Rick Kaempfer worked for The Loop from 1987-1993, served as the executive producer for the John Records Landecker show on WJMK from 1993-2003, and returned to The Loop in 2004 to produce Spike, Dobie & Max. That was his last radio job. Since then, Rick has become a writer, author, and publisher. In October of 2004, Kaempfer co-wrote (with John Swanson) The Radio Producer’s Handbook (Allworth Press), a textbook about how to produce a radio show. At one point, it was being used as a textbook in 65 universities across the country. Rick has since written seven additional books, including... Read More
$everance
May 2007
Trade paperback
Now available via Eckhartz Press!
$20.00
A satire about the broadcasting business of the early 00s, and a predictor of the current media world we are now forced to live in.
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Rick Kaempfer
Author
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“Told with the keen insight of a veteran insider, it’s a humorous indictment of an industry that has lost all sense of purpose — except for making money, of course.”
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“Brilliant satire! I got a paper cut from the sarcasm. I wish I could say it was great fiction, but having worked in radio, I think it’s just really funny non-fiction. The reality in between the laughs will scare the hell out of you.”
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“Rick Kaempfer’s “$everence” is whiplash-fast, choke-on-your-coffee funny, and ultimately frightening. Kaempfer has seen it all in the radio business, and has some dire predictions for the rest of the media, too. It’s the summer’s must-discuss beach read – and probably a sign of the apocalypse.”
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“Severance is a black comedy that would be funnier if its darkness weren’t so true. And it crackles with the insights and cynicism that made Network and Broadcast News the seminal cinematic treatments of today’s dumbed-down news business. Move over Christopher Buckley—-Rick Kaempfer is in town!”
Summary
Not to be confused with the recent series on Apple TV. This was the story of the original $everance, released in 2007 by ENC Press, and now available via Eckhartz Press. This is Eckhartz Press co-founder Rick Kaempfer’s first novel. It’s eerie how many things have actually happened in the media world that were predicted in this cutting satire.
Tom Zagorski was one of the most popular morning radio personalities in Chicago for nearly twenty years, but the financial realities of the new corporate-owned media world make him obsolete. His boss is doing whatever he can (including public and private humiliation) to make Zagorski quit so he doesn’t have to pay the severance. Zagorski pushes back by passive-aggressively needling his boss into firing him — without ever crossing the line that could get him fired for cause.
When neither side budges after six months of battle, an exasperated Zagorski sends an e-mail to the CEO of the corporation, sarcastically suggesting a massive firing of anyone who doesn’t actually bring in money. Instead of firing Zagorski in a rage, the CEO takes the e-mail at face value, eliminating thousands of jobs and sending the stock price soaring. To reward the genius who came up with the idea, the CEO makes Zagorski his new COO.
Getting fired suddenly becomes a monumental task: Zagorski has become the darling of Wall Street. In order to get fired, he has to get the stock price to go down and/or irritate his mercurial boss so much that he can’t take him any longer. Zagorski takes great glee in pursuing both of these options, and, along with his on-air partner Richard Lawrence, plunges headlong into the world of media finance, politics, and personalities.