The One In Which Rob Gets A New Job

The ink is still wet on the contract that I signed.  The one that says I am now employed (well, I start in 10 days).
It's been a long time coming.  Back in May of last year, when I was employed by MBS Radio, the CHTN portion of Magic 93/CFCY/CHTN was forced by the CRTC to go out on its own, and with it, a large portion of the staff went too.  What happened was CFCY and Magic 93 were MBS stations, and CHTN was a Newcap station.  Because of the small size of the market, it was deemed, a number of years ago, that it would be in the best interest of all to pool resources and building and office, and all work together.  Then, last year, the CRTC reversed that decision and said that CHTN would have to move into its own digs and operate as a separate company.  So, a bunch of people from the amalgamated MBS/Newcap group left with Newcap.

I wasn't one of the lucky ones to leave and become part of the Newcap family of radio station employees.  I stayed at MBS and continued working for MBS, a company, shall we say, not known for its affection for its employees.  One of the people who did leave was the Creative Director. He and I comprised the Creative Department, and so when he left, I was on my own for a period of time, until such time a second writer was hired.  I had assumed the duties and responsibilities of the Creative Director, with the promise of compensatory financial remuneration shortly in the future.  In good faith, I waited for that remuneration.  It never came, but the promises kept coming, however each time they seemed to be more and more vague.  So, in July, fed up with doing more work for the same amount of pay, and with no other job or prospect awaiting me, I gave my notice that I would be leaving the company.  I was asked to stay on until September and help train the people who would be replacing me.  Since it was in my interest to get paid that extra month and a half, I agreed.
So, in September, I left for good.  I had a bit of money in my pocket from Sketch stuff, and a couple of pretty good paying freelance jobs that came up right after I left, so I wasn't immediately concerned about money.  Too, I was fortunate to be eligible for EI, since they agreed that leaving the position was an option that I was more or less justified in taking.  So, while the money wasn't flowing in, we were able to get by more or less.  As the months wore on into the new year, the "get by more or less" kind of swung to the "less" side of things.  Not a lot of prospects in terms of jobs, and the ones I applied for didn't happen.
A couple of months ago, I was made aware that CHTN (Newcap) would be, sometime soon, hiring a bunch of new staff, and one of them was a second Creative Writer.  I pinned my hopes on getting that job.  It's a job that I quite enjoy and one that I seem to perform well.
So, the anticipatory waiting began.  It seemed to take forever for the job to get posted.  First they had to wait (forever) to get CRTC approval on their switch from AM to FM.  That came (in February, I believe), along with the approval of adding a second FM station for Newcap.  Then came the wait for when the switch to FM would take place.  Maybe in May.  No, maybe in June.  July?  Probably July.
Finally, the job I was hoping for was posted.  I applied.  It took a couple of weeks for a response on my application.  In those couple of weeks, I had pretty much talked myself out of any chance to get the job.  I was feeling kind of low.  Like I said, I had kind of pinned my hopes on this job and the more I told myself I was a great candidate for it, the more the back of my mind told me I wouldn't get it.  Finally, I was asked to come in for an interview.  It went okay.  Another 10 days of waiting.  Then, last night at 5:30, I was offered the job.  I was asked if I needed any time to think it over.  I said I'd been thinking it over for a number of months, and agreed to accept the offer.
So, today I went in and signed the contract.  I'll be making a nice chunk of change more than I was at MBS.  From all accounts from my former MBS colleagues who made the move last year to Newcap, they are a fantastic company to work for.  Best of all, many of the people who moved from MBS last year were the people I most enjoyed working with at MBS.  So, I'll be reunited with them all, and I won't have to go through that awful "new guy" period where I'm learning names and protocols, etc.
So, I'm pretty pleased.  It'll be great to work again with these people, and exciting to work at a radio station that, at this stage, really seems committed to giving PEI a couple of radio stations that will be fun to listen to.
Yay for me!