14 minute read
Karen Haze
from Woman magazine
— Ella Fitzgerald
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NO ONE SYMBOLIZES this belief better than Karen Haze. Born in Manchester, England, to a young mom who had her first child, a son, at the age of 17. "My mother was a baby herself when she had her first baby, my brother, who’s father was not in the picture. After becoming pregnant at 16 and running away from home, a man twice her age, and the Manager of a wrestling ring in a circus, took her in and asked her to marry him. Mom was thrilled to be provided with a home for her baby, albeit government subsidized housing. My mom was briefly ‘encouraged’ to be a wrestler also! I came along four years
By Judith A. Habert
Photos courtesy of Karen Haze
later, the product of a brief affair outside of my mother’s marriage. I was 16 before I found out that the father I lived with my entire life wasn't actually my dad. He had been abusive to my Mom, and we didn’t get along at all, so I actually received this information rather well.”
Growing up on a Manchester Council Estate was tough; when money for their home’s electric meter ran out, they had no lights, nor heat. Groceries often ran out before there was money for the next weekly shop. Karen and her brother thought their life was “normal,” as that’s how many of their neighbors lived too.
In elementary school, it was noted that both Karen and her brother were extremely intelligent, they were tested, and they both earned places at separate, prestigious Grammar schools. At the allgirls Grammar School, while making friends and having sleepovers, Karen realized her home life wasn't the same as the rest of her friends.
This new school had students who came from a much higher economic stratum then she did. This did not deter Karen academically nor socially, “Seeing how my friends lived made me hopeful. Their parents were affectionate and loving to each other, something I was not used to but liked a lot. Most people who lived on the council estate where I grew up were disparaging of those who were wealthy. I learned that there were no differences in the people, rich or poor, it was simply that they had been presented with different opportunities, made some good choices, put in hard work and perhaps had a little luck along the way. I wanted to work hard and achieve all I could achieve.”
So how did a young woman in Karen’s position end up in the U.S as a Corporate Development Executive for KPBS Public Media?
“I did my first study abroad program after graduating from High School, spending the summer in Spain. Towards the end of the summer, I hadn't thought about attending college; I knew there was no money for it. The family I stayed with in Spain was extremely affluent, and although the couple spoke little English, the woman kept pushing for me to leave Spain and attend college back in England. To appease her I told her that, yes, I would go to college and so she bought me a plane ticket that week to return to England, right before classes were to start." In reality, Karen had nowhere to go when she returned home, as her parents had divorced and her mother had left the family home. "I wasn't going to live with my "father," so for a short time; I was homeless. Actually, I was couch surfing at friends' houses, until my brother found a flat for us to rent. I was 18, and he was 22. It was a ramshackle mansion house that was hundreds of years old, it had been converted into flats, and it had no heat, no shower, no hot water unless you waited for an hour for it to warm up. In the mornings we would have frost on the inside of the windows, but we had a ton of fun in that flat, and I was happy to have a roof over my head. It was so dilapidated that they tore it down soon after we had moved out.
In the days after I returned home from Spain, I walked into the admissions office at Manchester Metropolitan University. It was the week before school started and I asked if there was room in any courses for me. The woman I spoke to found a place for me and filled out all the paperwork for grants. I also got a housing allowance for the flat, and I was on my way to getting the college education that I never thought possible."
Karen worked at a local shoe store through college, which in England is three years of study. After graduation, she knew she wanted to do more than live in the old, cold apartment and work in a shoe shop full time, there were few opportunities in Manchester at that time, and she had no money to fund travel to find new opportunities. "I found a study abroad program in America. With this program, they would fly you to American and could place you anywhere. They placed me in Washington DC for one year, and oh I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I first landed in New York for orientation. I was mesmerized
and excited by America."
Karen was studying Marketing at night and helping to take care of three young children in the family's home where she was staying. "It was here that I met a young American man and, by the end of the year, it became serious. When her year in America was over, this young man followed her back to England. He was an up and coming Chef in Washington DC at one of the best restaurants in town, but there were no restaurants of that caliber where she lived in England, so he went back to DC to continue his career. He wasn't there long when he called said he missed her and asked Karen to marry him and to move back to DC. She agreed, packed up some belongings and sold what was left.
Karen's first full-time job in Washington DC was as an Office Manager for a temp agency, four blocks from the White House. It was a great job, but it was not fulfilling. "It was just a job, I wasn't very happy and decided I needed to find something about which I was passionate At about this time, a friend asked if I would accompany her to an audition to be a volunteer at our favorite radio station, WKYS."
It was a fun volunteer job, with the opportunity to see concerts, go to movie premieres and station events. Karen went along for moral support. However, the people at the radio station had other ideas and recruited Karen, not her friend. "Volunteering at the radio station was brilliant, and I knew that I had found my passion." When they offered her a full-time job to work at WKYS, at the NBC studios, at less money than she was making at her current position, she jumped at the opportunity.
It was at this point that her fiance was offered a prestigious position as a Sous Chef at Lowe's Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego. They packed up and relocated to San Diego. On their drive from East Coast to West, they made several stops including Berkeley, where Damon’s family lived and Lake Tahoe, where they were married.
"Broadcasting was my passion, and over the years I would manage to work for just about every station group in San Diego, big and small. I worked for Clear Channel, which is now iheart. I worked for KPRI FM, KFMB AM/ FM/TV, Entercom and for then Mexican owned and operated XHRM FM. I held several different positions at the stations, including Promotions Director, Local Sales Executive, National and Regional Sales Manager. I have never been afraid to get my hands dirty.
Though her professional life was going well her personal life was about to take a major hit. " While I was building my career in San Diego, my husband was getting involved with drugs and having an affair with a waitress. I was devastated, and our marriage ended. We had not yet bought a house, nor had children, so it was a straightforward dissolution - at least on paper!"
“I realized I was on my own and 6,000 miles from home, however, due to the momentum in my career and the friends and contacts I had, I made a very conscious decision to stay in San Diego. I landed a position with KFMB TV and radio stations, which
was one of the most beloved broadcasting companies, it was family owned and operated and very well respected in the industry. I started there as an executive assistant to the General Manager.”
Radio consolidation began, and my then boss at KFMB was let go. I left to join a fast growing radio company named Capstar, which merged with Chancellor to become AM/ FM and then within a year, we were all Clear Channel employees. There were six of us in a corporate office responsible for overseeing 40 radio stations in the beginning and then it grew to 256 stations.”
So Karen worked on her career and caring for her son, Finchley, "I tried to make the relationship with Finchley's father work, but he was absent evenings and weekends with his music, triathlon training, soccer, and squash. Family life wasn't happening; except for my son and I. By the time my son was eight years old, I decided to separate from his father."
Finchley was diagnosed with a serious neurological medical condition at age 7, so on top of being a single parent, Karen had to be there for her son through several hospitalizations and many doctors and therapists visits. Karen's son is about to turn 18, is doing great health-wise, is a straight-A student and is off to college this coming year.
Karen was delighted at the offer to return to KFMB TV/Radio for a second tour, this time as National Sales Manager, and was there for seven years when she received an offer she could not refuse from Entercom radio, in 2015, which meant bigger responsibilities, more stations, and a two-year contract. "Not long after I joined Entercom, they merged with CBS, and my position was eliminated. I realized a new career path might be in order, as commercial TV and Radio revenues continued to be in rapid decline and as consolidation and layoffs continued. I wondered what might be next; the bulk of my expe-
rience was in broadcasting, with some volunteerism and a little non-profit work history too. With a son in high school and no husband nor family to help financially, I found myself in a bit of a pickle!" "After six weeks of unemployment, I accepted an offer to work in technical sales for Xerox. I challenged myself and was so surprised at the results, beating the revenue goals in triple digits. However, this was not the right fit industry for me."
In October of 2017, Karen was thrilled to accept what is the favorite position of her career. After six interviews and an extensive background check, she obtained a position with KPBS TV & Radio in San Diego, as a Corporate Development Executive. "I feel so good about what I do now. Everything we are doing at KPBS is for the public good, for this community, and focuses on news, information, the arts, and education. It is a quality organization, of which I am so proud to be a part. I loved commercial radio and TV for many years, it had been so much fun, but due to the cutbacks, I was no longer proud of the product we were putting out. It was constantly downgraded.
At KPBS, I am so proud of the product, both Radio (NPR) and TV (PBS). Also, I now work with companies who want to do more than push out their advertising messages; they are organizations who want to show their support for this community, to give back and to support quality programming."
Unlike commercial stations that can air practically any ad content, with a massive amount of spots per hour, KPBS has carefully crafted guidelines regarding what can be said on the air and only run a few sponsor announcements per hour, to provide viewers and listeners with the best possible programming experience.
The spots are tasteful, none promotional and are informative, so the audience stays with the announcements, rather than switching to another channel or station when the ads come on.
KPBS is membership driven and increasingly delivers quality news along with educational and inspirational programming. "KPBS viewers and listeners have trust in what they are hearing, seeing and experiencing, especially in this era of Fake News. KPBS news is the the opposite of Fake News, and because of this, we continue to see tremendous audience growth with NPR, and with the BBC and local KPBS news programs. I grew up with the BBC, so I was not used to the sensationalism of the typical news in the USA. The BBC respectfully, tastefully and accurately report the news. There is no laughing and joking, nor shock tactics to go for ratings. The news is serious, and that is how it should be delivered. San Diegans won't tolerate less than professionalism. This is San Diego, America's finest city, more is expected of us, and at KPBS we take this community’s trust very seriously. KPBS is very grateful to all of those listeners who make KPBS FM the number one most listened to radio station in San Diego.”
What Karen does is only one part of the fundraising efforts of the non-profit KPBS TV and Radio stations. The quality programming on KPBS is made possible by approximately 55,000 contributing members, plus grants and donors who pledge money through their trusts, or make generous donations throughout their lifetimes.
Karen has come a long way, literally and figuratively, from her childhood and young adult days in Manchester. She has proven that when you are dedicated, passionate and work hard, anything is possible. Thanks to this community, to the staff who are working hard at KPBS, and to Karen, for bringing us the very best programming available on San Diego’s airwaves.
My Tips for Getting into the Radio/TV Broadcasting Industry
By Karen Haze
I asked Karen Haze to share with our readers some suggestions for getting into her industry. She suggested the following: 1. Research companies that are in that industry find ones that are growing in the city that you are in, or might want to move to, and keep reaching out to those companies in as many creative ways as possible. 2. Gear your areas of study to this particular field so that you have the knowledge to back up your enthusiasm. 3. Don’t give up. When you find companies which you are interested in, don’t give up. Sometimes your timing might not be right, but six months or a year later there might be a position available. If you have to get a job in a shoe store or coffee shop in the meantime, then do that, just don’t give up your dream of working for your ideal company. Persistence pays off.
“To prove persistence pays off I personally knew I wanted to work for a specific station group and I couldn’t get noticed by them. So, I decided to go to their offices and sit in the lobby, and ask for the hiring manager, until I could find a way to get an interview. One morning, I brought Starbucks® coffee for the General Manager and told the receptionist that I needed to see him, or his coffee would be cold. That didn't work. She just grabbed it and took it to him. The next day I came back with a scone from Starbucks® and told the receptionist that I had forgotten to give him a scone when I dropped off the coffee the day before. After a few laughs and being so persistent, I finally got to sit down in front of him, and he pointed to the large pile of resumes on his desk, telling me that once he got through all of the resumes, if I qualified, he would call me in for an interview. I told him that I was qualified, he could hire me and I would be happy to let each person who’d sent in a resume know that the position was filled. I got his attention and ended up being hired at the company that I so wanted to work for.
KAREN HAZE
Account Executive
khaze@kpbs.org O: (619).594.2485 C: (858).652.2917 F: (619).594.0448 89.5 FM, KPBS TV, www.KPBS.org 5200 Campanile Dr., San Diego, CA 92182
