WHAT THE FINAL DAY AT WORK SHOULD BE LIKE.

The final day or shift at a job brings many emotions to mind. Some folks love their work but the company has to lay off workers. Others love their work but want a better position somewhere else. My last job was one I despised but I needed the money. I did nothing to mark the occasion except to make sure I hadn't left anything undone.


Most DJs move from town to town without much fan fair. Not so with an announcer named Bob McCord. I forget how long Bob worked at CHED but it was at least a few decades. On his last afternoon shift, he celebrated like nobody I've ever heard in radio.


On May 26, 1978, I stood at a bus stop after job-hunting all day. When I switched on my transistor radio, I couldn't believe what I heard. Instead of the usual disco trash, Bob was playing songs from the fifties. Between records and commercials, he interviewed friends who dropped in to wish him well


One of the highlights was when a listener arrived bearing a purple candle. He had received it many years ago from CHED for being a loyal listener. Bob reminisced about his Loyal Order of the Night People club and how he worked the seven-to-midnight shift at the time.


Along with friends attending Bob's farewell broadcast, a company had sent all sorts of goodies and beverages. After one record, Bob couldn't speak for a few seconds because he'd just stuffed his face with a pastry. His friends certainly took advantage of his goof to laugh at him.


Bob also had fun with his boss, Jerry Forbes. He happened to like a song called  "Click Clack" by Dicky Doo and The Don'ts. At the end of the song, Bob played a sound effect of somebody being shot. "What happened?" Jerry asked after a few seconds of Bob's giggling. "I just shot Dicky Doo and his Don'ts," he managed to say between laughs.


Adding to the party atmosphere, his long-time friends sang along with the oldies Bob played. Bob also told a story about being at a bar and the band leader said he was going to sing songs that nobody remembered. If anybody in the audience could, they'd win free drinks. Bob said he won a year's worth of drinks on the house for guessing those obscure fifties songs. He never did say if he collected on that offer.


I still have the recording from that day which I made as soon as I arrived home. That was the wildest show I ever heard on CHED. The station now has a news, sports, and talk format. I miss the old days when zany DJs played sound effects, made up characters which spoke with funny voices, and generally made listening an adventure.


I mentioned CHED and the rock music I loved in How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity. The elders of the house church often chided me for my long hair and my taste in music. For more information, visit the Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers web pages.