De-Cluttering, then Re-Cluttering the Radioquarium

Radio studios, like pockets, briefcases and cars, attract papers, pens, paperclips and random notes that made sense once but now do not. Since 4 people use the control room in the course of a day, something lost can linger undisturbed. Announcers see something lying on the counter, figure it belongs to someone who will claim it, then a week later, it's still there, in the same position, untouched. After a week, I pitch it, unrepentant. The announcer taketh away, and the announcer giveth. In cleaning my desk, I recently discovered what remained of large, rolled-up sheets of peel-and-stick aquatic decor, sent to me by WCLV listeners in 2011 shortly after the station moved to the Idea Center in Cleveland's Playhouse Square district. Since our new control room was 50% glass, I called it the "Radioquarium." People in the hallway passed the control room, stopped, backed up, and did a double-take at the red, blue and green fish, seaweed, starfish, octopus, tiny goldfish and rocks on the glass, through which they saw the announcer at work. They shook their heads, laughed and went on their way. I reluctantly removed the decor when I got wind that some humorless colleagues were unenthusiastic about it. Yesterday, I discovered I hadn't put up ALL of it in the first place. So fish, dolphins, and starfish are back in business, in the depths of the Radioquarium. It pays to be a pack rat.