Typical day stays full of fun, stress

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Cecil’s World in Print. Can you believe Christmas is less than two weeks away? I’m not kidding. It will be here before we know it.
In January, I will start my 36th year with WBTW News13 and, believe me, I have enjoyed every minute of it because I do something different every day.
It’s a fun job, but it keeps me busy. Some of my friends and people who know me, however, say the reason I have kept this job so long is because it is a “pie” job. Now, hold on. Somebody’s got to do it, and I was just in the right place at the right time to get this job. There is much more to my job than you realize. Let’s take a look at a typical day in the life of Cecil’s World.
My day starts early. I am at work by 7:30 every morning. The first thing I do is clean out all the junk e-mail — about 160 a day, except for Mondays, when I have nearly 450 to look through. Then, I answer all the personal e-mail that is sent to me, no matter what it is or what it is about. If people take time to send me some e-mail, I will answer it. I receive all types of e-mail — everything from jokes, to invitations from restaurants wanting me to come and do a “Cooking and Eating” segment with them. I also receive some great ideas from people for “Cecil’s World” features, so please keep those coming. It usually takes me about an hour and a half to do my computer work. After all that hard work, I take a break. I’m just kidding.
Then a photographer and myself are out the door and “on the road” to the Cecil’s World shoots for the day. We shoot four shows a week: three “Cecil’s Worlds” and one cooking show. Now I hear some of you saying, “That still sounds like a pie job to me.” Well, hold on, I also have to seek out and find these neat stories in our coverage area.
After we shoot the “Cecil’s World” show, I have to write them. The shooting and writing takes about three to four hours. By now it is nearly 2 p.m.
No, I did not forget about lunch. I normally grab something and eat it on the road. I also write for two newspapers, so every week I have to come up with a different topic to write about. It normally takes me about three hours to write my weekly columns.
I hear some of you saying, “Is that all you do?”
No, there’s more. I started my broadcasting career as a radio announcer back in 1968 and radio has always been my first love. I now am doing Internet radio in Myrtle Beach. I play beach and classic hits from the noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday on www.grandstrandradio.com. It’s so much fun, and on Fridays, it’s the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show, with nothing but oldies from the ’50s and ’60s.
Do you still think I have a pie job? Since some of you think I do, I still have to go and do my “Cooking and Eating with Cecil” segment, and I think I will cook a pie. Yes, you are right, no matter how much work I do, I will have to agree with you. I have a pie job and I love it.
My grandfather once told me that I was so lazy I wouldn’t work in a pie factory tasting pies. If he could only see me now, I get the pie, and I get to eat it.
That’s it for another segment of Cecil’s World in Print. See you next week, right here in the Morning News and on the tube.

— Cecil Chandler is a veteran reporter at WBTW News13. His column appears Mondays in the Morning News.