Who are the Watchers?

I've been watching TV my whole life. As most Gen-Xer's I grew up with the television as my babysitter and lived next door to my elementary school, so I was able to go home for lunch unlike most of the other kids. Since my parents worked, I was home alone. I'd turn on the telly to watch cartoons while I ate my PB&J sandwich. I couldn't tell time but I knew when Underdog was over it was time to go back. When I hit high school and music became the center of my world, I saw adults on TV shows become so out of touch with what was cool in the music world, I vowed I'd become a DJ so that I'd always know what music was cool.

Then, I met Bill during my first class at Columbia College. In addition, I was working at the student run station WCRX-FM and interned at a major Chicago radio station - WJMK-FM. After graduation I got a job as a board operator at a local Northwest Indiana station that aired a satellite feed called WZVN-FM. While there, I became the voice of Shelia in the Merrillville Glass and Trim spots. Shortly after I moved to WWJY-FM in Crown Point, Indiana and became the Morning Show co-host and News Director. I also moonlighted at a restaurant chain that dealt with a lot of "flair" (or did at the time) and learned that I could make more money as a hostess than at the radio station (which aligned to  the degree I had worked so hard to earn). That's when I got a call from Bill.

When Bill got promoted, they needed a new receptionist. I wanted a job that paid enough money to live on and had decent benefits. I interviewed and started that same day – that's when I joined the movie business world at John Iltis Associates (JIA). I answered phones, spoke to Roy Leonard, Mancow Muller, John Astin, and Kevin Sorbo (ask me about that one sometime). Sure I was just saying, "How may I direct your call?" and "Who may I say is calling?"  but hey, it all made me squeeee inside. After about a year I was promoted to an assistant working on print advertisements that list all the movie theaters, then I became the media buyer. Finally I was using my radio degree and knowledge! After about 9 years with JIA I went to another ad agency, FireStar Communications, where I used my media buying skills to benefit real estate developers. Shortly after the housing market crashed I found myself without a job.

After about 5 years of job hunting, with 8 months in the shittiest job I've ever had, I was accepted into a  job retraining program that had a very limited number of openings. I learned web design and development at Illinois Institute of Technology. Once the program was complete, I had a short stint at Starbucks as a Barista. Soon after that I landed on my feet at Responsys (which was then acquired by Oracle) working in email marketing. I built emails people signed up for from retailers with all the pretty pictures reminding you how you left something in your cart and you should come back and buy it. In 2018 I left Oracle and I'm now doing the exact same thing for an online retailer.

The whole time I was unemployed I continued to watch TV. Television was what kept me sane and from falling deep into an abyss of depression, self-loathing, and defeat. Shows like Scrubs, NCIS, Law and Order, and re-runs of Xena and Hercules kept me focused during the day. At night shows like Fringe, Sons of Anarchy, The Soup, In Plain Sight, and the Battlestar Galactica reboot helped me keep it together before bedtime. Being able to have the money to keep my Dish subscription was most important thing to me and helped me feel like my life was normal, well almost normal. What is baseline for normal anyway?

TL;DR - Television keeps me sane.  Life's too short to watch crappy TV.  I'm happy to watch the bad stuff first, so that you don't have to.

I have been involved in the radio/TV/motion picture industry since attending Columbia College in my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. While attending school I broke into professional radio at the former WWBZ-FM (103.5 The Blaze) as an overnight weekend disc jockey and subsequently held on-air/producing positions at several stations nationwide – including WNTK in New Hampshire, Q106- FM (CHR) in Vermont and WLS-AM 890 in Chicago, Illinois.

After radio I transitioned to the motion picture industry. I interned at 20th Century Fox films in their Midwest Publicity and Promotional office before accepting a position at John Iltis Associates (JIA), a Chicago-based national motion picture publicity and promotion firm. After a year, I was promoted to assistant promotions account executive for Warner Brothers, MGM/UA and Orion Pictures.

In 1998, I was hired as the Midwest Regional Promotions Manager at the former Loews Cineplex Theaters (now AMC Theaters). During my time there I created award-winning promotional campaigns for films before returning to JIA to become the Midwest Promotions Account Executive for Walt Disney Pictures earning awards for my promotions for "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" and "National Treasure."

In 2005, I moved to New Jersey and continued my public relations and promotions career as Manager of Publicity for Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey, and, subsequently, the Philadelphia Zoo. In 2009, I left publicity and focused on acting and voice-work for such clients as Comcast/Xfinity, CVS, Kayak.com and, most recently, as one of the in-stadium public address announcers for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Like Pattie, I've been an avid watcher of TV and movies since I was a kid. From the "re-runs" (remember those before we could binge-watch?) of "Star Trek: TOS – that my mom, JoAnn, introduced me to – to shows like 21 Jump Street, Knight Rider, ER, Saturday morning cartoons, the original BSG and more. I've always loved (LOVED) that warm blue light at home. Then, of course, finding a seat in a big-ass theater to watch movies like Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Lion King (from 1994 that is), Titanic (hey don't laugh, I love that movie, dammit!), the Marvel movies, and the list goes on. Hollywood does make magic...

...but a lot of times, it makes time-wasting crap.

I love movies, I love streaming and I want you to have the best experience possible in your home. Most of all, don't want you to waste your valuable TV time...that's my job for you.

Thank you for listening to our podcast!