Chapter XIX (What If) 2/4/23 (19)

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Ted Rogers and Keith Dancy
wanted to lure me away
But I had no interest in Toronto
till they doubled my pay.

Growing weary of the “old guard” attitude at CFRA and feeling resentment because I thought the folks at CHUM had abandoned me, I was almost too ready for a call from a head hunter.
He wanted me to fly to Toronto that afternoon to be interviewed for the program director’s position at an undisclosed radio station.

The combination of my boredom and his sounding like he was hoping that I couldn’t make it was too hard for me to resist.
Unfortunately, I was already in the air before I realized that the mystery station in Toronto had to be CFTR which I had no interest in.

A couple of hours later, at the headhunter’s office, I was trying to figure out how to get back to the airport.
To make matters even worse, the headhunter was trying to persuade me to take what appeared to be some kind of aptitude test.

Being angry at myself for even being in this situation, I confess to him that I’d figured out that the radio station had to be CFTR, and I had zero interest in working there.
I then asked if he could call me a cab, so we could stop wasting each other’s time.

Looking somewhat relieved, he said, “I’ll be more than happy to drive you back to the airport, but first, I have to make a quick phone call.”
When he returned, he said that his client was nearby and was on his way over to thank me for coming on such short notice.
A few minutes later, a man who introduced himself as Keith Dancy walked in.

After thanking me for coming, he then asked the headhunter what the test had revealed.
When he told him that I refused to take the test, Keith looked at me quizzically, so I said, “CFTR sounds like sh*t, it’s gonna take a miracle to fix it, and I rather doubt the miracle is lurking in that test.”

“Even if there was a miracle in there,” I continued with, “Most owners wouldn’t have the stomach to do what it would take.
“Hold onto that thought,” Keith said as he dialed the phone and then said, “Ted, you gotta meet this guy, he’s a piece of work.”

A few minutes later, Keith introduced to Ted Rogers
Keith then embarrassingly says, “Ted, George here thinks that your radio station sounds like shit and that you don’t have the guts to do what it will take to fix it.” (Ted Rogers is pictured on top)

Ted’s only response was to ask if I would do Keith and him the honor of joining them for an early dinner.
Once seated in the restaurant, Keith turns to me and says, “Let’s play a game called what If.”

“For example,” he says, “What if I were to tell you that Ted and I agree that CFTR sounds terrible, but what if we also told you that you could do whatever you want to fix it because we have no idea how to do that, what kind of money would we be talking about?”

Surprised, I blurted out a figure double my current salary in Ottawa.
The table went silent momentarily until Ted leaned over and said to me, “May I throw in a car?”
And just like that, I was the new Program Director of CFTR in Toronto.

 

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