Anyone who has worked in radio has moved around a bit.
The nature of the business really is like the cautionary tale, sung by the late Harry Chapin (WOLD), where the announcer spends his life bouncing or drifting from one part of the country to another.
With a few exceptions, Radio People are invariably well traveled.
I myself have worked in Alabama, Indiana, New York and Florida.
Ahh...Florida.
There was an old saying in the business, that if you took a job in Florida they would be paying you in sunshine. Florida, as a mostly non-union State, was notorious for hiring radio professionals at less than professional wages. Station owners and managers would point out that there was no State income tax and that the climate was wonderful. I guess it didn't always work, since I never met anyone from San Diego working at a Florida radio station.
Now, they can add one more reason to the "Come work for us in Florida" sales pitch; at least you'll have a job.
According to the US Department of Labor Florida lost 78,100 jobs in the past year.
This may not seem like much, when you consider the state has a total population of 18.25 million, but it indicates a trend. According to the US Census Bureau, the State now ranked fourth in population in the country is expected to pass New York to become number three by 2011.
There will be no new jobs for these new Floridians.
Not even if they'll work for sunshine.



I often wonder what Harry Chapin would be singing about today.
His is a voice this Country could have used about now.