Radio Flashback

Many years ago when I was a music jock, there was a shelf in the studio at this particular station where all of the shared magazines were filed; People, US, Entertainment Weekly – you know, the staples of show-prep nuggets, in the days before everything was available online. One day, I picked up the first few mags for a pre-show scan and much to my surprise, out slid a skin mag. I’m not talking Playboy or Penthouse but something much more hard-core along the lines of Huge Skanky Jugs. It had a really nasty photo on the cover and let’s just say its intent wasn’t subtle. Remember, this is a shared work area, to be used by all, for magazines purchased by the station or brought in by staff. We had our own lockers and locked drawers for essentials like lunches and porn. This was inappropriate.

The boss agreed. Sort of. He paid lip service to a belief that porn had no place in the workplace and said he’d ask around and get the magazines put away but nothing happened. They multiplied and landed in the common pile. It went on for weeks.

So one night I took Whores On Parade for a walk down to the far end of the building and dropped it in the garbage. End of problem, right? Wrong. Later that week, a crisp new copy appeared. Then it went for a walk. And another copy appeared. This was getting expensive for someone. Those glossy photos in Young Wet Bitches don’t come cheap.

Eventually the magazines stopped showing up and I ended my little anonymous protest. I’m no prude. Read what you want and do what you want while you read it. But there are lines to be drawn and I still think this is one of them. The workplace is no place to subject someone to your peccadilloes. If you really need to prep with Buffed Muff Weekly, you need to do it at home.