WebKittyn Warbles
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The Ballad of Bruce Whine (or Dude, Your Show SUCKED)
Come on in, sit down and grab a drink and a nibbly. I have a story to tell. It might get a bit long, it might not always be entertaining but overall it's not the worst of stories and when it's over you can sit back and say "man am I glad I'm not this buttmunch." We'll call our little story "The Ballad of Bruce Whine."
Those of you not in the know, please allow me a little background. Darkstar, Deathsquad, Meathe and I own a happy little internet radio station. While we don't claim to be anything special, we are legal and artists get paid their royalties and it costs us a fair amount each month to run. While we don't take it as seriously as we probably should, we do have a modicum of standard in who and what we put on the air. Lately we've had hardware issues and haven't really been up and running but that's a whole other story. We're in the past in our little story here.
We've had many on-air hosts come and go in the 4 years we've been around. Some left on good terms, some on not so good terms. Some, like AKA Monty, moved on to bigger and better venues and now have really popular shows. Some, like PatrickD, the Bear, Hecubus, Johnnie Generic and Kineada are always welcome back at KMRL should they get the want to broadcast again.
Some are just shitheads.
Speaking of shitheads... One of these former on-air hosts had some pretty nasty shit to spew today and if you know me you know I'm not one to take shit quietly. I don't do quiet, if you want quiet go start shit with someone else.
We had an 'on-air talent' (I use quotes as that's a mis-label and from hereon he shall be referred to as 'no talent hack') that we put on basically as an act of charity. A downtrodden soul who, due to his own arrogance and inability to get along with homosapiens, found himself ousted from a lucrative vocation he made good money at and met some friends. He's a big of an odd duck, stuck in old television cop shows and movies and not a very social fellow. It was more than a vocation, it was a lifestyle and he lost a lot when he lost it, even if it was his fault.
People went to bat for him. People took pity on his high level of the pathetic factor and went to bad for him. People within the company who had pull tried their hardest to save his soul but it was lost to arrogance and stubbornness and that cursed inability to co-exist with homosapiens.
Time went on for our sadsack, he found a few other jobs but somehow always seemed to either get canned or leave within the first few months (or was it weeks).. Never his fault, mind you, always the fault of someone out to get him or someone didn't like him or it just wasn't working.
Somewhere along the way, one of the elves suggested that perhaps a radio show would be a good thing for this lonesome loser. It's fun to get on the air and talk about whatever you want. It's a good feeling to see people coming to your chatroom and wanting to hear what you have to say. Not that it's a needed form of validation but it's a good feeling.
We the owners were dubious. Yes, he is of standard intelligence and can be funny when the mood is full on the third Saturday of every other month but is he radio material? Why not, let's give the schmoe a chance.
And thus the era of Bruce Whine was borne unto KMRL.
I'm an honest woman. I can admit when I've made a mistake. I know when I'm wrong. Man was I wrong and this was one hell of a mistake.
The reign of ineptitude and attitude lasted 26 weeks, that's half a year. I give myself and everyone else credit for putting up with him and it for half a year. It was a painful half a year.
I have an initial email I send to all new hosts, it's a pretty complete set of instructions on how to do a live show. Combined with access to the DJ forums, it's never been a problem. Until this lad. It just did not click. He took no time to practise, didn't feel the need to try and work on things and week after week it was the same stupid mistakes.
Not to mention the same music. Now I happen to enjoy the soundtrack to "The Big Chill" but not everyone does, particularly people under 40. Yet there it was week after week along with the same 4 or 5 Billy Joel songs. Every week. Over and over.
Along with the ineptitude came the attitude. He insisted he was 'professional' even though the station was 'just a hobby.' He refused to alter his format when reminded he had been brought on to do a pop culture TALK SHOW, not an oldies music show. He came into other shows' chatrooms and called the host 'boring' during the show. He refused to post in the forums and mocked posting in the blog even though it's the only rule we really have. He had NO LISTENERS that the owners didn't drag in kicking and screaming or who showed up because they felt bad for him.
In 26 weeks he did 13 complete shows and either bailed on the other 13 at the last moment or didn't bother to do any prepping and had "PC issues" causing the show to end 15 minutes after it started. He came on drunk one night and couldn't work winamp.
He had to go. $200 a month is too much for some clown to come along and make us look like we suck more than we do. Believe it or not, people pay for ad space, who the hell wants ad space on a babbling moron who can't work a computer's show???
He was removed and apparently had been harboring one hell of a grudge since then and I'm tired of it and I'm calling you on your bullshit, Mr. Bruce Fucken Whine. Your blog posts are all still there, your crap schedule is at the bottom of this post. You call yourself professional, no wonder no place is rushing to hire you.
You whine it's KMRL that did something to you, just like the two jobs YOU BOMBED OUT OF. Did it ever occur to you, even for a fucken nanosecond, that the problem lives inside of your head? 7000 interviews and no takers and let's face it, you fucked yourself out of the chances your friends set up for you. But it's us. It's the rest of the world out to screw poor your out of everything.
He devolved into a vile little thing who thought nothing of sharing personal business with co-workers of people, begruding gifts bequested by those recently passed on, putting a value only on those who will do for him or give him stuff.
He claims I am jealous of a former FM DJ he spends his time sucking up to. I hung out with Sean Hannity and Phil Boyce but I'm going to be jealous of a person I've never even heard of and I grew up on NY radio?? Hardly.
I do on occasion snark when I see him going out of his way to promote this place yet never once have I ever seen him promote KMRL, even when he was on KMRL. He claims to be close friends with one current and two former hosts but he never did a thing to promote them. He's never once re-posted any of Darkstar's show posts on FB.
I found this bothersome so I commented and was barraged with all of the above bullshit and more. Don't play those fucken games with me, I don't have the time to deal with asshats with attitudes. Your show sucked, your attitude sucked, your commitment sucked and your personality aint so fucken shiny either. I don't know how even you can twist facts to make it that we screwed you but shit dude, you screwed us every time you clicked broadcast.
And while I'm at it, why the fuck would we ask you to be on for the Blogathon? Did you even know Jeff? We didn't ask anyone, Hecubus was kind enough to offer his time, as was Darkstar. Did you want an engraved invitation?
Your own friends who have known you longer than a few months have tossed up their hands in frustration and walked away. Some can see the user you've become, the 'do for me or you have no value' that rules your life. Some can see that you're never going to change your situation because you're never going to look inside yourself and change YOU.
I was one of the first people to respond every time you posted some wallowing self piteous bit of tripe, I was right there with support and good words. Little did I know you were harboring this childish grudge and making lies of how things really went down.
I'm done, I'm done giving a shit what happens to you or your situation. Just add me to the list of people who simply don't care anymore and probably would have helped you out if you weren't such a raging dickhead.
You'll tire this new crowd out sooner or later as well. I'd bet the ranch on it. It's just who you are.
So you go piss off now, go whine to the world about how unfair it is and how everyone's out to get you and the big S ruined your life and wal-mart won't hire you and you're too chickenshit to drive a car so you can deliver pizza so everyone should give you stuff. I won't be listening to it anymore.
Asshole.
You sucked. Your show sucked. You have the personality of fucken newt.
Over and done.
Complete KMRL schedule, can anyone see why this fucktard doesn't have a job?
09/16/08 - First Show
09/23/08 - Did Show
09/30/08 - No Show, "PC Problems"
10/07/08 - Came on late and drunk, cut out early
10/14/08 - Did less than half a show before PC crapped out
10/20/08 - Filled in for Kineada
10/21/08 - Did Show
10/28/08 - Did Show
11/03/08 - No Show, had company
11/09/08 - Moved to Sunday after the Bear, did show
11/16/08 - Did Show
11/23/08 - Did Show
11/30/08 - Did Show
12/07/08 - No Show, he felt sick
12/14/08 - No Show, "PC Problems"
12/21/08 - Did Show
12/28/08 - Did Show
01/4/09 - Covered Bear's show but left after and didn't do his own
01/11/09 - No Show, down to "Gotham" for free drinks
01/18/09 - Did Show
01/25/09 - Did about 30 minutes before show crapped out over "PC Problems and Pop Ups"
01/27/09 - Covered my Show
02/01/09 - Did Show
02/08/09 - No Show, "PC Problems"
02/15/09 - No Show, "PC Problems"
02/23/09 - Did Show
03/04/09 - No Show, "PC Problems"
03/11/09 - Did Show
03/18/09 - No Show, he was depressed
3 Cover shows
26 regular weeks: 13 complete shows, 13 either no-shows or half shows
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Heather, I am sorry. I will not argue more than a few of the minor details. except to say that many of your comments were cruel.and over the top. and do not reflect how I feel. at times we have both been unfair and cruel. and I never felt I was getting “support” from any party at KMRL. there was at that time a terrible LACK of communication between us that contributed GREATLY to my feelings in general . and I let my personal feelings and disagreements that we shared affect me in ways I never intended. there are “No Perfect People”. I could have done better for you. there were any number of times I tried very hard to do MORE with the show. I worried from DAY ONE, about the content, voiced that opinion several times. and it fell on deaf ears. I also tried to be as respectful as I was able to be with regard to YOUR “less than perfect” state at the time. You were very Ill. and under terrible pressure and stress, and I am well aware I contributed to that and for THAT I am also very sorry. I will defend to the end how HARD I worked and tried to do my best to bring “a little something different” to the KMRL airwaves. and True or False, YOU and several people told me you liked what I was doing at least at the time. whatever your feelings about ME may be, TRY to remember I am a person, with a soul and a heart, and NOBODY likes to be insulted, dismissed, and needled mercilessly, and when I feel “attacked”, I push back. we are not so different Heather. in fact we share more in common than we differ over. please try to see both sides of the coin before calling people names. one and only ONE detail, I would like to correct was your point about “Blogathon”. I had no interest there. it was the “Begathon” I was referring to. I wanted to HELP you get the station back up!. in some small fashion. since financially we know I was unable to contribute. and YES I had many issues with my PC during my tenure with KMRL. they could not be helped. however, I ALWAYS posted when I was unable to do a show on the blog. if not in the forums. and again, we spoke about that and I thought you were “cool” about that as well so I didnt pursue it. I am sorry you feel my time was in vain and a mistake. I had a lot of fun during my tenure. and I hope one day we can achieve “commom ground” again. it is always sad to lose people who you value in life.
on 08/25 at 10:31 AM -
"You sucked. Your show sucked. You have the personality of fucken newt.”
My dear, that’s an insult to newts. They have feelings too ... albeit slimey cold-blooded ones ... but feelings just the same.
Nicki on 08/25 at 01:47 PM
<-- Steal me!
