So when I started working back there, and I began to stay till 4:30, one of my former co-workers turned me on to KS95's "Smarter Than Staci," a long-time trivia segment of Staci & Hutch, which was the afternoon drivetime show on that radio station. My ex-co-worker and a few of the others also working in the back always dropped what they were doing to play. It consisted of two rounds of five questions usually read by Hutch. The first round was played by a caller; the second usually by Staci or, if she wasn't available, another KS95 personality. In the segment before, the answer to the first question is given. Up until the end, the caller was able to ask for a replacement question if they didn't know the answer to one of the questions; Staci and/or the KS95 personality playing in the second round didn't get those privileges. And even with those twin advantages, a lot of the times Staci won/the caller lost.
Not to toot my own horn, but I got enough of the trivia questions right that I cultivated a reputation for being, um, smart. (Booksmart, yes, but when the question was about, like, reality show TV, I was completely useless.) Whenever we got a question right, we would bump fists. A good day was when we got all the questions right; I called it "running the table." (Well, I guess everyone who knows the phrase would call it "running the table.") And when we did not do well -- honestly, I was the one answering most of the questions, right or wrong -- the others picked me up and encouraged me.
It was a fun way to end the day, or, if I was working late, a late afternoon break that was fun. I always looked forward to it and, frankly, to see if I could flex my intellectual superiority. And it was a chance to at least talk for a bit with my co-workers, something I don't always do, especially when I'm busy. "Smarter Than Staci" became a focal point, that thing you always do at work.
Unfortunately, Staci & Hutch was cancelled, and Staci and Hutch were fired from KS95, a month ago. (I think the radio station has developed a reputation for just outright cutting personalities from their airwaves without warning -- that's not good for KS95.) I don't know what replaced it -- honestly, I didn't listen to the afternoon drive show beyond trivia -- but I doubt whoever replaced them was going to continue doing trivia at 4:30. And so, once we learned that that brief respite in the day was done and gone, I haven't listened to the radio we all used to listen to the questions since. And with that, a little rosy piece of my workday went away.
Oh, well. At least I don't feel compelled to drop everything and listen to the radio now. I don't even feel compelled to stick around past 4:30 if I get my work done by then. Nah, that's just coping; I still feel sad about "Smarter Than Staci" not being a thing anymore.
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