Taneka and I built. In this type of career, I realized its not about how much credentials you have, but the tight networks you create. This is because these people can help you in the future. Also, I am glad I stayed because of the amount of responsibility that they gave me over most other interns and employees. However, I regret how the interns are going to view me on Monday. Well, I guess that is how it is when someone progresses to the top. Crabs in a barrel. I Love HOT 97!