I was honoured last night for 40 years in radio and when it was my turn to speak I found myself overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment. If I could go back in time and have a ‘do-over’ on my thank you speech, it may have sounded like this:
First off, let me just say thank you to every one of you for
taking time out of your busy lives to be here tonight. A number of you this
evening have told me that I was an influence in your life, which is both
surprising and gratifying. It may also be a surprise for you to know you were
also an influence in my life. There is an interesting lesson I’ve learned in
life, and I hope I’ve passed this on to my kids: everyone you meet has
something to share with you. When you meet someone, try to make the most of the
engagement.
I was fortunate enough to work in an environment that
encouraged this. Under the mentorship of Jerry Forbes, 630 CHED was truly a
family of people who genuinely cared about and engaged with each other. People
were encouraged to explore new opportunities and were embraced for their
strengths. Jerry cultivated an atmosphere in which people wanted to perform because they didn’t want to let down their leader
or their coworkers.
Marty, thank you for your kind words tonight. You embody all
the best qualities of your dad and have felt like a brother to me for four
decades… whether your damn brothers vote to accept me or not ;) You have a
passion for excellence and continue to amaze me with your drive and insight.
It’s an honour to be worthy of your friendship.
Tamara, thank you for your continued friendship and
thoughtfulness. The book you and Jen put together is brilliant. I’ve never been
good at archiving memories but you’ve managed to capture my career perfectly. I
can’t imagine how much work must have gone into that project but I appreciate
it more than I can express.
Gord, thanks for your friendship. When I was a new Program
Director moving upstairs to guide the juggernaut known as 630 CHED, I had no
idea what I was getting myself into. You were always willing to spend time with
me, share your insight and offer support when I needed it most. I always value
the times we get to chat because I know it will be interesting and often lead
to an exchange of stories and laughs.
Doug, thanks for your comments tonight and for being another
valued mentor. It was an honour to serve on your senior management team. Under
your leadership the team always felt comfortable sharing their opinions,
knowing that our ideas would be well received and carefully considered. There
was often passionate and heated debate and always with the best outcome for the
collective staff as our objective.
To my wonderful family… where do I start? My time at work
often meant that you were making a sacrifice so I could be there. I am so proud
of all of you. Ben, you are pursuing your dreams with passion and showing
everyone what you can do. You’ve always walked to your own beat and I love
watching the journey. Alexa, you’ve always been an insightful, mature soul and
now you’ve become an amazing mother. Both of you kids are the kind of people I
would want as friends if we weren’t related. Jill, you are the best thing to
come out of my years at CHED. We were great friends at the station for years
before we fell in love. I still remember the day I was pulled into the Program
Director’s office and given a raise unexpectedly. When I left his office I
walked directly to your desk to tell you about it until I remembered that you
had left the station a week earlier. I turned around, disappointed and realized
that events in my life didn’t mean as much when I couldn’t share them with you.
Thanks for being my wife. I’m proud of you and I love you.
To everyone I’ve worked with – thanks for allowing me to
contribute and to be a small part of the magic. It really was magic… teamwork,
passion, commitment and decades of memories. I treasure every day spent with
you. Carry on.
And as for me… stay tuned. The best is yet to come!
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