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Back at Christmastime when I got a copy of $everance by Rick Kaempfer, if you would have told me that it would take me until July to actually finish reading it, I would have thought you were nuts… but it took a couple of two hour airplane rides for me to finally plow through it. That’s not a commentary on the quality of the book of course, I’ve just been a busy guy.

$everance revolves around Tom Zagorski, a morning DJ who does what many radio station employees have wanted to do at one time or another… he’s had enough of the ubiquitous budget cuts and emails the faceless CEO of the massive media company with a few “suggestions” for streamlining things even more than they already have. The problem is that the money-grubbing CEO loves the suggestions, and rather than firing Zagorski for his insubordination giving him the severance check he craves, he promotes him to second in command and takes his advice… putting basically the entire radio industry out of work.

I won’t spoil any of the story for you, I’ll just say that it’s absolutely hilarious, and a great glimpse into the world of corporate radio, from someone who has probably had his fair share of run-ins with corporate bureaucracy and budget cuts over the years.

Kaempfer was a long time radio producer in Chicago, before turning to writing and blogging. Proving that we may have been separated at birth, he runs blogs that deal with both the world of Chicago radio and the Chicago Cubs. Kaempfer also co-authored The Radio Producer’s Handbook with WTMX morning producer John Swanson.