Letter of Resignation

For the first time in my life, I am resigning from a job. For the past two years, I have held the title of station manager of CFUR Radio. I loved it, but the time has come for me to step aside and let someone else take it on. Here’s part of the letter I sent to the board and volunteers of CFUR explaining my decision.

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Hello all,

Many of you know, but some may not, that I am transitioning out of the station manager position at CFUR.

I was hired in January 2010. At the time, I was excited to take on leadership of a fully functioning radio station with space to grow and improve. There were many ideas discussed with the board and volunteers of ways to make an already great radio station even better.

Unfortunately, these ideas were soon sidelined by reality. Before too long, I became aware of a number of outstanding issues that, left unaddressed, would threaten the long-term viability of CFUR. These included aging infrastructure, outstanding files, and a not-insignificant amount of debt.

At the same time, I was offered short-term, part-time work at CBC Radio. In discussion with the board, we decided that it would make sense for me to accept the work, with the money saved on salary going towards addressing these deficits.

Two years later, most of the outstanding issues are dealt with or near an end. Finances are where they should be, forms have been filed, and we are close to completing an overhaul of our broadcast system. CFUR has a strong future.

Meanwhile, my work opportunities at CBC have increased dramatically. I’ve gone from an occasional fill-in to a full-time staff member. Technically I’m part-time, but opportunities for full-time work continue to present themselves and hopefully are not about to slow down.

On their own, either of these would be good news. Taken together, they are still good news, but they leave me in a bittersweet position.

There is no longer any reason for CFUR to have someone moonlighting as a station manager. It deserves and can afford to have someone committing to it as their primary work environment. After a lot of thought, I’ve decided that person will not be me.

I applied for CFUR as a recent graduate of UNBC who wanted to make a home and career in Prince George. I also had a strong attraction to working in the world of media. It’s difficult work to find, even in major centres. CFUR gave me that chance.

But outside of finding chances for myself, I want to help create chances for people with similar aspirations. Just as the original group of people who sat down to create CFUR over a decade ago created a situation where a young UNBC graduate could get an actual JOB working in campus radio in this city, I want to be a person who creates more opportunities for people looking for similar work ten years down the line. And I think I’m in a better position to do this by pursuing my chances with CBC.

In a short time at CBC, I’ve learned a lot about radio by working for one of the industry leaders worldwide. The access to knowledge and experience is incredible. And though I’m nowhere near as good as the people who’ve been teaching me, I feel like I do have knowledge to share with others who think they might want to pursue the craft themselves.

And so I’m leaving the station manager position, but I’m not leaving CFUR. I will continue to create content for it in my spare time, just as the rest of you do. And where possible, I want to help out with what I can. I plan to apply for a board position at the next opportunity, and if successful, continue to help shape the station’s future. I want to be available as a resource to people starting out as I did, just a few years ago, hoping to make a show but having no idea how. I want to be a resource to whoever is hired in the station manager position, so they feel confident and comfortable taking on what is an immensely challenging, but immensely rewarding, job.

My one regret is that so many of those big plans and ideas that were there at the beginning of my tenure continue to be nothing more than ideas. I wish I had been able to work with more of you individually, and that I could have been more available to you and the station as needed. In all honesty, I probably should have written this letter months ago, but did not. For that, I apologize.

Finally, thank-you. The reason CFUR has been and will continue to be a success is, first and foremost, because of all of you. It does no good to file forms and buy equipment, and then broadcast dead air or canned music. The passion you bring to your programs, the original ideas that get heard on CFUR and nowhere else, are the reason campus and community radio needs to exist. There is no genre of music or subject of discussion that is uninteresting as long as the person presenting it is passionate about it. The fact that all of you give your own time, week after week, to create your shows, is nothing short of incredible. Whenever I felt like the work I was doing was too much for too little, listening to CFUR was all it took to convince me otherwise. I hope you all feel the same.

Talk soon,

Andrew

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The post for station manager is up now at cfur.ca. I have no doubt that we will find someone with the same enthusiasm I had two years ago. There’s a lot of talk about how the internet is killing off old media, but I believe that radio– more so than anything else– stands to benefit and co-exist with the web, rather than be destroyed by it, and this holds true for community radio as much as something like the CBC. It’s exciting times in an exciting industry, and I’m honoured to be a part of it at not one, but two, truly great stations.