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If you’ve ever worked in media, broadcasting, production, or an industry that quietly automated itself out from under its own workforce, this will feel familiar.

In this episode of Confessions of a Gen-X Mind, I revisit a long, candid conversation I recorded years ago with my old radio friend, "Psycho" Dave Martin former and quite notable board op at Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket in Dallas. Much like Fred Norris famously helped shape The Howard Stern Show with 'drops' think quick funny sound bites, Dave help shape the sound and humor heard on The Ticket in the early days of the station. Dave mastered the art of the perfectly placed drop via the miracle of The Enco (broadcast DAW) It’s an unfiltered look at what it was really like working behind the scenes in radio as the industry shrank, automated, and slowly pushed people out.

We talk about remote gigs, bruised egos, thin skins, and the strange hierarchy of personalities that defined local radio in the early 2000s. We swap stories about hosts, engineers, board ops, promotions, and the moments that stuck with us long after the microphones were turned off.

But this episode isn’t just nostalgia.

It’s about survival.

Dave talks openly about getting laid off, starting over, and clinging to stability in an industry that was collapsing in real time. We get into learning automation systems just to stay employable, and the quiet shift of radio from a career into something closer to a calling. For many people, it began to resemble community theater more than a sustainable profession.

We also talk about why people stay anyway. The validation. The love of operations. The satisfaction of making the signal go out clean. The strange joy of being close to broadcasters you respect, even when the money, security, and future prospects are uncertain.

This episode pairs naturally with The Death of Gatekeepers and works as a ground-level companion piece. Not from executives or on-air stars, but from the people who actually made radio work.

If you’ve ever been laid off, automated out, or stayed longer than you should have because you loved the craft, this one will hit close to home.