Fixing The Line

by Mike Davis

It's been a long day at the Philadelphia airport.

I still haven't gotten to where I am going, Las Vegas, but at least I know I have a good chance of getting there now.

The day started out "routinely" enough... Drive to the airport. Park the car. Get to the terminal. Get through security. Get on the plane. Go. Get there.

I sure have been reminded today that many unexpected things can happen within that seemingly short chain of events. The drive to the airport part was longer than expected, the off site valet parking place ended up being well off the beaten path. I arrived, after allowing for 30 minutes to get lost 25 minutes late after that. Driving to the airport didn't happen on time to catch the flight as the main road that gets there had a water main break.

But wait, there's more.

When I got to the airport, the economy parking lot was full and the only spots open were ones with short term rates. I decided to go in search of another off site place to park at that point- deciding not to go back to the original place as I was unsure of how I even got to the airport and didn't want to try my luck back-tracking. I had no idea where to look. About 1/2 mile away along the road I found myself on, I found a place which worked out to be about the same price as the economy lot so I drove in and got a ride in their shuttle to the terminal.

When I got to the terminal, there was a line the likes of which I haven't seen in probably 8 years waiting to check in or talk to ticket agents. Several flights had been cancelled and a lot of people need to re-book flights. I was told if I got myself on the standby list for the next flight going out within 2 hours of my original flight I could wave their usual fee. My larger concern as I looked at the seemingly endless line going from one end of the terminal to the other was that I wouldn't get to a ticket agent in time to get on the standby list in any useful point on a list, and I would pay the fee to boot.

I saw the self serve lines were infinitely shorter so I went up to one and tried to rebook on the computer there. I was given the message that I needed to speak to an agent. There was one right in front of me so I walked up to the counter and waited for her to help me. I stayed quiet and let her finish the flurry of things she was doing. She then looked up, took my now useless boarding pass and re booked me as standby on the next flight. Total wait time: 15 minutes.

Funny how a 15 minute wait can be perceived, depending on the context.

More developments. After a long security line (which I watched with fascination get exponentially longer after I got in it), I finally got to the gate. The flight was delayed 3 hours.
And the flight was overbooked by 10 people. And there were 10 on the waiting list. I saw the potential for a lot of waiting for me. I figured that, better than getting rolled over to the next plane where there were only 3 seats that could be taken before I got one, and then the next one, etc. - maybe it was worth it to go to the customer service desk and see if perhaps they could shuttle me to Las Vegas via whatever, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Boston, LAX, San Francisco, Maui Hawaii(why not?) or...?

So, over to the customer service desk I went. I got in what I thought was the line, directly in front of the counter, only to be met with scowls and sharp tones of "excuse me buddy, the line's over here".

Yup. there is was. Going off to the left, was a short line of people waiting to speak to the airline representatives behind the counter. They were enduring the situation at best. At one point the guy at the head of the line we were in walked over and roped off the area with a stand that the airline had in place to delineate where you should go. Finally, the small group of Asian tourists and the elderly man who were at th counter when I got in line both left at the same time and both representatives were free to speak with the two people ahead of me.

Now I was at the front of the line. A woman stepped up to where she thought the line was, stepping through the roped off area the guy ahead of me had created which had mysteriously come open again. Now I was making the "hey buddy" comment.

She stepped to the back of the line which was now meandering behind me a ways, threatening to go into the seating area and towards the windows. I looked at the people behind me, the empty line to the side, then said "I'll take the lead- how about we put the line back to where it makes sense?" They agreed, but no one moved until I did. Then, they all filed in behind me.

Finally it was my turn to go to the counter. The woman, let's call her Angela, listened to my story and started to look for ways to help me get where I wanted to go.

"You know, Las Vegas isn't the easiest place to get to."

"Get me there anyway you can, anything you can do." I replied.

Her fingers were busy typing. Occasionally she would stop, furrow her brow a little, then start again.

"Hmmm. hmmm. Nope."

"I can get you on a 3:30pm flight to Pittsburgh, but I can't get you out."

Then she looked up, looked at the line, looked at me, and the expression on her face changed.
A little more color came into her cheeks as she typed, reached over and gave me a boarding pass.

"Seat 19B, confirmed, on the direct flight leaving at 3:50. It's a middle seat."

Funny how an eight hour delay and a middle seat can be perceived, depending on the context.
"Thank you, thank you very much" I said, hurriedly putting the ticket in my pocket.

She looked at me and said quietly, "I'm not supposed to do this, but I appreciate you fixing the line."

"Next..."

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What Are You Holding on To?

Funny thing about how the human hands work- they can hold onto something, clutch something, and they can release it. Try it with any object you care to experiment with.

I am assuming you are thinking about something you can hold onto- anything. Clutch it really tightly. Now imagine that there is something else you want to have instead-- something that is much more appealing- much better for you- and you know it.

So, the thing to do, the simple, simple... so simple that it might seem for the moment to be be ridiculous to even mention it ... is to release what you are clutching onto to get that instead.


So--- go ahead. Let it go.

But wait...

There seems to be glitch in the plan, as many of us know.

That whole letting go of what we're holding onto part.

Yes... that would require letting go of what we are holding onto.

Without a sense of consistency, without a pervasive sense of of who it is we are becoming, and how each moment is either moving towards or moving away from that, behind what were are holding onto and what we are reaching out to have next, it can be so scary as to preclude any sensibilities we may have around the
subject... even though it is so simple... a sensibility that goes beyond anything rational or logical.

Without being aware of a sense of who it is we are being and who we are becoming, and that the thing we are holding onto needs to be let go of in order for that to continue to unfold, the process of letting go can feel impossible to realistically consider.

Not to say being aware of it makes it suddenly feel OK- it still is uncertain- but uncertainty and fear are not the same thing.

It is a difference though to consider letting go from that vantage point whether it be things like a death, a breakup or divorce, loss of a job, child leaving the nest--- or even more seductive at times, things like newly falling in love, a new job, or parenting a new child.


Consider this, the moment you are reading this--- that's it. You will never have that moment again. It's gone. It's never the same thing. It's always a different day. A different hour. A different minute. A different second. And it's the only one quite like it and it's only there once.


Who you are becoming becomes the only constant. That's it. And when we hold on to that which is time to be let go, we simply take ourselves away from that becoming- into something based on something historical- something that was, not something that is. In the illusion of holding on, we actually are taking
ourselves way from the only thing we can "hold on" to in a larger sense- the sense of ourselves that, while may not always feel good- or comfortable- or familiar- will in fact always give us what we really want in the first place... Our connection to who we really are.

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Paradigms and Communication Mediums - Radio

It was not so long ago, that Radio and TV were the preeminent modes of electronic communication. In the series here, this an article from 1986 on Radio, written from the point of view of it holding a different place in our collective consciousness than it does today. Who we were in relationship to it was much different. What's interesting here is how different, outdated and outmoded some these concepts are, and how other things have remained entirely similar...


RADIO PROMOTIONS: THE WHYS AND HOWS

Radio waves are everywhere. They are in every country in the world, and and most every country in the world uses them. In the united states, radios were used to transmit and receive signals primarily for military purposes. When radio started being used for purposes other than military, one of the first problems that arose was how to pay for it. In many other countries, the government stepped in and took control and in the U.S., it almost happened as well.

A station called WEAF though, started something that changed radio forever. The station sold time on the radio to someone who wanted to talk about his business. The strategy worked, and it became apparent that a way to fund radio was invented. No governmental intervention was needed. Today, the United States is the only country in the world that has a radio system that is not government controlled.

Advertising has come a long way from the early days of radio. The types of commercials done, and the way in which it is handled is much different. Today, there are a variety of ways in which a commercial is presented, from a disc jockey talking about a product to elaborate and sometimes expensive productions.

There are many reasons why an advertiser can be attracted to radio. Radio is a very far reaching medium, reaching into an estimated ninety-four percent of American homes. 1

Radio advertisers also have a lot of control over who it is that is being reached, due to the number of and variety of stations in any given listening area. 2

Choosing the appropriate audience and station that serves that audience is very important when looking to advertising on radio. (For instance, it would not do an advertiser much good to try and promote an offer for something like free beauty tips during the coverage of a football game or sell afro sheen on a country and western station.)

There are many different things that can be advertised, from goods and services, to the station itself. Promotions which are a very important form of advertising have many advantages. For one thing, it can be fun, not only for the listeners but for the radio staff itself. It makes things that the radio station does important to the listeners. It involves people and invites participation, and most importantly, it attracts advertisers. 3

Promotions can be used to bring in listenership when listenership is going to be predictably low. (For example, a time of year that a lot of broadcasters dread is the early part of January.) Certain promotions, like a year long promotion, can really help a time of the year when things ratings wise are in a slump. Getting prizes are very easy to do in a promotion of this size, and the lost revenue from either trading merchandise or purchasing something (although the former is much more common), can be a tremendously great investment for the amount of listeners it is likely to draw. 4

Promotions are a very useful idea also because although a percentage of revenue for radio comes from national advertisers, the local advertiser is radio's primary customer and it makes sense to work with that fact in mind. 5

In the past 40 years, promotions for radio stations themselves have significantly grown in popularity. 6

A popular form of promotion is known as the remote. A remote means that an event is broadcasted on location of that event. A remote has many advantages to the advertiser as well as the station. It gives the advertiser some very good on the spot publicity as well as bringing the radio station out into the community. Having a special event at a given location can greatly increase customer traffic. One example might be a laudrimat opening. A prize might be offered ("Be one of the first 100 customers down here at Joe's Laundry and receive 10 loads free".) Radio personality involvement can also be a fun idea for a draw. (Come on down to Joe's laundry and have your favorite morning man wash your clothes.) 7

There are risks to the advertiser, though. One of the most important aspects to doing a remote is a form of advertising known as saturation. This means that an advertiser should buy a large number of spots to grab listeners attention, and that can be a moderately sizable investment. If the turnout isn't heavy enough, it could be quite a financial loss after the radio bill has been paid and the "prizes" have been given out. It's a good for the advertiser though, if it's been done already and there's a proven record of it working. 8

Unfortunately, someone's got to be first.

Simplicity is another key factor. Too much information and detail given to the listener can be confusing and can tend to make people mentally tune out the event. A good rule of thumb to go by is, if it can't be said in thirty seconds, don't say it. 9

Advertising on the radio is a very powerful medium, and although many different forms can be used, advertising in the form of a live remote has many distinct and exiting possibilities. As Ralph Tangney of the telecommunications department at Mercer County Community College put it, "You've got to blow your own horn...If you don't blow your own horn, nobody else is gonna do it for you."


BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Handbook of Radio and Publicity Promotion
Jack MacDonald
Tab Books
Blue Ridge Summit, PA.
© 1970

Media in Advertising
McGraw Hill Inc.
New York, San Francisco, London
© 1964

FOOTNOTES

(1) Media in Advertising
(2) Media in Advertising p. 271
(3) The Handbook of Radio and Pub. Prom. p. 11
(4) The Handbook of Radio and Pub. Prom. p. 25
(5) Media in Advertising p. 270
(6) The Handbook of Radio and Pub. Prom. p. 11
(7) The Handbook of Radio and Pub. Prom. p. 270 p. 315
(8) The Handbook of Radio and Pub. Prom. p. 314
(9) The Handbook of Radio and Pub. Prom. p. 13

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While Playing Catch...

It was a bright sunny day; my girlfriend and I were spending much time indoors. I thought it a good idea to get outside and do something physical. Admittedly, except for dancing (I really love ballroom and swing... I love the concentrated rhythmic excercise... I've rarely come across a dance lesson I didn't like), going outside is something I need to talk myself into most of the time. Of course once I'm engaged in some activity I usually enjoy it - it just takes some motivation for me to get there.

She brought along a frisbee and a tennis ball to the park we walked to. I was happy about the frisbee- I am pretty good with it, and was looking forward to practicing a different throw to get better and have more versatility.

It was the tennis ball I was wishing she left behind.

I figured if we played catching the frisbee long enough she'd be happy with that and forget about the ball. I don't like playing catch with balls- not baseballs, tennis balls, softballs - anything small like that. Too many memories come rushing into my head about being picked last on teams in high school, or how many times I dropped one during a game to the dismay of fellow teammates.
We played frisbee and I was happy to just sit down on the grass an enjoy the sunshine. Just when I thought I was in the clear she stood up and picked up the ball.

I explained to her my lack of skill with catching but she insisted.

At first I was busy proving myself right. I found myself dropping throw after throw, feeling self concious and inept, telling myself to catch it and to stop being concerned it was going to hit me.

It suddenly dawned on me that I have conversations with people on a regular basis about shifting what it is they are paying attention to and very good at shifting people's experience so that it becomes external and very "now" oriented.

Why couldn't I do this in the physical realm with a tennis ball?

That's when the whole thing changed.

I stopped focusing on me catching the ball, and began focusing on my girlfriend- on the ball being back in her hand.

I immedietly noticed several things shifted in my experience:

1. My internal "running commentary" stopped - it was quiet in my head.
2. The speed of the ball soming at me slowed down.
3. I was aware of the ball she was throwing, not the ball that she threw before, nor the one she might throw next.

I was catching the ball most of time now instead of the inverse.

At the end of this experiment, I said "let's throw the ball untill we complete 3 times back and forth successfully without dropping it."

It was during the 9th time in a row she threw it to me without dropping that I dropped it becuase I began to think about what the 10th throw would be like.

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