Monday, April 8, 2024

Personal Growth From a Brutal Career Setback: A Story You Don't Know About Me

At one point in my life, I felt like I wasted about 3 years in disillusionment and disappointment. I was dwelling on why things didn't work out. I was in a top 5 market doing mornings, I was a syndicated morning show and I was on a great trajectory; and one day the rug was pulled out from under me. I was in a daze. I had just bought a house and it's ironic that the furniture I ordered was delivered on the day they replaced my show..Damn. It was a humiliating experience where they would not let me out of my contract, and decided to put me in the station promotional van, giving out prizes in the morning during the Steve Harvey Show that replaced my show. Could you imagine that? I have never forgotten that... Wow! They would not pay me out of my contract so I had to find another job to get out of that situation. A Lot of people don't know this about my career path, but it messed me up. I later went to Chicago after that which I will write about at a later time.

How do you recover from that type of harsh career disappointment? That was brutal. It took a long time for me to work this part of my life out. Thank God that I journal so I was able to sort out my feelings and analyze some things.(I'll Share some of those entries with you soon). Being a man of faith, I prayed to my creator and asked him to help me sort out things. I'm not gonna lie to you that there where many nights I did not go to sleep. I would stay up all night long writing, thinking and talking to myself. I realized that this episode was a necessary event in my life to help me become the man that I am today. "There is no Growth without pain". The media business is high risk high reward and you have to accept this reality. during that time I lost my brother and my mother, so I was under a severe trial.

I now teach others how to recover and manage disappointment. I vividly remember hearing Les Brown speak about losing his television show and wasting eight years of his life dealing with disappointment. Despite his energetic and vibrant demeanor, he too succumbed. It struck me when his son asked him, "Is this how it’s going to end Dad?" A radio vet Chris Clay invited me for coffee one morning and posed a similar question about my future. BJ is this it? 

As a 15-year-old boy in Goldsboro, North Carolina, the radio bug bit me hard in 1980. I had a clear vision of emulating my heroes like Tom Joyner, Doug Banks, and Donnie Simpson (I'll talk about my relationship with these men later articles). Despite doubts from others, I pursued radio passionately, working at three stations simultaneously during college. Some family doubted the viability of a radio career, but I remained steadfast in my dreams. 

So that young boy that was so excited about pursuing his radio dreams was sitting in my head with his hands up asking the question, "Are you coming back to get me"? It took a minute but I went back and grabbed him by the hand and said let's continue. And that's what I'm doing today. I plan on working well into my 80's (God willing)  on my passion to be great at radio.

If you are stuck right now from disappointment. Let me help you learn how to recover. I am a non judgemental friend. Contact me..bjmurphyshow@gmail.com

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