The Bittersweet Goodbye of Broadcast News

It was 1998, and an anchor was leaving the newsroom. He was an experienced guy, moving on to a different market. We were all going to miss him. His co-anchor was in tears, and he was stoic about the whole thing. As she said goodbye to him and walked off, I said “Oh, she’s so sad – I feel bad for her.” He said plainly “I’m her first co-anchor and she’s emotional. It gets easier as you spend more time in this business”, and he shook my hand and wished me well in my producer dreams and I never saw him again.

He was right – kinda. It gets easier, yes, but it also gets much harder.

Today someone from my staff texted and asked, “Can you talk today in private today?”. My stomach sank. I knew. I just knew.

I said I could and when I saw her come to work, I said, “How about now?”.

She had gotten another job. It was somewhat of a dream job. She cried, I pouted, but we both celebrated the new adventure in front of her. I always tell people “Tell whom you want to tell first, and I’ll send out a note tomorrow. It’s your news to share and people you are closest to should hear it from you.” Plus, keeping a secret in a newsroom is like trying to keep water in a paper towel. It always leaks.

It’s the way of the small market newsroom. Heck, even medium and big markets. People move on, chase dreams, explore new adventures. Lord knows I’ve wanderlusted around this country so much I have a sticker on my car that reads “Not all who wander are lost.” Because we aren’t, we’re finding a little more of ourselves in each step of life and the new city we explore.

When I first started this cross-country tour of broadcast news, I had BIG going away parties. Historic parties. Drinking like it’s the last time I’ll ever see any of these people again. For some, it was. For the special ones, you never are “away” from them, you are just at a distance. We all communicate one way or another whether it’s 5 days later or 5 decades later.

Now, my parties are more non-existent. I have taken on the “I don’t want a going-away party, I just want to go away” mentality. I know those drunk, blurry moments aren’t when the memories happen. They happen each and every day, with the challenges news brings, the life adjustments we make in our new newsroom, and through the day-to-day conversations that shape us into someone ready to move on.

At a party for a colleague around the turn of the century, she tried to leave her own going away party 10 times but kept coming back in tears promising we’d stay in touch. We all “Yep! Of course! You can’t get rid of us!”. Finally, when she was gone for good, the person sitting next to me said “We’ll never see her again”, and I punctuated “Nope.”

It’s just the business.

There are the special people, the soul mates you find in colleagues throughout your time that will always be the bestest best friends. I had a moment when I left Las Vegas the second time when I stood with my two best friends in the parking lot of the station and we just hugged. And hugged again. This was after a goodbye lunch AND a going away party. But some people just are impossible to actually say “goodbye” to.

Employees bear the fear of “What is the next place is worse than this one?”, “What if nobody likes me?”, “What if I am not good enough?”, “What if that salary increase isn’t enough?”, “What if I miss home?” while Employers bear the “What will we do without him/her?”, “What could I have done to get them to stay?”, “How can I chain that person to their desk so they can never leave?”.

We all have ridiculous thoughts in the waking moments of “I’m leaving” when a solid employee is moving on.

I know it’s a common saying in news that “Everyone is replaceable”.

I argue that every POSITION is replaceable, but not every person.

No way. Some people stay in their crappy newsroom chair long after they are gone and sitting in someone else’s crappy chair. Their handwriting on the whiteboard is something you don’t want to erase. Their spirit lingers in the air at the next breaking news event.

Eventually, both sides embrace that “what could be” and life goes on.

I'm not quite there with this current position, but I am happy with her happiness and I will start the search immediately knowing they are big shoes to fill. Who else is out there? What can they bring us? What can I teach them? Are they going to be the next great investigative journalist? Are they going to be the master of live shots?

Social media has made it so much easier to say goodbye, we keep the “good” and leave the “bye” because we’ll see them in our feeds (if we so choose) and they are never more than a text message away.

Today I also had to say goodbye to someone who is leaving my company, and it’s the right decision for him, but the wrong decision for me because I've grown to love this person being a quick message away. I’ve been as supportive as I can and even offered these wise words of wisdom as the last text as “colleagues”.

In phases of life, what you want out of work and life can change, either rapidly or a slow etching of time and priorities. Saying “so long” is just part of the outcue of broadcast news life.

If you’re lucky, people are sad to see you go. If you’re talented, you’ll have left a mark on the station. If you’re smart, you’ll keep in touch with people who helped shape you. If you’re humble, you’ll pay it forward down the road to help others on their own path.?