Today was my last day on Fox 4. It’s sad because I was almost getting to the point of competency on the air doing traffic. I have had so many people say so many nice things that it’s going to be hard getting my huge head to fit in the car this morning after Good Day. I have already talked about why I am leaving in an earlier post but I will say it again here. I could not have asked for a better group of people to work with than the ones at Good Day. And hopefully they enjoyed having me around. Thank you for being so kind and tolerable to my corny humor so early in the morning. And thank you to everyone who encouraged me in my traffic career.
The guy that is responsible for starting my entire traffic reporting career ( as well as quite a few others) passed away yesterday- John McCarty. One of the best guys in this crazy broadcasting business, John brought a sense of decency and humor to the workplace and gave a very young and unpolished Todd Carruth a job producing and reporting traffic on the air in a top ten market. I am forever thankful for that chance.
I also have a personal connection to John since both our families have members that work in the HEB school system and my thoughts and prayers go out to them this week.
I am still shocked. I tried to call him two weeks ago and he had just left for home.
John, you made me a better broadcaster and a better person and, like so many others, I will miss you.
Well, technically it’s 2 days and then 1 week and then no mo Fox fo me. It’s kind of surreal right now because I have people coming up and saying they’re upset that I am leaving but they understand the situation and are happy for me. It’s nice that people are NOT happy that I’m leaving. It’s the ones that just say congratulations. As in “congrats. It’s about time you left.” Of course, I could be reading too much into that.
I am so excited about the amount of time I am finally going to have to do some creative things that I have been neglecting for almost 4 years. Writing music, drawing, working out on a regular basis. Learning FLASH, CSS even PHP and Ajax.. All these internet things that I have just skimmed the surface of and now I have time to dig deep.
Plus, I get to eat breakfast with my kids. Now that’s pretty cool.
BTW, check out the poll over on the right side and feel free to participate.
First off, I want to say thanks to everyone who has wished me luck on my new job. I am very excited about the direction that I am going although I fully expect to keep a finger or two in broadcasting in some way. At least a big toe. Seriously, being on the air is like a drug and EXTREMELY hard to stay away from so don’t be surprised if you see (more likely hear me) pop up somewhere.
On a different note, I went to my first heavy metal concert on Saturday night. I saw local band Sling at the Curtain Club and even met some of the band members who were friends with my buddy, Joe. Now speed metal is not my type of music, but I could tell these guys were talented musicians plus they had some hot groupies. Curse you ten years of piano lessons! Why didn’t I ever learn to play the guitar?
It was actually kind of fun watching the band from the upstairs bar and seeing 4 guys try to create a mosh pit. I was going to dive in and start thrashing but I had my good shirt on and I didn’t want hurt anybody.
Well, I guess the cat is now fully out of the bag. In case you haven’t heard from Uncle Barky or little Timmy, I won’t be doing the Team Traffic thing anymore on Fox 4 after this month. And let me just reiterate that I really really really enjoy being a part of Good Day and Fox 4. I mean, come on, I work with my best friend from college (Chip Waggoner), get to make crazy eyes to Megan Henderson in person, annoy the best stock market mogul/weather guy in Dallas (Evan) and learn sarcasm from the master (Tim).
Who wouldn’t want that job?
The problem was the hours. And before you say, “Boo hoo, Todd has to get up early”, Hey man! I don’t mind getting up early. It’s just the getting up and then staying up and working two jobs to make ends meet. The traffic gig was just part-time. I tried to convince FOX to do traffic during Regis and Kelly but for some strange reason, they wouldn’t go for it. I’m tired of coming home at 6pm and seeing my kids for 2.5 hours and then going to bed. And being a single dad with twin 14 year old boys is enough to wear anybody out.
I’m tired of being tired.
When this opportunity opened up for me to do something that I really enjoy and still be comfortable, I felt like I had to jump on it.
Am I going to miss being on TV? You bet. It’s a rush and I was lucky to be part of a group of people that I will truly miss seeing in person every morning.
Earlier this week, I tried to post the Bill O’Reilly meltdown. That video got yanked by youtube pretty quick. But not before the genius that is Stephen Colbert was able to do his own interpretation.
Tonight my family and I are eating hamburgers for a good cause. 20 year old Andre Lampkin, a former football standout at LD BELL High School, is fighting to stave off the loss of his arms and legs to bacterial meningitis and the Bell Booster club has set up a charity dinner to raise funds for the treatment. As the parent of a soon-to-be Bell Football player, I can only imagine what the family is going through and I hope and pray this young man recovers.
You can read more here.
I really dislike Bill O’Reilly. I think he is disingenuous at the very least and this old clip make me giggle.
WARNING: NOT FOR YOUNG EARS- MULTIPLE F BOMBS DROPPED!
I saw local band 
Well, I guess the cat is now fully out of the bag. In case you haven’t heard from 
Tonight my family and I are eating hamburgers for a good cause. 20 year old Andre Lampkin, a former football standout at LD BELL High School, is fighting to stave off the loss of his arms and legs to bacterial meningitis and the Bell Booster club has set up a charity dinner to raise funds for the treatment. As the parent of a soon-to-be Bell Football player, I can only imagine what the family is going through and I hope and pray this young man recovers. 
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