It’s been a tumultuous start to 2010.  I’ve had to say goodbye to several coworkers at my home cluster.  Three of whom, I’ve worked with for a decade or longer.  It’s a rare thing in this business to be employed at a station or cluster for more than a few years, but to have a group of people working together in the same market for a decade or more is pretty unheard of. 

The HR grim reaper claimed my long-time APD, Jonny Hartwell.  Jonny & I had worked together in some way, shape or form since 1998.  I did part-time weekend work and weekday fill-ins on B94.  Jonny held down afternoon drive.  There were days when I’d fill the midday shift and then also do traffic for Metro Networks later in the day with Jonny.  In 2000, I moved down the hall to our sister station to handle imaging and a year later Jonny followed as the APD.  A lot of the award-winning production I’ve created over the years began as a seed in the brain of the one we called “Jonny-palooza”.  Jonny has an enthusiasm that‘s contagious.  He entertains both on the air and on location.  We would have some of the most creative brain storming sessions I’ve ever been a party too.  I will definitely miss his input and his excitement of hearing a new promo for the first time.  “Play it again”, he’d say with an impish giggle, “Dude, that’s awesome!”  We also did videos for our website.  Our version of E!’s The Soup was called Pittsburgh Stew, and with a green screen and canned laugh track, he cracked-wise about some Pittsburgh current event just like Joel McHale.  It’s a testament to Jonny’s efforts that after his dismissal, the website was nearly void of all photos and videos…He was Star 100.7.  Follow this link to see an episode of Pittsburgh Stew:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ggCnoUJh0k

The next person I bid adieu to was my voice guy, John Beach.  John has been our station voice at WZPT since we flipped to the Star moniker on June 6, 2000.  I came into my own as a writer and producer with John.  His ability to bring my copy to life made it so easy to do my job. It was a very rare occasion when he’d read a line that wasn’t exactly the way I had it in my head.  His range of characters was exceptional (due to his history in animation).  Being that John was born & raised in the Pittsburgh area was an added bonus, since he knew the “yinzer” dialect and added that local angle that not many would be able to pull off let alone understand.  For my money, he is the best there is for AC, Hot AC, Classic Hits or any other medium energy radio format.  Unfortunately, we just needed a different sound than he could provide.  So after nine and a half years, our professional relationship has ended, but our friendship will live on.  Thanks, pal-sie!  Here’s a link to an mp3 that showcases some of my favorites of John Beach. 

http://www.drakedonovan.com/demos/WZPT_JohnBeachSamples.mp3

 Tracey Morgan was the final casualty of Bloody January.  She held down nights, then middays on our country station since 1999.  Tracey was also our public affairs director.  One of the sweetest, most personable people you’d ever want to meet, those qualities that made her so nice in person also came thru the speakers.  A year or so ago, I planted the seed that she should begin doing freelance work.  She had no interest in doing voice-overs like myself, so I suggested she start a service for public affairs, booking and recording interviews for smaller market stations.  Now that she’s on the beach, Tracey tells me she’s setting up a home studio and a website to get her service off the ground. 

 It’s been a tough couple of weeks for my friends.  It’s also been rough on those of us left behind.  “Survivor’s Guilt” permeated our ranks and has slowly been fading away as we try to fill the holes left by these talented members of our team.  So if you can use ‘em, here’s how to get hold of John, Jonny & Tracey.  Tell ‘em Drake sent ya!

 www.voiceguy.org  or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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