It was early spring in 1962. and Bob Crane had been working in radio for twelve years, and at KNX-CBS Radio in Hollywood for six of them. He was at the height of his radio career, with his early morning drive-time show commanding the airwaves in Southern California. But he hadn't arrived at this position immediately. With meager beginnings at a jewelry/emporium shop in Stamford, Connecticut, in the late 1940s following high school graduation, Bob had climbed his way out of merchandizing and into radio, and up the proverbial career ladder.
It was only after he finally achieved broadcasting success in Los Angeles, however, when he was able to take a step back and evaluate his journey thus far. And he realized that, despite his own impatience, nothing happens overnight. Everything takes time. He called this the "idea of learning."
Bob's cousin Jim Senich was just starting his radio career in early 1962, and Jim was proud to follow in his older cousin's footsteps. But Jim was also discouraged at the response he was receiving. He saw Bob's success and was eager to achieve similar goals for himself. Bob and Jim were not only cousins, they were friends, and Jim looked up to Bob as a role model. And so, Jim sought his advice.
"Don't get discouraged," Bob told him in an audio letter, hoping to ease Jim's worries. "Eventually, what you're looking for is gonna happen, and by the time it does happen, you'll be that much better along the way to what you should be. Don't get discouraged, and just keep on plugging along, and what you want will eventually be yours. You know, there's nothing to stop it if you just keep on working hard. And by working hard, I mean doing the best job you possibly can. Everything happens for the best, and I believe it completely."
This is very sound advice, and it can be applied to anyone, at any stage of life. Wherever you are right now, I can almost guarantee you you're eager for the next thing, whether it is something new in your career or a personal goal. Whatever it is, if it's not yours yet, it's because you still have work to do to prepare for it. It took me most of my life to finally be able to write Bob Crane's biography, and twelve years to officially research it with Dee Young and Linda Groundwater and then publish it. And only now, as I look back on this journey, can I see and appreciate why things happened in the certain order that they did.
Nothing happens overnight. And Bob's "idea of learning" is something we all must learn. We must figure out how to be patient even though we want something to happen now. We should come to accept that sometimes, things just have to happen in their own way and in their own time, because even though it's difficult, it truly will be for the best.
And I believe that—completely.