Shamelessly ripped from Signal site. Click pic for original
Reporters get all the glory, but behind every good report is some anonymous editor who’s doing less visible work and they deserve recognition too.
So it’s understable that after I posted Jonathan Randles’ goodbye piece that lowly copy editor Austen Montero became jealous and bitter. He rakes me over the coals and reminds us all not to forget the unsung and lowly-compensated but still important heroes of Creekside who bring us our news every day:
I recently left The Signal too, and I’m bitter that I didn’t get a blog shoutout. Jonathan Randles is a personal friend of mine, and I’m just plain jealous. Maybe it’s because I was just a lowly Copy Editor and the collective Santa Clarita Valley finds me faceless and incompetent.
So, Hello, I’m Austen Montero, former Copy Editor at The Signal.
So, yeah, Jeff, where’s my sendoff now? I spent exactly 20 months in that building. I was there on Sunday nights, when no reporter was to be found. I was there when the heaviest snow in 20 years dusted the shoulders of the Santa Clarita Valley like dandruff. I was there when my brother’s girlfriend’s friend’s friend drove his car into a garage, and though he claimed he wasn’t drunk, broke his high score on the breathalyzer. I was there when the roof of a Castaic gas station fell, and I had to resist using a quote from the (I’m sure legal) immigrant that went like this: Oh, dat Soopermang guy. He not combing, but ees whateeber.
I braved hungry children and fowl-addicted cretins to report on the grand opening of Chik-fil-A, braving the elements for an excruciating 24 hours. (Never mind getting the 52 free meal tickets). I sacrificed my waistline and cardiovascular health just to review KFC’s Double Down – Double the meat, double the cheese and double the bacon.
Where’s my sendoff now Jeff? WHERE’S MY GODDAMN SENDOFF?!
You should have gotten hazard pay for the epic story on Chik-Fil-A and KFC’s Double Down Austen. And we all appreciate your work during our 2011 Snowpocalypse Extreme event on New Year’s Day. Sorry for forgetting you but I join SCV Talk in wishing you and others all the best as you move on to better and hopefully more lucrative opportunities!
PS: My email box is always open for disgruntled former (and current!) Signal staffers. Drop me a line at jeff (at) scvtalk.com. Anonymity guaranteed.
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