The industry continues to pay itself with nice, warm gooey lip service.  "All is right with our world tonight.  We get it." 

They also continue to pay staff with lip service until they move up and above the allotted parameters of the pay scale for their specific job description/day part.  Once that threshold is even marginally scraped the employee is jettisoned in favour of the exact opposite of what this specific bullshit salesperson with the mouthful of samples is pandering about.

I used to tell the salespeople that we don't record farts and sell them so stop trying.  I lost THAT one.  The only thing that matters are the audience and the tunes.  [except to radio]

It's worth keeping in mind there are hundreds, if not thousands of very talented people across North America who do succeed and move forward because of that talent.  It's honestly not that often talent is promoted up, without there being some talent there, otherwise those doing the promoting are shooting themselves in the foot.  If anything, and I can't speak for Val, it would seem to be that talent is more important than ever.

I know the arguments, we're all numbers on a spreadsheet etc. etc. but even if that is the case, if you've worked and honed your talent, you're probably equally as well known to the PD across the street, if they are doing their job, than you are at the home station.  

Talent is still the most important factor, not in maintaining a job, but in maintaining a career.  As someone who has been 'fired' at least a dozen times, there's not once I look back and don't believe I'm better off because I was forced to move forward.  Being fired is an incredible hit to the ego, in this business especially there's few worse things to believe than you aren't wanted or appreciated.  But it's talent and perseverance that will ensure you are hired again.

I can think of many many people at Bell, Rogers, Newcap etc. who are incredibly talented and if you speak to them, believe that talent is appreciated and rewarded.  Yes, sometimes the best soldier takes a shot to the head in the trenches, but ideally they recover to fight on another day.

It's very easy to paint a 'sky is falling' picture, but it isn't.  It's certainly exponentially tougher to survive in today's industry than it was 20-30-40 years ago, but that doesn't mean people don't manage.

I read something in another thread that hit me hard.  "Would you do it all over again if you could".  My answer would probably be yes, but I've often counselled others to consider other career paths.  This is not a gentle business to be in, you can and do ended up getting treated unfairly, and if the adrenaline of 'being' in the business isn't enough to keep you coming back, you probably won't survive very long.  You will get chewed up and spit out.  That's always been the case, but in today's world there's an expectation that the job should be moulded to fit the individual.  Sometimes it feels like working in a coal mine where half the people don't want to get dirty, can't work in the dark and are claustrophobic, and expect that the role should be changed to accommodate them.