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I’m kind of lame for not finishing (or even starting) Number Three yesterday. This will be difficult to explain in just a few words. As I am now realizing (but have been told for years) is that I am not efficient with words. It’s funny how noticeable that is during the mid-day, opposed to during the morning show!! In mid-days, you only have as long as the intro of the song…ANYWAY…
As far as I could tell, every single news outlet in the area reported this story with the decency and respect that we hoped they would. The potential for the media to be offensive is always there (and I know it takes one to know one ). As a family, we are most grateful. Our children make us vulnerable and we know that…and we know they know that. Regardless, most of the reporting was relatively honest and kind. There was, however, one thing I would have changed about a few reports I saw…
I can’t even recall who it was, but they said/wrote: “…and Chuck and Jenna finally confessed to station management that their marriage was over…”
Mmmmm. Not so much.
First of all: “Station management” is in fact the technical term, but that is not how I viewed them during this situation. “Station management” in this case, refers to three specific men: Jeff, our Vice President and Market Manager - Don, our Operations Manager and Vice President of Programming - and Barry, our Program Director.
This is the part where I get emotional. These three men were an integral part of keeping us sane. The only way I can describe it is that when they became aware of what ‘we may do’ and ultimately when we ‘decided to do it’, these guys put a virtual force field around us. They cared about us and our kids…they protected us from what could have been a personal disaster – AND – a media disaster…they made sure we kept our jobs… helped us stay focused…and came up with a plan that fit OUR needs, then the station needs. What other company says “We can’t imagine how hard it will be to go through this, go through it under public scrutiny AND be a new single mother. We felt putting you in mid-days would really help stabilize life at home right now.” WUH? WHO DOES THAT?
I can assure you it would have been A LOT easier for them to say “Yeah, sorry guys. We can’t deal with this type of exposure and this type of drama…you’re breaking your contract…we gotta let you go.”
And Heather Branch deserves SO MUCH CREDIT in all of this. When asked “Hey Heather, we have a bit of a situation here…how do you feel about swapping spots with Jenna?” … She essentially replied: “Cool. Let’s do it.” Again, I ask “WUH?” In less than 24 hours, she shifted her whole life to start her days at 4am because “Chuck and Jenna need to change things up a bit.” Now THAT is the ultimate example of someone who “takes a bullet for the team.”
In addition, I feel quite strongly about the fact that we did not commit anything that warranted a ‘confession’. And if one was necessary, Father Jim has been by my side through all of this…and frankly, he didn’t get one either.
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