A couple of years ago, Karel (pictured right,) a popular talk show host on KGO-AM (ABC-San Francisco) said something ill-advised inadvertently on the air. Management replaced him with me.My program is very different from Karel's entertainment-centric show. Mine consists of career tips, three-minute career makeovers on callers, an exploration of work-related policy issues, and a Last Lecture to end each show.
Alas, today I got a call from Jack Swanson, KGO's director of programming, who said that Karel has served his penance and so will be returning to his spot. My last show will be March 20.
While I'm sad, my feelings are moderated by the fact that I did give it my best shot and that KGO gave me more than two years to make myself indispensable. I have no ill feelings toward KGO. It's a quality organization. A special thanks to my producer J Westerling and engineer Anthony Young.
I'm grateful that I continue to host another radio show--on KALW-FM (NPR-San Francisco), Sundays 11 am to noon, archived for a week on the NPR site and permanently on my website. The show is similar to the KGO show except that there are no commercials and I interview some pretty smart people. I've done hundreds of half-hour and full-hour interviews with the likes of Craig Venter, Alan Dershowitz, Jack Welch, Deborah Tannen, Richard Dawkins, F. Lee Bailey, Noam Chomsky, Bjorn Lomborg, Robert Reich, Cokie Roberts, and a week ago, Richard Florida, HERE's a link to more info on both the KGO and KALW shows and to the archive.
After hearing the news that I was being replaced on KGO, I've tried to model what I coach my clients to do: aim for something even better. So today, I emailed an invitation to the people in the world I'd most want to interview on my KALW show: Steven Pinker, Richard Posner, Jeffrey Sachs, Freeman Dyson, Daniel Dennett, and Bill Gates.
Update: I've now received five yeses and no nos: Posner will appear Mar 27, Dyson on May 15, and Pinker, Sachs, and Dennett in the fall, dates to be determined. That's a great balm.
I'm grateful for all I have had and continue to have. I hope to be able to continue to serve you through my NPR show, this blog, my tweets, and my career coaching for a long time to come.
